soapy water in engine coolant on 987

[essex red]

Hi everyone,

I have only owned my boxster a few months and the windscreen washer light was on.

For some reason i opened the back uo, saw the cap marked aqua (or something) in german, assumed it was the windscreen washer and poured in about a pint of slightly soapy water.

I realised almost immediately and have not run the car since.

I know i am a limey idiot but please can someome help with what to do?

As you can tell i am not much of a car man but will i need to do anything drastic like getting it picked up on a truck and taken to the garage?

please help

[pothole]

I'm not sure I'd be too worried. It's certainly OK to be driven to a garage to have the coolant system flushed. The only possible issue is if whatever you put in makes the coolant more conductive in the electrical sense which over long periods of time can cause problem involving electrolysis and the alloys in your engine. But that takes ages. A pint's not enough to make any different to the cooling efficacy.

I'd probably have the coolant flushed. Not even sure it's worth doing that unless you do it yourself - I doubt if you took it there yourself they'd flush it properly, they'd probably just pull the engine plug and then refill.

[thstone]

Have the coolent flushed and replaced. Should be safe to drive to a local shop. Nothing drastic.

[Overdrive]

If you're not inclined to do it yourself, you can have the car flat-bedded to a shop to have the coolant replaced. That's certainly the safest route. Someone with more knowledge can let you know if it's safe to drive in this way, though I doubt it will be. I would bring it somewhere if you don't want to do the work yourself.

EDIT: I can see some already have let you know the car will be ok to drive to a shop.

We've all had our "limey" moments, so don't kick yourself too badly for it. I broke my convertible top mechanism by putting my lunch bag on top of the roof and forgetting about it being up there when dropping the top a minute later. Simple lapses in judgement that can potentially lead to expensive repairs...they happen.

[seventythree]

In my humble opinion, don't be paranoid. If you haven't run the motor, just siphon out the content of the coolant reservoir and refill with distilled water. End of story.

[Spinnaker]

Originally Posted by seventythree

In my humble opinion, don't be paranoid. If you haven't run the motor, just siphon out the content of the coolant reservoir and refill with distilled water. End of story.

Thast's what I would do too. If you haven't started it yet, it hasn't had a chance to warm up and mix with the rest of the coolant.

[Flavor 987S]

You manned up. I've seen others over the years explain how this was done by their spouse or girlfriend. Good on you.

[violametallic-S-]

I just preformed the flush about 10 times due to a separate issue. If you have access to a hoist and are somewhat knowledgable mechanically it's a easy job!

[essex red]

Originally Posted by seventythree

In my humble opinion, don't be paranoid. If you haven't run the motor, just siphon out the content of the coolant reservoir and refill with distilled water. End of story.

i did start it for about 20 seconds

again - sorry for this - would i just syphon out with a hose?

probably end in the emergency room as well

[Overdrive]

The sooner you get on it, the better. Since you've run the car I would imagine the fluid has at least mixed in somewhat, so you'll probably just want to change the coolant to be safe. Either do the job yourself or bring it somewhere to get the coolant replaced.

[seventythree]

First of all, 1 pint of soapy water mixed with 4.5 gallons on coolant isn't going to do any real harm.

Second to that, soapy water is what Water Wetter products are anyway. A little bit of surfactant to lower the surface tension of the coolant.

But lastly, I promise all of that soapy water is still in your coolant reservoir. Just siphon it out and move on. With this anal bunch , I am sure you will be talked into using Porsche coolant only which is pretty expensive, not to mention how much of a pain it is to properly bleed your cooling system. In my opinion, it'll be a big waist to flush the cooling system over this.

[DFW02S]

Originally Posted by seventythree

First of all, 1 pint of soapy water mixed with 4.5 gallons on coolant isn't going to do any real harm.

Second to that, soapy water is what Water Wetter products are anyway. A little bit of surfactant to lower the surface tension of the coolant.

...... In my opinion, it'll be a big waist to flush the cooling system over this.

Ding, ding, ding, ding!
We have a winner!
No more phone calls please.

I couldn't agree more. The Water Wetter point caps it off!

[Overdrive]

Well there you go, someone with the knowledge needed to put you on the right track/your mind at ease.

[jmatta]

Just think how nice and clean the internals will be

I'd flush it and replace with new OEM Porsche coolant, but that's just me. The stuff isn't "lifetime" anyway...