The taste of antifreeze ...

[garolittle]

Ok. I am flushing my coolant system by draining the radiator using the plug on the lower driver's side of the snake (good thing I had swimming lessons in college). I read on a fairly recent post that I should "pull the overflow hose off the surge tank, insert a 3/8 o.d. clear hose into the rubber hose and syphone the coolant out of the overflow tank". I tried this and ... well ... more antifreeze went in my mouth than in the container that it was intended for. After spitting out the toxic substance and checking to see that my life insurance was paid up, I thought I would ask you guys for help. So ... help! What am I doing wrong here? Is there an easier way to get all of the coolant out of the lower fascia bottle? Thanks.

 

[JonB]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by garolittle:
... more antifreeze went in my mouth than in the container that it was intended for. After spitting out the toxic substance and checking to see that my life insurance was paid up, <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


If it is any consolaton, gasoline is worse.......

Thankfully, I last siphoned gasoline about 30 years ago, but I can STILL taste it when I hold my mouth just right...........

 

[Ulysses]

If you are going to syphon and let gravity do the work, the container you are going to fill has to be lower than the surge tank. It's never a good idea to syphon using your mouth. You can try a turkey baster, but the bulb has to be pretty thick to generate a strong syphon. Squeeze the bulb, attach to hose, release bulb to syphon, kink hose to keep fluid from retreating back into surge tank, remove bulb, repeat. once the fluid makes it to the lower end of the hose, just let gravity work for you.

They use to make these pump do-hickeys a while back that had a hose going to a crank style plastic pump with an exit hose on the other end just for these type of situations. Haven't really looked for them, but I'm sure you might be able to find one at the automotive section of sears or kmart, walmart, etc. Possibly even some fish/pet stores might have something like that.

 

[Motor City Mad Man]

Now that you have ingested anti-freeze you probably only have a few days to live. Can I have your Viper?

 

[Toronto_ACR]

How long does it take to change your antifreeze. Should you put distilled water in.

 

[JimDavis MT 97GTS 650R]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Toronto_ACR:
How long does it take to change your antifreeze. Should you put distilled water in.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Distilled water is a good idea. Make sure the Antifreeze you use is compatible with Aluminum components or electrolysis may occur. As far as how long it takes to change, well, let's just say it gets faster with every mouth full, but don't swallow! Remember to "burrrp" your system to expel trapped air.

 

[FUSCUCLA1]

Great part about antifreeze poisoning is that the cure is alcohol, so you can hit the bar after you are done with the coolant exchange. Better yet you can prophylax with some alcohol before hand so you can safely injest larger volumes of antifreeze (works well if you want to make a wager that you can drink a glass of coolant). I have never tasted it, but I hear its sweet, thats why dogs will drink up puddles of it in the driveway.

 

[prohydro]

Yeah, gas is terrible, but I managed a new feat this weekend...not only did I manage a mouth full of methanol, but I was bending all the way over siphoning, and I got methanol up my nose and in my sinuses...for those of you that know, methanol is very cold when it evaporates...you want to talk ice cream headache...to make matters worse, there was a bunch of synthetic oil mixed in the methanol (for a 2 stroke). Yummy...

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Since the overflow bottle itself has an overflow, you might find it easier (and safer) to gently run fresh water into the overflow tube via a funnel until the overflowing liquid runs clear, then siphon the water out (I use a Home Depot squeeze bulb siphon, typically used for fish tanks, etc., costs 98 cents and fits perfectly inside the factory tubing) till empty then refill with fresh 50:50 distilled water / antifreeze.

Since I don't particularly enjoy the job, I use Dex-Cool so it becomes a once in 5 year job rather than every other year. </FONT f>

 

[garolittle]

Thanks Ron. That sounds like good advice. Although I have to admit that FUSCUCLA1's idea sounds more entertaining.

 

[kARLUG]

I'AM A LITTLE NEW TO VIPER MECHANICS BUT I EASILY
SYPHONED THE COOLANT OUT OF MY BOTTLE (GEN1)
WITH A HAND PUMP PURCHASED AT PEP BOYS FOR
19.95. IT RESEMBLES THE BODY OF A GREASE GUN
WITH A SMALL HANDLE ON ONE END AND A PIECE OF
CLEAR PLASTIC ON THE OTHER. ALL YOU DO IS INSERT THE HOSE INTO THE BOTTLE AND PULL THE HANDLE
AND OUT COMES THE COOLANT. WOULD ALSO WORK
FOR FILLING TRANSMISSIONS ETC. BEST OF LUCK.

 

[pacethat]

Ok guys, new to the viper, but this one is easy.
Everyone of you should have a WET/DRY Shop Vac (If you don't, go buy one, it's $30 for a 3-5 gallon one). Then, when you want to get fluid out of hard to reach places, put an extension on the hose and put it in the area, turn on the vacuum, and it's empty! Then, the fluid is ready to be disposed of.
It won't hurt the vacuum, it just puts it in the tank.
Try it, you'll never siphon again...
Josh Meeks

 

[JGK95]

What'd you use for a chaser? Window fluid? hee hee hee

That type of syphoning really *****!

JGK95

 

[SEASNAKE]

I think brake/clutch fluid has a much nicer after-dinner taste.

 

[Jerry Scott[CO]]

How can you possibly screw up siphoning it out with a clear plastic hose? If the hose is four or five feet long, you can see the fluid coming after you **** on the hose. So just take it out of your mouth before the fluid gets there and dunk the end in a container. It really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Geeesh