Bonehead - 1 quart trans fluid to coolant tank - cleanup

[plyonsMC9]

Well, working too many hours, coolant and trans fluid are both red, gallon jugs are both black, should have had my glasses on, or whatever excuse works.

Added about a quart or so Allison Transynd to the coolant reservoir in the MCI DL3.  It's about a 2 gallon tank near one of the rear engine doors.  It feeds up to the surge tank by a small pump.  Upon realizing what I had done, I sucked everything I could out of the fill tank / reservoir. 

Then added back a gallon of the proper coolant. I have not run the bus, nor fed any of the coolant up to the surge tank and rest of the coolant system.

Have I recovered sufficiently, or  - are there other steps I can take?  The bus doesn't need to "roll" until Wednesday.  The manual I have shows 28 gallons coolant capacity.

Thank you -
, Phil

[plyonsMC9]

Now I'm thinking I could empty the coolant recovery tank via the hex plug near the bottom.  I think I have that identified.  Looks like I may need to soak that rusty plug in liquid wrench or heat gun or ...   Then empty the recovery tank.  Fill it with something like Blue Devil Radiator Flush & Oil Degreaser.  Fill the rest of the tank with water.  Then maybe stir the tank with something like compressed air as I cannot run the bus to circulate the radiator flush in that tank.  Finally, empty, flush the tank with fresh water, drain, then refill with the 50/50 coolant mix I would normally use.

Sound OK?  With regards, Phil

[Dave5Cs]

Phil at least it wasn't the other way around. Water or coolant not good in Transmission but probably won't hurt after you cleaning as much out surge tank as you did.

[plyonsMC9]

Thanks for that Dave!,

Phil

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Join the club, Phil. Once, I put oil in a coolant reservoir in a backhoe I was unfamiliar with. Then another time, I pumped 50 gallons of gas in a diesel tank in a van conversion I once owned.  Both had to be drained out.  Fortunately, I realized my mistake in the backhoe before starting it and told my boss.  I guess he drained it out while I was took another piece of equipment out on the construction project. 

With my diesel van, I drove it about a mile on gas until it died beside the road. I called Bad Sams, and fortunately, I had just left home.  Eventually, a couple of hours later, in the middle of Orange County, with about 50 tow trucks within a 10-mile radius, Bad Sams found one that would agree to their terms. A tow truck that was not set up to carry an over size and weight van showed up and drove me about 8 miles back home, where my neighbor, a diesel mechanic, pumped it into a 55 gallon drum he had lying around and put 5 gallons of real diesel fuel in the tank which got me to the next fuel station, where I bought 55 gallons of diesel to fill it up a second time.  Lesson learned.

I try to be more careful now. It can be confusing if you drive a gas powered car and a diesel powered bus. 

[plyons]

Thanks gentlemen for the encouraging words.  I felt pretty ridiculous with this post.  But more important than the bonehead title, I don't want cause even more problems.    I did follow the course of action I had outlined.  I did buy a lot of distilled water and used that to fill/scrub along w Blue Devil radiator flush and degreaser.  Along w/using compressed air to create turbulence in the tank - scrubbing action.  Then filled flushed w/distilled a couple of times, until just clear water was coming out of the tank.  Took a long time.  And maybe next year I'll again flush the radiator /cooling system.   It's been a year or two since it was last completed.    Filled up the tank w/ the 50/50 pre-mixed Detroit coolant. 

Best Regards, Phil