# Windshield washer in with coolant

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** focus, ford\
**Created:** [January 12, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321 "2010-01-12T00:33:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sbwd77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@sbwd77](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sbwd77)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/1 "2010-01-12T00:33:08Z")

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help! new car, stupid move. Added 1/2 gallon of windshield washer fluid to the coolant reserviour before noticing the mistake. Do I need to flush out the entire radiator? And can I do this my self? The dealer wants to charge 150!

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**Author:** ![wizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wizard](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wizard)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/2 "2010-01-12T00:45:13Z")

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I would not do anything with it. I don’t think it will do any harm anyway.

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**Author:** ![mshugna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@mshugna](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mshugna)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/3 "2010-01-12T00:48:44Z")

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or you can use a turkey baster and remove as much as you can and refill reservoir with the same coolant mixture.

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/4 "2010-01-12T01:06:58Z")

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Windshield washer fluid is mostly water with some methol alcohol. So the worse thing you’ve done is dilluted coolant ratio. Remove 1/4 gallon from the coolant reservior, and add 1/4 gallon of straight antifreeze back into the reservior. That puts you back to a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze/water.

Tester

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**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/5 "2010-01-12T01:57:08Z")

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Has it been driven? Be sure to use the prescribed coolant. I don’t know for sure, but it is probably G05.

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**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/windshield-washer-in-with-coolant/42321/6 "2010-01-12T02:01:09Z")

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We just went over this with someone else last week. Please search and review that information.