Overfilled Coolant on Fiat Punto

Hi all,

Stupidly overfilled the coolant on my Punto (R-reg) this morning (with antifreeze) to well above the max line (pretty much to the top of the plastic overflow reservoir). I was wondering if:

1) It would be a bad thing to run the car. The plastic reservoir does not apear to have an overflow to release excess water as it expands. It also has a plastic cap as opposed to the springy metal ones that release when too much pressure builds up. Any opinions?

2) Anybody has easy solutions to removing some. I can't seem to find a drain point on the radiator - will I have to remove a hose and let some drain out, and if I do is it all likely to pour out so quickly that I'll end up having to refill the whole lot and get airlocks, ect. My other two options are: siphon out (bit worried about getting anti-feeze in my mouth!) or stuff an old absorbant rag/towel in and let it soak up the excess, maybe wring it out a couple of times and repeat.

Any comments/other suggestions greatly appreciated!

Richard.

Reply to
Richard Conway
Loading thread data ...

Het is zo dat Richard Conway formuleerde :

Wel eh... just put some thick stick or so in the opening, voila, you remove the overfill :-)

Reply to
Draak

Overfilling is not a problem for the car but might be for you :-)

The plastic cap has an internal over pressure release which will allow excess water/pressure to escape, but in doing so will mess up your header tank outside and possible give the driver cause for concern.

The best thing to do is to remove the excess.

Two easy solutions:

1) Syphon out the excess into a container. I suggest you use a syphon device and not try the old "suck on tube" method. Fish/aquarium shops sell simple syphon tube devices.

2) Use a cooks basting tube/pump. This is a tube with squeeze ball attached to top to suck up cooking fats and allow them to be redeposited over the food being cooked.

For your particual problem I would go with 2). Good for header bottles (brake, water, power steering etc.)

Reply to
Nick /////

Thanks to you both for the advice. Just to let you know I took some alternative advice and managed to sort it this morning using the trigger spray from a bottle of kitchen cleaner! It was slow going but did the trick and meant I could save the excess.

Reply to
Richard Conway

Nice one. I also forgot to mention the cheap/old bicycle pump method. Lots of suck and volume capability together with nice little flexible hose for easy access.

Reply to
Nick /////

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.