I think I'm screwed...

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Mark_T

I have no idea what I was thinking but I just poured oil into the coolant tank. This is the stupidest thing I've ever done. I know better. I can tell the difference between yellow and blue.

But now it's done and I need to fix this. I have pulled as much fluid as I can from the coolant tank with a turkey baster, but i'm not sure what to do next. Is there an easy fix? Do I remove, clean and replace the coolant tank? How screwed am I here?

Assuming you have not run the car, the ideal thing to do would be utilize the different densities of the two incompatible liquids (oil floats on water). You do this by first inserting a small hose through the oil into the coolant layer below, and then insert another small hose just into the oil level. What you are going to need to do is to add distilled water via the hose down at the coolant level and at the same time siphon off the oil layer. You will need to do this several times until you get all the floating oil you can out of the tank. You could then siphon the coolant layer down far enough to insert a small towel attached to something suitable to try and blot up any remaining oil.

You could also lower the coolant level enough to pull the tank and wash it with soap and water to get any residual out if that was easier, but you first need to remove the bulk of the oil by siphoning it out.

And don’t beat up on yourself, you are not the first, and most likely will not be the last to do this; it is a dumb design…………