Driving up 101 today towards the beach steam suddenly started pouring out from under my hood. I pulled over and popped the hood. I had a burst heater hose and lost a lot of anti-freeze. I taped up the hose as best as possible to drive the eight miles to the next service station, but I didn’t have water to re-fill the radiator.
In the back of the Jeep we has a gallon of iced tea and a large bottle of Pepsi and a six-pack of beer. I went with the tea.
My question is: Did I cause any serious damage driving the eight miles to the closest service station using tea as a coolant? It was sugar sweetened tea. Did this make it worse?
I did drain the radiator at the service station and filled it with water (wouldn’t you know they didn’t have any anti-freeze there). And we got back home without any real problems.
But still?
2006-07-30 17:36:56 · 5 answers · asked by Doc Watson 7 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
Good choice you kept the beer. No harm is or will be done to the cooling system because antifreeze is ethylene glycol. Probably contains more sugar than the tea you used.
2006-07-30 17:50:08 · answer #1 · answered by starbuck 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sugar in the tea could really gum up the works. Maybe not now, but sometime down the line. You should probably drain and replace the radiator fluid a couple of times (drain, refill, run the engine for a bit, then do it again) to get some of that out. Most mechanics do NOT recommend you use a commercial brand "radiator flush" additive.
2006-07-30 17:42:56 · answer #2 · answered by Claude 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you'll be ok. Cooling fluid...like water or coolant doesn't run into the intricate parts of your engine, it simply keeps certain parts from overheating. Heck, with all the chemicals in a simple cup of water today, you probably did your engine a favor, but you did do the right thing by flushing it when you did, just to be safe. If you haven't had any problems then I'm sure you won't have any at all.
2006-07-30 17:43:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ice tea shouldn't bother your radiator, especially for the short time you used it. Now Pepsi, that might have caused a problem. You made the right choice.
2006-07-30 17:44:00 · answer #4 · answered by Iamstitch2U 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would go to a "real" service station and get the radiator flushed. Let them know what happened. Chances are it will be fine. 8 miles isn't that far.
2006-07-30 17:41:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋