Thread: Aw geez... tell me spilled coolant is okay???

Okay, I had a little accident.

I was trying to burp/bleed my coolant system, because I was getting the "Low coolant" light sometimes. So, I ran the car with the radiator cap off and topped it off.

Then, I decided, to help get the air bubbles out, I'd rev the engine...with the cap off. I guess that was a mistake, because after I let off, I heard a belt squeal. I immediately turned the engine off and saw that coolant had overflowed EVERYWHERE. It was on the battery, a bit of the radiator fan and of course on whichever belt that is right behind the radiator.

PLEASE tell me this isn't a big deal! I turned the car on again after a few minutes, after trying to dry off some of the spilled coolant and everything seemed fine. In fact, my gauge hit the middle for the first time since I had the coolant system flushed (it wasn't heating up past the 1st line on my gauge, so I thought the t-stat was stuck open)!!!

While it was running, I also loosened the bleeder valve until coolant came out, then retightened. That part went okay.

I am letting the car cool down in my driveway right now... one it's cooled down, I wanted to check the coolant level in the radiator and see if it needs to be topped off again.

What do I do about the spilled coolant?!! When it's cool, should I try pouring some water down there to wash it off? When I heard that belt, I started panicking. Leave it to me to screw up even the simplest thing.

On a side note, there was an awkward moment when my landlord pulled up to the house and proceeded to tell me that I looked "hot" working on the car.

lol... put cap back on and start car up and let it run. let someone else bleed it or do it without revving engine.

LOL! Nooo, I wanna do it myself!

But I need to know if the spilled coolant is going to be a problem. It's on that belt (what's the name of it?!) and the battery. Is there a safe way for me to clean it off? Or should I leave it??

u can rinse it off with water. it wont hurt anything.

oh and that would be ur serpentine belt

The Forum Requires photos of you working on the car.


Since your landlord made that comment.



use water. and a rag to clean up the water.

belt might squeal if its wet.

Originally Posted by Spartangl

The Forum Requires photos of you working on the car.


Since your landlord made that comment.



use water. and a rag to clean up the water.

belt might squeal if its wet.

Hilarious. I would gladly deliver if I had someone else with me to take pics while I pretended to know what I was doing. And no... not asking the Landlord.

Originally Posted by nawarkk

Bleed the system by opening the little valve thingy where the thermostat is. Just take the screw off and run the car. Wait until coolant comes out of the little hole (lol). Then turn off the car and put on the screw. You can also fill up where the radiator cap is until it's full. It shouldn't be a problem to have coolant all over your engine. Just clean it off lol.

I succeeded in the bleeding part, that's the thing, lol. Now, I'm just gonna go down there with a huge pitcher of water and try to rinse it off some of the stuff that's wet. As long as she runs, I'm happy.

Thank you gentlemen!

dont pay the belt squeal any mind... it will stop when coolant/water dries up.

Originally Posted by gtpinsc

dont pay the belt squeal any mind... it will stop when coolant/water dries up.

I just went down there and poured a pitcher of warm water over the areas that were drenched in coolant.

Also, since the car had cooled down, I topped off the radiator with more coolant. I PUT THE CAP BACK ON... and then started it. The belt did squeal once, but I'm hoping it was just because of the water I had just poured on it. It seemed okay... the RPMs were fluctuating a teeny tiny bit more than they usually do, but I'm hoping the car is just confused or something.

I'm going to let it cool and dry off over night and get up a few minutes earlier tomorrow to start up the car and see how it's doing then. I'm just hoping I didn't do any permanent damage or anything.

I THINK i fixed the problem of the engine never warming up all the way, but we'll see. Maybe in the morning, I'll try burping/bleeding it a bit more, while it's warming up, without revving the engine with the cap off
(I'm such a moron).

Thanks for the help, guys!

The rpms moving around could be from a miss from the wires and coils getting wet, I would not worry about it.

Water neutralizes most chemicals. Beyond that, don't worry too much.

Take it to the car wash to get the rest of the coolant off if you need to. Other than that you should be fine. Check the level in the overflow and add there vs the cap. it will level it's self out as needed.

So, this morning I started the car and got the "low coolant" light again. I figured after my episode last night, I probably dumped out some of the coolant when I revved the engine. Also, I knew it would contract when it got cold.

I took off the radiator cap and let the car run with the cap off. I topped off the radiator with coolant and I watched all the air bubble come to the surface and then I noticed a clicking sound.

This clicking sound was coming from my serpentine belt area and subsided once the car was warmed up, but I was nervous that I damaged something last night.

I put the cap back on, let the air out of the bleeder valve and everything was fine.

What could this clicking sound be? Did I eff something up last night? UGH.

Originally Posted by CSteen85

What could this clicking sound be? Did I eff something up last night? UGH.

My guess is that the clicking sound is something in the serpentine system.
Could be a pulley or accessory of some sort, probably in the bearing.

If the sound goes away don't worry about it, you're crying over spilled coolant (milk).