nickcdn

All good now.

DennisMitchell

I think I would empty the coolant reservoir. If the car hasn't been run since the error then it hasn't gone into the engine and radiator. You can purchase new coolant and refill the reservoir to the recommended level.

- B -

Flush the coolant completely. If you don't want to do it then don't start the engine, but get the Q towed to your dealer or mechanic and have them do a complete flush(drain, refill, flush again, refill). I wouldn't risk it without the flush since washer fluid is mainly alcohol.

timlocke

If it was only two cups I'd just empty the reservoir and refill. An old fashioned siphon tube or even a wet/dry vac with a crevice tool might work.

BlackSVT

Yep, agreed. Siphon and go. You could even leave it and that small amount won't hurt anything, but I don't get the feeling anyone here is going to take that chance.

If it's regular blue washer fluid, there's no more than 50% alcohol and the rest water for even those rated to -50F. Many of the standard ones you see are down in the 25-30% range. Any more and the stuff would be flammable so the ratio is kept low. The water obviously won't hurt, and the alcohol will evaporate away after a good warm up.

Just be thankful you didn't put antifreeze in the washer tank. Now that's a mess to clean up

JBDinTX

I agree just suck it out, refill and go!! Hell remember Red Dawn. They pissed in their radiator. Lol.

timlocke

The normal running temp of my Q5 ( 2.0T) as shown on the gauge is above the boiling point of methanol which is what is often in washer fluid. So i suspect it will just disappear leaving the reservoir level down a little bit.

ELEVENS

Good grief the alcohol (normally MeOH but in some factory blends MeOH + EtOH) isn't going anywhere. Before ethylene glycol gained popularity as a coolant, alcohol was used in coolant mixtures. Besides, alcohol and water form an aziotrope and it takes special distillation equipment to get it all out. I'd be more concerned about the detergents - their propensity to foam and the potential to interact/react with the anti-corrosion package of the coolant and coolant system and engine materials. I make my own windshield washer solvent of 10% MeOH, 10% EtOH, and einszett glass detergent in distilled water. This formula I derived from reverse-engineering the BMW factory fill. It can't be sold legally over the counter due to the EtOH but dang does it ever work wonders. I make my own coolant for my motorbikes too but that's a bit complicated.

If it were me, and so long as the car hasn't had time to pull any coolant from the reservoir, I'd just drain the reservoir and refill with 50:50 genuine Audi coolant and distilled water. The genuine Audi coolant is VERY important. There's so many coolants available that if you're not super careful, you'll mess things up (long term). Don't believe the jug when it says "compatible with all coolants". Long term, a silicate-based, organic acid-based, or mixture of the two packages makes a very big difference to aluminum radiators, copper radiators, solder used, etc. etc. Don't go there. Stick with whatcha got. Even flushing and starting over with a different product is risky.

BlackSVT

At the risk of seriously derailing this conversation, most of the methanol will boil out once the coolant temp >150F (or thereabouts, I forget the exact temp of methanol boil --> Why I became an electrical Eng rather than chemical. too much memorization!). A run cycle or 2 at 200F+and it's gone. I'm pretty sure methanol/water does not form an azeotrope (unlike ethanol) which would complicate things. Something about methanol having more affinity for itself than water, whereas ethanol is the opposite.

So all that gibberish to say, if you only have 2 cups in the reservoir, suck it out and forget it is a completely fine alternative. Any residual will be so small as to be meaningless. IMHO

I am curious on this one though - I thought the alcohol/water combo was used for antifreeze in the old days, not "coolant" in warm weather due to the low boiling point? not true?

ELEVENS

That's funny I went with chemistry because I thought elec. had too much memorization Not sure about the MeOH boiling off at 150 though due to it being in a mixture and the pressure thing. For example, water doesn't boil off at 212 or the ppl in the deep south would be having fits. The only place it can go is back in the reservoir, only to be condensed out in the relatively cold liquid. Definitely not going to research it though as I do that at my day job and it pays better than the forum (since the forum justifiably pays nothing). We agree - just change out the fluid in the reservoir.

Not sure about the function of alcohol in the radiators of antique cars although I'm pretty sure you don't want to distill alcohol in there lest you'll end up with a serious case of lead poisoning

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Not too worried about off-topic, this place is pretty boring the way it is