I have a '85 BMW 318i that was steaming out of the radiator cap and ran low on coolant.
Long story short, I grabbed the wrong jug out of the laundry room and instead of topping off with distilled water, I poured about a cup or two of color safe laundry detergent booster into the radiator. facepalm
I’ve since drained the radiator, filled it with distilled water. Ran the car, drained the radiator, and refilled it again.
Whaddayah know, it’s foaming out of the the radiator cap.
I plan to fill/run/drain two or three more times, then drive the thing over to a mechanic for a legitimate coolant flush. Does this seem reasonable? Any idea if I’ve signed a death warrant for my old bimmer? Suggestions?
I’d be surprised if you did any damage. I am more worried about why the car was steaming originally than I am about the laundry product. I would keep flushing it with water myself rather than paying someone to do it. Water is cheap. Have you figured out why it was running hot?
I can’t see how its a big problem but you need to find out where the coolant went and get that fixed. Then you need to add a new shelf in the garage for car stuff and get it out of the laundry room.
Not sure why it was boiling over in the first place. Haven’t added coolant to it in five years of owning & no overflow reservoir on this car. So maybe it was just neglect on my part. After I rinse it out and add correct coolant to level, if it still steams, to the mechanic it will go.