Will coolant make you sick??

[bob 351]

Originally Posted by 2002auxr6

ummm, lol, did it taste nice! i wouldnt have a clue, i dont think it would of been good for you if you swallowed it but given you didnt you should be fine, i nearly drank paint stripper the other day, that would of been a disaster, had a glass of jim beam in one hand and paint stripper in a glass in the other, went to take a sip of the jim beam and it was the paint stripper! thats shit burns! lucky i dint swallow anything and i was close to a hose

shane next time i'm over your place please dont offer me a drink lol rotfl

[devilracer_01]

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

In an "emergency" (moment of stupidity .. which seems to be coming more frequent lately!!) I needed to get some coolant out of the header tank of the AU, so as a last resort I siphoned it with a hose and of course got some in my mouth (but didn't ingest any). I washed my mouth throughly with water, but of course that's where I left it ... about 14 hours ago. Do I need to do anything else or am I just being hypochondriac?

Mmmmmmmmmmm Powerade Isotonic :

[gamera]

just put the green cordial down...

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Bill_R

should run? no way!
Above about 70% it starts to increse the freezing point and decrease the boling point. Thermal condictivity is very poor by then.
50% is for an optimal balance to provide antifreeze. you need less for corrosion resistance hence many 5-10% recommendations.

I meant shouldnt run pure coolant/glycol

[aussiblue]

If you get into the age group like some of us old forum members where a periodic colonoscopy is required you will already know that polyethylene glycol is often prescribed orally for pre-operation bowel cleansing. Ozjavelin may accordingly be indisposed for some time. Too much info perhaps but a small amount of coolant is unlikley to hurt you and the bittering agent added to it usually means you would chuck up before you drank enough for it to be harmful.

[BAFalconXT]

Was your p1ss fluro green?

[schmidty]

Little brother was in hospital a few years ago. Kid in the bed next to him was almost dead after being camping with his family and getting into some stuff in the back of the car and finding a 1.25L coke bottle with coolant in it. He drank it thinking it was cordial. Swallowed a large mouthful or 2 before his dad saw him.

He was spitting his secont mouthful out after tasting it, but already had swallowed a decent dose.

Doctors said the amount he swallowed is quite lethal and the only thing known to undo the effects is alcohol. So pretty much they had this 10 year old kid absolutley smashed on vodka via a drip. They closely monitored his BAC to keep it as high as they could safely keep it as to help the treatment but not to do him any more serious damage.

Scary stuff seeing what he went through. Was in hospital recovering for 5 days. Liver was a bit messed up. After seeing that, coolant is always something i take care in storing now.

[peedee]

polyethele glycol is a different substance to ethyl glycol, one you can drink and it mcleans the system out as well as reducing the amount of potassium in your blood the other you cannot, the treatment in the emergency department is Intravenous alcohol, not the drinkable kind, and yes it does cause liver damage, blindness, nervous sytem shut down, as well as killing of your kidneys as they try to process it out of your system, it only take 150 to 200 ml's (swallowed) to make you as crook as rookwood in my career I have seen about 4 cases in the last 10 years and 3 of those 4 were suicide attempts, and of those 2 were successful. Standard warning to anybody be very careful when dealing with fluids in and around your cars, brake fluid is just as bad, and as we all know the petrol no longer tastes as good as leaded (damn I used to love knocking off those brain cells, quicker than alcohol) Also fun to see the interns (junior doctors) giving each other 5% glucose dips to help them get over their hangovers so they could get working after a big night out

[xdc351]

Yeah if you spat it out you'd be OK.... Though you could get smashed for 5 days and blame it on cleansing your system :

I took a huge mouthful of thinners a couple of years ago (next to my beer) and all I did was spit it out and wash my mouth out...survived that OK.... I think? :

[GreenMachine]

OzJavelin! Please post to confirm condition!!!

Bonus points if you followed it up with a GTXIII chaser!

[aussiblue]

http://www.desktopcnc.com/swarf/glycol_cool.htm

QUOTE] Ethylene glycol is a unique chemical, it is most commonly associated with automotive antifreeze . Ethylene glycol has numerous other organic chemical uses. It is interesting to note that polyethylene glycol is a nonabsorbable polyalcohol used in the preparation of the human gastrointestinal system for examination during colonoscopy. The preparation in question usually involves the drinking of one gallon of polyethylene glycol. Which not only prepares the bowel for inspection, but also assures that the patient in question will be able to start at temperatures down to 40 degrees below zero. The pathology of ethylene glycol is one of mistaken identity. Alcohol dehydrogenase is an enzyme found from the human body whose chief responsibility is the degradation of Jack Daniels and all of his progeny. The breakdown of alcohols in the body almost universally results in the production of carbon dioxide and water. The problem arises because ethylene glycol is a Poly-alcohol. As such, alcohol dehydrogenase believes ethylene glycol to be Jack Daniels distant cousin Fred Daniels. Alcohol dehydrogenase dutifully splits ethylene glycol into intermediate organic chemicals the most dangerous of which is oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is toxic inside the human body even at low concentrations, and it has a nasty tendency to precipitate in crystalline form inside human cells. In the emergency room this is one of the easy ways to diagnose ethylene glycol poisoning, by finding oxalic acid crystals in the urine of the patient (which, I understand, tastes sweet if you order a medical student to drink it.) Knowing that ethylene glycol is toxic to human beings one needs to ask the questions of: how much, how fast, how long, and by what route. We typically quote the LD 50 of ethylene glycol, and look at this low figure and shriek in terror and throw away our Bridgeport milling machines (please list name and address and leave the machine conveniently at the end of your driveway for pickup by an authorized machinery recycler any tooling would as well be appreciated). Here in the United States there is no lack of information regarding toxic workplace exposure to chemicals. One need only go to the local hardware store and count the number of safety stickers on the average ladder to see that we are a nation full of individuals who would drown looking up to see where the rain comes from. As such there are hundreds of bureaucrats and helpful scientists here to investigate the effects of one gallon ethylene glycol retention enemas and their effects on the guinea pig, rat, lab rabbit, rhesus monkey, and hapless college student willing to make a buck subjecting himself to some test"[/QUOTE]

Note some coolant is made from the safer polyethylene glycol rather than Ethyl glycol. So it depends what coolant cocktail you drink and how much you drink. The drinker should get hold of the MSD sheet from the makers site.

eg http://www.msds.castrol.com.au/msds.aspx?msdsno=CASHJ

initial symptoms from ingesting a large dose are like those of drinking excess alcohol

Wikipedia notes for Ethylene glycol (monoethylene glycol)

Symptoms
Symptoms of ethylene glycol poisoning usually follow a three-step progression, although poisoned individuals will not always develop each stage or follow a specific time frame.[1] Stage 1 consists of neurological symptoms including victims appearing to be intoxicated, exhibiting symptoms such as dizziness, slurred speech, and confusion. Over time, the body metabolizes ethylene glycol into other toxins, it is first metabolized to glycoaldehyde, which is then oxidized to glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid, and finally oxalic acid. Stage 2 is a result of accumulation of these metabolites and consists of tachycardia, hypertension, hyperventilation, and metabolic acidosis. Stage 3 of ethylene glycol poisoning is the result of kidney injury, leading to acute kidney failure.[3] Oxalic acid reacts with calcium and forms calcium oxalate crystals in the kidney.

[SlikedTurb]

Originally Posted by 2002auxr6

ummm, lol, did it taste nice! i wouldnt have a clue, i dont think it would of been good for you if you swallowed it but given you didnt you should be fine, i nearly drank paint stripper the other day, that would of been a disaster, had a glass of jim beam in one hand and paint stripper in a glass in the other, went to take a sip of the jim beam and it was the paint stripper! thats shit burns! lucky i dint swallow anything and i was close to a hose

i'd rather Drink the Paint Stripper!! LOL
:

[Falcon_Phill]

I accidentally got a mouthful of petrol once, apart from the bad taste it actually made my mouth feel really clean.

[aussiblue]

Propylene glycol is a whole family of compounds that have many different names and uses (see Propylene Glycol Ethers Panel website for a full list). It is used in everything from manufacturing polyester and as a solvent for extracting fats and oils to an ingredient in soft drink syrups and flavoring extracts and as a preservative in many foods. It is also used as a coolant in refrigerators, hydrolic fluid and brake fluid, for de-icing airport runways, and in various drugs and cosmetic products.

Propylene glycol is considered to be relatively nontoxic. However, in saying this I am NOT saying that it is safe to drink antifreeze.

If you want to know what is in antifreeze, go to any search engine and type in "antifreeze MSDS". That's the Material Safety Data Sheet that lists the hazardous ingredients and their health effects. You'll find that most of the antifreezes available now are made from ethylene glycol, which has a whole string of horrible health effects. The MSDS sheets for antifreeze products made from polyethylene glycol list hardly any adverse health effects at all. One ad for propylene glycol antifreese says "Safe. Odorless. Tasteless...Propylene Glycol formula makes this...antifreeze non-toxic. (So if you need antifreeze for your car, choose one made from propylene

from http://www.dld123.com/q&a/qandatemp.php?id=Q103

[Mutley]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

ethylene glycol (anti freeze) is widely known for its use as a cat poison

So is Asprin. Asprin will kill a cat almost immediately

[eXtremist]

I've had coolant in my eyes, and it burns :(

[groops]

Originally Posted by xcgxl

ethylene glycol (anti freeze) is widely known for its use as a cat poison

Excellent....one more thing to use...lol

[Psycho Chicken]

Originally Posted by Polyal

And which one do you think I took a swig of? Yeap, the bloody Metho! I didn't swallow it but I felt a bit quisey (sp?) for a bit.

Orange juice before, you'll be right.

[Shonky]

Originally Posted by fiery

You do realise you are taking the 'loving ya car' to a whole new level when you are so blase about swallowing liquids meant for the car...

As long as the car hasn't ingested any of HIS liquids...

That really would be loving your car. Really.

[Sourbastard]

this should be renamed the bill clinton thread

I swallowed but I didnt ingest.

[dazAUSR]

did your mouth go....boom...boom...boom like in the listerine mouthwash commercial? Hope you're okay & glad you didn't swallow...could have been nasty! ...just don't drink water as you shouldn't mix it with the coolant....so they say.