I stupidly put windshield washer fluid where the coolant goes

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grizzstang

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I took a black Sharpie and wrote on the caps. Coolant and Wiper Fluid.

Mostly for anyone else that finds themselves under my hood, which isn't normally anyone but just in case.

I agree that having them both yellow is pretty stupid.
 

PoMansRam

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You guys that mentioned the Sharpie, that's a great idea. I've been maintaining vehicles forever and like said, the coolant and w/s washer caps are way too easily confused on Rams. Marking them is the way to go. Imma do it right now in fact.
 

Treburkulosis

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You guys that mentioned the Sharpie, that's a great idea. I've been maintaining vehicles forever and like said, the coolant and w/s washer caps are way too easily confused on Rams. Marking them is the way to go. Imma do it right now in fact.
Its definitely a great idea!
 

turboguard

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I ALMOST did this in front of Advanced Auto late at night one time. Luckily, that weird plastic dipstick that sits down in the coolant reservoir gave me enough pause to realize what I was doing!
 

MRFREEZE57

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I took a black Sharpie and wrote on the caps. Coolant and Wiper Fluid.

Mostly for anyone else that finds themselves under my hood, which isn't normally anyone but just in case.

I agree that having them both yellow is pretty stupid.
Exactly what I did on my truck, it would very easy to make that mistake.
 

Takotzen

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I opened the hood, saw the yellow cap on the left, opened it and started to pour windshield washer fluid in it. and that is when i realized the other BRIGHT YELLOW cap that has a windshield washer symbol on it. I quickly pulled back the jug, and said the F word out loud. o_O

I probably poured about 1-2 cups in there. Should I go get it flushed right away? From what I read on Google, most says it'll be fine, but some can turn the coolant into gel.
I did the exact same thing back in March. Although most said I would be fine , I had the dealer flush it for me. Just some peace of mind.
 

njjeff201

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I think one of the easiest ways besides siphoning is put your garden hose onto the overflow reservoir as deep as possible & just turn on the water. The pressure will fill & flush out the reservoir. And the water will not harm your coolant as it is so little compared to what the coolant capacity total is.
 

mtwofeathers

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1-2 cups in the overflow bottle you're fine. Assuming this was standard blue w/s washer fluid, it's mostly water and alcohol, which will boil away.

If you filled the overflow bottle, I'd say suck it out with a hand pump, or shop vac or just hose it out with water and replenish with the orange/red liquid gold.
Well unless the engine is running just dump it and rinse, but I use waterless coolant, water is a contaminate to me, so if any got into the system a complete flush would be needed.
 

turkeybird56

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did you drive the truck? if not get it out of overflow. dude, I will give you a hint at what windshield wiper fluid is, it is something that cleans off your windshield. Coolant uses film to populate the surface of metal, I wouldn't want to add something that cleans off slime into a system that requires slime to protect metal. But hey, I'm sure more guys will tell you want you want to hear so roll with that?
^^^ DITTO ^^^
 

turkeybird56

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principals of siphon, if you use a clear tube you can suck until you see it breaks the U, once the fluid in the hose is lower then the hose going into the fluid, you have a siphon, once a siphon starts it will empty the tank.

View attachment 477253
DANG, is that why that gas tasted awful, LMAO. J/K
 

Dean2

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A simple Bulb type Turkey Baster works just fine for that kind of work. No danger of getting the stuff in your mouth trying to siphon. Auto siphons are great too, especially good for moving gas from a Jerry to your truck tank.

5900_c6687c71-7540-4071-90bd-7f5cbfed3d8a_1100x971.jpg
I carry one of these in every vehicle. You basically put the little copper end with the glass ball into the Jerry, shake it up and down a few times so it self primes and you can empty a Jerry in about 3 minutes. No spills all down the side of the truck and you can get past the two flaps on the no cap type filler tubes.

be19-6ffbc84a9c1a.f00126991bc474c793748c151c8e6c1f.jpg
 

Mike Flea

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I opened the hood, saw the yellow cap on the left, opened it and started to pour windshield washer fluid in it. and that is when i realized the other BRIGHT YELLOW cap that has a windshield washer symbol on it. I quickly pulled back the jug, and said the F word out loud. o_O

I probably poured about 1-2 cups in there. Should I go get it flushed right away? From what I read on Google, most says it'll be fine, but some can turn the coolant into gel.
2 years ago, I did this, right after my mechanic replaced the water pump on my 2010 4.7. I called him, told him that I just dumped a gal of Rainex into the overflow, he laughed and told me not to worry about it. I didn't & have had no problems.
 

GTyankee

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UGH
Rain-X comes in 2 different color types

Never use Rain-X on a motorcycle wind screen

Didn't anyone tell you that Rain-X could plug the lines & the windshield washer pump in a vehicle
If you use the wrong color Rain-X, you would be cussing yourself & Rain-X
 

rvance

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I put the cheap windshield washer fluid in the overflow tank about 10k miles ago. I was moving and couldn't do anything about it at the time. About 5k miles pulling a trailer. No problem so far. I would prefer to have it flushed, but I don't trust anyone to do it right and I'm too old.
 

Justin33

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UGH
Rain-X comes in 2 different color types

Never use Rain-X on a motorcycle wind screen

Didn't anyone tell you that Rain-X could plug the lines & the windshield washer pump in a vehicle
If you use the wrong color Rain-X, you would be cussing yourself & Rain-X
I thought I left it in to late in the season maybe that’s what happened end of day I flushed it with alcohol
 

Ramtrucker12

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I have done it too and called myself stupid for the rest of the day. I simply siphoned it out of the overflow tank, added the appropriate amount of coolant, filled the windshield washer tank, called myself stupid a few more times and called it good. Never caused any problems.
 
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