tsutomu Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 well i looked under my heavy duty floor mat on my drivers side, and my carpet is coated with this gross liquid, which after tasting, turns out to be coolant, my somethins leakin if its the heater core itself then would i have to replace it, or any ideas on whats wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Have a good look at the heater hoses in your floor board. Next tip: Dont taste anti-freeze. Anti-freeze = Dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Have a good look at the heater hoses in your floor board. There's no hoses in the cabin. The likely culprit is the core itself, or the coolant control valve. Either way removing the dash will be neccesary unless you want to cut open the heater box - I prefer a clean proffessional job so I pull the dash - gives a chance to lysol the ducting and replace deteriorated foam. Takes about 4 to 6 hours usually. Hope that it's the core because the control valve is dealer only, and they are $120 Next tip: Dont taste anti-freeze. Anti-freeze = Dead. One taste isn't going to do it. Lethal dose is approximately 1-1.5mL/Kg which equates to over 1/4 of a cup of 100% Ethylene Glycol for a 150 lb individual. Being that anti-freeze is generally diluted by 50% it would take about 1/2 a cup to by lethal. That said, ingesting a mouthfull of it would definately produce toxic symptoms that may need to be treated. It would not likely be fatal however. A simple lick or taste is not cause for concern - even the medical literature on the subject admits that: "If the concentration is >20% then a mouthful could be toxic, and in children anything more than a witnessed taste or lick may be a cause for concern." ....this sugests that a "taste or lick" isn't even cause for concern IN CHILDREN. So no - tasting it to determine if it came from the cooling system is probably not dangerous. Do I reccomend tasting random fluids that may or may not be vehicular in nature off your floorboards? Of course not. But there's no reason to scare the man. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Have a good look at the heater hoses in your floor board. Next tip: Dont taste anti-freeze. Anti-freeze = Dead. Next tip: antidote for ethylene glycol poisoning == Ethanol. Booze. I was a vet tech for many years, and one day while rummaging found a 30 year old bottle of everclear up in the cabinet, with a Florida tax stamp across the top of the bottle and everything... (Ethanol stronger thant 151* has been banned in Florida for a couple of decades IIRC) The doctor said it was probably there for use in antifreeze poisoning cases, because it catalyzes the ethylene glycol out of your blood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nug Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 My question is why you were drinking mystery liquid off the floor of your car. I mean, I'm pretty gross, but that's just nasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Everclear still legal in Tennessee. Used once to get better mpg a few years ago in my hatchback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SakoTGrimes Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 According to biodieselers, ethanol is also the cure for methanol poisoning. Rubbing alcohol contains about 5% methanol to discourage people from using it as cheap booze, but wouldn't the 65% ethanol completely neutralize it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 According to biodieselers, ethanol is also the cure for methanol poisoning. Rubbing alcohol contains about 5% methanol to discourage people from using it as cheap booze, but wouldn't the 65% ethanol completely neutralize it? Rubbing alcohol is Isopropyl Alcohol and not Ethyl alcohol. totally different stuff, i've heard it called "wood alcohol" but i am not entirely certain why. I have also been told that if you drink it you go blind. Booze is Ethanol or Ethyl alcohol.. methanol is also known as methyl alcohol, and rubbing alcohol is isopropyl. (nice-and-purple) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Depends on the brand of rubbing alcohol - I have a bottle here that's 70% Ethyl. Other brands are made from Isopropyl. Both work as antiseptic, so there's no real reason to prefer either. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Depends on the brand of rubbing alcohol - I have a bottle here that's 70% Ethyl. Other brands are made from Isopropyl. Both work as antiseptic, so there's no real reason to prefer either. GD Really??! I have never seen Ethyl rubbing alcohol.... I wonder if it is a state regulation or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davalos Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I have seen IsoAlc. in the 90%s ... but most of them are in the 70% range. I just took out my carpet from the back which was infested with gas, oil, grass, sawdust, apes-head juice, and other unspeakable festering fluids that was really starting to get to me. Put it up on some racks & got out the power-washer. Blasted the HELL out of it & soaked it in Tide/Degreaser for an hour, and them blasted him away again. WOW!!! Nice (in my best Borat voice) I think you have to take the seats out to get to the fronts. But it's gotta be worth it. I know from other cars I've had the difference clean carpets make in smell ... when you have it out, you can check the floorboards, etc. You will be amazed (and probably sickenned) at the amount of dust, dirt, grime, etc you'll find under there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeshoup Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Isopropyl is quite different from Ethyl. They both work great as an antiseptic, but I think Isopropyl is cheaper to produce, which is primarily why most rubbing alcohols are isopropyl. Isopropyl is much, much more toxic to the human body and doesn't burn as well as Ethyl. Which is possibly why Ethyl is used in gasoline. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol - More info on it. That says twice as toxic as ethanol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opelsuby Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Everclear is also still legal up here in Nordakota. used also to produce what we call 'Red-Eye". This substance is consumed at a gazillion small-town weddings. Tis nasty in my opinion because it is flavored cherry which I loathe. It is also an accelerant. It was used to melt down ( and I mean all the way to the ground) a playground complex. Flippin vandals. It was sad but cool at the same time. It was a $40,000 complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Not to change the subject but, Look at the metal heater core tubes, the ones that the rubber hoses connect to. These could have corroded inside the cabin and caused your problem. Your problems could be worse, when I looked under my carpet, I found my driveway:mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Your problems could be worse, when I looked under my carpet,I found my driveway:mad: Oh... THAT'S where you put it. I would recommend first of all cleaning up the coolant mess and then seeing if it comes back. The problem might have resolved itself or possibly somehow spilled there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsutomu Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 My question is why you were drinking mystery liquid off the floor of your car. I mean, I'm pretty gross, but that's just nasty. oh by all means, it wasnt i who tasted it, it was my dad, my carpet looked way too gross for me to do anything like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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