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Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:51 pm
by fpgirard
i can hear towerworker laughing already. last month, i used a 10W40 bottle to store a bit of coolant from my scooter. this evening, I reached for this bottle thinking it was oil and put it into my R1150R's oil. I caught my mistake almost immediately but about an ounce of coolant went in. I did remove the valve cover, removed a good portion out from the head and cavities and then drained all the oil and removed the filter. I'll let it drip overnight.
So the next question is - should I flush the engine (how?) or should I refill with oil and run it for a few miles and change it again? I feel so damn stupid - I swear I wasn't drinking....
Suggestions?
Pascal
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:15 am
by sweatmark
If it was me, I'd do exactly as you intend: drain the contaminated fluid, fill with fresh, ride the bike, change oil again, return to normal maintenance intervals.
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 7:32 am
by captaincable
Ditto and next time have a drink
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 7:42 am
by fpgirard
Many thanks - now off into the cold blue yonder of DC frigid weather.
Pas
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:57 am
by omg1010
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:17 pm
by Samiam
Don't feel too bad. Late last year I stopped by the local dealer to pick up some things and the whole shop was laughing. The Manager said that a newby owner of an RXXXX (something) put antifreeze in his bike after reading something (on the 'net) about the need to check antifreeze in the radiators. A quick oil change and flush was not enough to prevent bearing damage.
I know that the monotinous antifreeze, muffler bearing, et al advice is posted as harmless fun but it actually can be quite harmful. The posters of this drivel likely grew up back when every teen worth his salt had tuned engines, changed oil and often had actually rebuilt a powerplant. Those days ended in the 1970s. Few people now have ever done anything more complicated than add a loud stereo or a fart-can to a Honda Civic. The engines of most motorcycles are hidden these days and even on our "R" bikes, there are wires, plumbling and fittings all over the poor engine.
No wonder some people with limited engine-knowledge get in trouble. Just my two cents.
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:54 pm
by fpgirard
Well in my case, I blame myself for not being diligent enough to label bottles/containers and disposing of old liquids properly. Unlike this other person, I'm fairly confident that I caught the problem early enough (most of the fluid was drained/siphoned from the valve head) and the flush/run/flush should have removed what was less than a few eyedrops of coolant from the oil.
Lesson learned.
Re: Darn it! - a shotglass worth of anti-freeze into my oil
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:26 am
by riceburner
fpgirard wrote:Well in my case, I blame myself for not being diligent enough to label bottles/containers and disposing of old liquids properly. Unlike this other person, I'm fairly confident that I caught the problem early enough (most of the fluid was drained/siphoned from the valve head) and the flush/run/flush should have removed what was less than a few eyedrops of coolant from the oil.
Lesson learned.
Best practise imo is to keep the new fluids and the old fluids in totally different places in the workshop/garage. Unless you're fastidious to NASA levels of cleanliness the marked up bottles of old fluid WILL lose their identifier labels somehow. Best just to know that they're off-limits due to their location.
