I accidentally put windshield washer fluid in the coolant reservoir of my friends 2015 Altima. I was borrowing it and a light came on saying it was low. I put maybe a 1/4 gallon or less in. Will it cause any damage? Do I need to try and take it out? Do I need to do anything or will it be fine? Pleas…

[image] Licorice_Quinn: Do I need to do anything or will it be fine? Please help! First you need to tell your friend what you did. Then do what ever the friend wants you to do. My car, I would not worry about it.

Ritual seppuku is the only honorable response.

Your friend should be concerned with why the coolant was low. I agree with the above posts and suggest you advise your friend to have his cooling system closely inspected.

I think the OP meant the low level light for washer fluid . It might be a good idea for the owner to check all fluids after loaning a vehicle to someone.

The Altima has a 9.5-quart capacity and you put about 1 quart into it. I doubt a 10% fill with a different type of antifreeze is a problem. If you still have the windshield fluid bottle, let us know what the ingredients are and maybe we can determine if any of them might corrode the radiator.

It would be best to suck out the contents of the coolant reservoir with a turkey baster, and refill with the correct 50/50 coolant.

Don’t worry about it. Washer fluid is water mixed with ethyl alcohol and a blue dye. So it’s mostly water once the alcohol evaporates. Now if you had put coolant into the windshield washer reservoir? You’d be taking that system apart. Tester

I’d spring for a coolant flush if I did that to a friend’s car myself. Not so much b/c I thought the one quart would cause a problem, but b/c if any problem at all happens involving the cooling system in the future, I’d want to be able to say I wasn’t the cause. In the meantime the ability of the…

Rod_Knox: Your friend should be concerned with why the coolant was low. Was it the WW washer fluid that the warning light said was low? Or was it the coolant that was warned as low?

I accidentally put windshield washer fluid in the coolant reservoir

Maintenance/Repairs

keith January 12, 2018, 4:19pm 3

It wont harm it, but you do need to tell your friend because the windshield washer fluid contains alcohol which will boil off pretty quickly, leaving them low again. If they live in cold country, they should add a little pure antifreeze when topping off next time as the remaining water from the washer fluid will have diluted their coolant.

Topic		Replies	Views
Accidentally putting windshield washer fluid in coolant tank Maintenance/Repairs	20	33160	November 16, 2014
I accidently put Windshield Wiper fluid in the Coolant Reservoir Maintenance/Repairs mercury , mountaineer	33	488530	May 26, 2020
Radiator fluid mistake Maintenance/Repairs nissan , rogue	12	1039	September 18, 2017
2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Wrong fluid Maintenance/Repairs jeep	8	715	July 31, 2018
Accidentally put windshield washer in place of coolant Maintenance/Repairs jeep , grand-cherokee	7	2735	May 21, 2018

I accidentally put windshield washer fluid in the coolant reservoir

Related topics