Coolant poured into oil filler... disaster?

[eltax91]

Hello all

mother in law just called me, she was doing her usual checks on her car and topping up the fluids and accidentally mixed up the bottles. Car is a petrol engine'd i30.

She said she stopped almost immediately and put no more than a shot glass worth of coolant into the oil filler. She hasn't started the engine.

I have a 2 post ramp in my garage and can go buy oil and a filter right now. She has a sloped drive which isn't the safest to work on. Can she drive it the circa 4 miles to our place so i can do it at my convenience or is that a massive no-no?

[charltjr]

I’d say it’ll be fine, cars run for many miles with coolant mixed with oil in head gasket failures.

Not desirable so a couple of oil changes ASAP would be a good idea, but a few miles with a tiny amount of coolant in the oil should make bugger all difference.

[DKL]

A shot glass in 5 or 6 litres doesn't sound like much dilution, I'd have thought a gentle drive should be ok.....I think I would....

[captain_cynic]

NVM, misread the OP (oil in coolant, not coolant in oil)..

Edited by captain_cynic on Thursday 27th June 11:44

[Krikkit]

Drive it to your garage and do the oil change, then a decent drive up the motorway to get the new oil fully up to temp.

[Digger]

Are we sure it was only "a shot glass worth" of coolant?

[andy43]

Liking that your MIL's choice of liquid measurement was a shot glass

[Digger]

Could have been two doubles for all we know . . .

[eltax91]

Digger said:

Are we sure it was only "a shot glass worth" of coolant?

She says she saw it was pink immediately and stopped.

[BOR]

For a shot glass of coolant you don't need to take any action.

If it was purely water, then it would evaporate off once the oil gets hot. For coolant, I'm not sure of the boiling point when not pressurised.

For engines running on 100% Ethanol, you will get alot more water thn that entrained into the oil but just needs changing more often.

[SuperPav]

If it genuinely was 1 or 2 shot glasses, it'll be fine and I'd just leave it and not worry.

It might emulsify a tiny bit but generally will just evaporate and sort itself out. In humid conditions, you can get a surprising amount of condensation intisde the engine through breathers anyway.


If it was more like a pint, then I'd drain it down, and put some fresh oil in it.