Mmm, Engine Coolant — tastes minty!
Well, this one will have to be added to my Family Stories eventually, along with the other stupid things I’ve done.
Last Thursday morning, I noticed the windshield wiper fluid was getting a little low. I thought I had enough time to fill up before heading out to work, so I opened the garage and grabbed the first jug of windshield wiper fluid on the shelf. This one was in an opaque white bottle - whatever… I was in a hurry. I started pouring and noticed the fluorescent green liquid pouring into wiper fluid reservoir. “Hmm”, I thought, “they make this stuff an interesting colour now….. hey wait….” Yikes. It’s anti-freeze engine coolant. Oh well, it’s wet, it should be ok. I grabbed a container of real windshield wiper fluid and filled it the rest of the way, hoping it would be diluted enough.
So - I got back into the car and gave a little spray. It didn’t quite work the same way - seemed as though it wasn’t evaporating. As I drove away, I put the wipers on and the windows became more and more blurry. I finally opened the window and felt the windshield — very oily. Luckily we have a gas station nearby and I was able to clean the windshield before getting to work. And all the way there, I thought about how I could get the coolant out. All that came to mind was siphoning it.
On the way home that night, I went by Home Depot and picked up a long, clear plastic tube. Reid seemed to think I was a bit crazy - “What if it gets in your mouth??” “Ah, it’s ok. I’ve seen my dad siphon wine out of the barrels and into the bottles all the time. It’s a piece of cake,” I said. “But you can drink wine!” he said.
The side of the coolant bottle says things like “harmful if swallowed”, “keep away from pets and children”, and amazingly, “Pleasant Taste!” I can attest to the last one - it does taste nice. I didn’t swallow of course, and I did a lot of spitting, and I did the best I could to shield what I was doing from the neighbours because it was embarrassing. (I could already hear them saying… what is that crazy nut up to now? Running around on the roof, climbing trees with ropes and chains or in the attic screaming at the top of her lungs for Reid so everyone in the street can hear…)
But at least I have an extremely clean windshield wiper reservoir. After I emptied it, I filled it with hot soapy water and siphoned that out, and then filled it with fresh clean cold water and siphoned that, too. I’ve become an expert siphoner.
This was such a relief to me as I accidentaly had some in my mouth and wondered if I would be at death’s door!
I’m so glad I don’t feel stupid all by myself. The same thing happened to me today in almost the same way. (I was seriously sleep deprived, however.) When I saw the coolant going into the window washer container, I stopped quickly. Still, there was enough in there already, so I had to figure out what to do. I would never suck the stuff up through a tube and get it in my mouth, so I bought a long turkey baster, and used it to put the coolant back in the bottle. I hadn’t added window washer fluid to the coolant, so that was no problem. I’m still considering whether or not to put in soapy water to clean out the container. I’ll do what’s necessary. No matter how stupid I feel, I know there is somebody else that’s done the same fool thing. Thanks!