Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - Simon Moran

Like a complete i**** I've poured undiluted coolant into my car. About two litres. I then drive the car about 3 miles before realizing and took it straight back home. I then topped it up with 1.5 litres of water in to hopefully compensate. Why it's needing so much coolant is a question the mechanic will answer, but am I right in thinking it'll be fine and the water and concentrated coolant will just mix as it passes around the engine? Or does it need a complete flush?

By my reconning, it must have had about 2ish liters of pre mixed coolant already in, as it's taken about 3 litres in total to get it to it's min line.

Thoughts? Fine to drive or do i need to get it flushed?

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - Andrew-T

'Coolant' (meaning bought antifreeze) will be miscible with water in all proportions, so there's no worry on that score. Maximum frost protection is somewhere around the 50:50 mark, but in this country 1:3 antifreeze:water seems typical.

If you want to feel more comfortable you could siphon or 'suck' some fluid from the reservoir and replace it with clean (preferably boiled-out or deionised) water.

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - elekie&a/c doctor
Nothing to worry about, but why did it need 2 litres to top it up .? That sounds more worrying.
Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - Falkirk Bairn

The OP put in 2 litres of anti-freeze and then 1.5 litres of water!

Mk 6 Fiesta has a total capacity of 5 to 6 litres depending on model + petrol/diesel

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - gordonbennet

Chances are its simply got a leak somewhere if it was bad you would have seen coolant dripping, hopefully you'll be able to track down the leak and fix it, have a good poke nose with a decent torch....if it was internal problems you should have noticed running or temperature issues by now.

I had a leak last week, had to rinse the whole boxer engine down with the hose pipe to work out where it was coming from (small bore coolant pipe), sods law dictates the leak was underneath the intercooler which isn't the easiest to re-attach once removed, i re-fitted it and then found one of the tiny vaccum pipes had found its way underneath the blessed thing while i was messing about so had to remove it once again, doh.

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - Andrew-T

Chances are it's simply got a leak somewhere if it was bad you would have seen coolant dripping,

Given the quantities, I think we must assume the OP has emptied and refilled his cooling system. Whatever, he hasn't returned to tell us anything yet ....

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - edlithgow

The OP put in 2 litres of anti-freeze and then 1.5 litres of water!

Mk 6 Fiesta has a total capacity of 5 to 6 litres depending on model + petrol/diesel

As I read it, the OP initially put 2L of premix (i.e. already diluted 1:1 coolant) in

Then he put 2L of undiluted (ie concentrate, which I've never seen, but I understand requires dilution 1:1)

Then he put 1.5L of water in.

So its had 4.5L in total, and is a bit stronger than it needs to be.

Or I'm confused, or the OP is, but I think thats what he said.

Fiesta - Used undiluted coolant, what should I do? - skidpan

"Antifreeze" is a product that needs diluting to suit the climate its used in. Only last week I bought 5 litres from ECP for the Caterham and at the dilution specified for climates like ours (3 water 1 antifreeze) it should make a total of 20 litres. The car uses 4 litres to do a flush and refill so that's 5 changes. I do that every 2 or 3 years so the 5 litres should last at least 10 years providing there is no need to unexpectedly take out the engine in the meantime.

To me "coolant" is a premixed product that is ready to add to your engine. Suppose it exists because the education system in this country does not seem to teach people how to work out how to dilute a product.