When tracking down an alternator problem, I made a bad mistake. I decided to try to start the car only to see if the alternator was working. When I did this, I left the EGR valve partially connected and...

I sucked up antifreeze into my intake/engine. Soo yeah WTF do I do now?

I let it crank for a while to blow it out but I really don't know what else to do. I think I can continue this every few days until it dries out.

BTW the alternator is still not working.

 

Remove the spark plugs. Remove the fuse to the fuel injectors. and crank the engine. it will make a mess depending how much coolant went in. Do this three or four times for ten seconds each.

Note: You dont want to send coolant though the exhaust or you will end up buying a cat too.

Note: coolant wont "dry out". If anything it will leak past the piston rings and end up in the oil pan.

If you sucked a lot in and you really want to be sure. Youll have to remove the intake and wash it out.

How much did you suck in? a cup?

 

Thanks De!

I'm in the process of moving so it will have to wait until next week. I'm hoping it'll go down through into the oil pan. What a pain!

 

Dont rely on it leak past the rings. Go though the process. Make sure to do an oil change afterwards.

 

I hear ya. I don't think it was very much, but it was enough to prevent it from starting.

Maybe it's time to fix the alternator and trade it in. :P

 

Did it not turn over? or not start? If you got enough in the intake, you could have "hydro-locked" the engine. Liquids don't compress like gases(air & fuel)
I would think it would take more than a cup, but...The other thing is, you dont want to let it sit too long with coolant in the cylinders. Best to deal with it promptly. Good luck!!

 

A cup is way more than enough. It only takes one cylinder to hydro lock. In our case a 1.5 liter engine has x4 .375 liter a cylinder. A cup is .236 liters. That's almost a whole cylinder, and it doesn't take a whole cylinder of liquid to lock an engine. Like you said "Liquids don't compress", even the smallest amount.

 

Do NOT leave the antifreeze in the cylinders. It will leak past the rings and into the oil pan. The last thing you want is antifreeze in the oil. It will eat up bearings rather rapidly. Pull the plugs and crank the engine forcing as much as possible out of the spark plug holes. Antifreeze will evaporate, just not quite as quickly as water. It definitely will not evaporate inside the cylinders. Anti freeze will also burn. The problem is you are probably not dealing with pure ethylene glycol. You probably have a 50% mix with water.

Once you have pumped out as much as possible, re-install the plugs and get the engine started. Take if for decent highway a ride to get ecery thing as hot as possible . This will boil out (vaporize) or burn out any remaining antifreeze. I can not picture why ethyleneglycol would hurt the Cat. It should just boil or burn as it pass through. If you can find information to contradict me on this, I'll listen.

Finally change the oil and filer as this is were the most potential for damage occurs.

I can not picture how the antifreeze got into the the cylinders but at this point who cares. The important thing it to get it out ASAP.

 

In the 50/50 mix, the 50% water will evaporate, anti freeze wont evaporate, esp not in a week. This is a miss conception. I have a drain pan full of anti freeze in the corner for almost a year and the level very slightly changed. I wish it would evaporate, it would save me from disposing of it. HAHA!

 

I suspect there may be a headgasket failure or cracks in the head or block. I would suggest doing a leakdown test to find the source of the coolant in the cylinder.

 

Dump some on a concrete floor. Come back in a week and see if it is still there.

I probably should have used the word vaporize. My point was any left in the engine will burn or "vaporize" when run through the combustion process. That is why I suggested he take a ride at expressway speeds after removing as much as possible through the spark plug holes.

The main point is to get rid of it ASAP to prevent it getting into the oil.

 

Update...

Thank you all for your help!

The car managed to sound better with time. I didn't disassemble anything because I didn't have time and was in the middle of moving to a different state. So it sputtered a bit then I let it sit overnight. The next morning it ran a bit longer but soon died. Later that night when it was about 20 degrees, it started with almost no hestitation.

There was a bit of smoke when I started it and I might have to replace the catalytic converter eventually but I happy with the way everything turned out. There doesn't appear to any water in the oil.

I'm still disappointed with the current engineering of Honda. It seems that every model packs an engine into a very small space. The old 97 Civics were far easier to work on which contributed to the popularity of the car. Today, working on Honda's is just not fun. I'm a smaller guy too. I could not work on this car if my hands were any bigger.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Glad it's back on the road. Dont forget to change the oil & filter-there may be some coolant that is un-detectable on the dipstick.
You're correct-smaller/lighter cars make you want to pay a mechanic to fix what you may have attempted to fix yourself in the past .