Sunday 30 August 2009

Not As Green As I'm Cabbage-Looking...

I just knew that blogging about my spectacularly blonde moment would have repercussions. Sure enough, while visiting friends on Saturday evening, the men present were laughing their heads off.

"Admit it, you've been filling up the screenwash bottle..." they chortled.

Mustering up what little dignity I could, I told them that even I knew where the screenwash bottle was, and the bottle I'd been filling, thinking it was the radiator, wasn't the screenwash bottle. I knew that for a fact.

Unfortunately, having admitted the blonde moment, they were absolutely unconvinced: "You are so blonde... it must have been the screenwash bottle, there's nothing else it could have been..."

So, this afternoon, after Mass, I opened up the bonnet of my car for inspection...

I pointed out the screenwash bottle. It had a windscreen symbol on it, which is how I knew that this was where the screenwash went.

The bottle I have been filling up (thinking it was for the radiator) is not the screenwash bottle. It's another one. It even has a hose going to the radiator. It has markings on the side indicating Low and Full...

... and the cap is even labelled...

Water is a coolant, right...?

No-one could quite understand what this bottle was doing there. It was (grudgingly) admitted that my mistake was, therefore, understandable. However, my feelings of vindication were short lived...

"Of course, the really blonde thing is that you haven't checked it out in the car manual..."

Hmmmphhhh.

11 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

:-D I had one of those moments. Yesterday a friend of mine needed help right away, and I never did get the chores I'd intended done. Quite late I discovered that in haste to get to her (I'd parked in her driveway and had to bring in a number of things) for some dumba$$ reason, I'd not QUITE turned the key all the way to the "off" position...and left the freakin' keys in the car for hours with the result that the battery was DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. But that's what AAA is for, right?

[Who NEVER leaves the keys in the car, except yesterday....]

Rob said...

It should be ok to put water/coolant in the overflow. If the radiator is low, it should draw coolant from there by pressure differential. Seldom should you have to add directly to the radiator. (Unless I've been told wrong all these years.)

Idle Rambler said...

Well, I'm pretty impressed with your knowledge Mac, looking at your photo (so, that's what's under the bonnet, eh? :))there seems to be a multiplicity of caps to unscrew and fill with something or other! BTW 10/10 for labelling! Maybe you should be drafted in to label the diagrams in the manual with labels like, 'put the radiator water here' on the correct one and 'NOT for radiator water' on the other caps.

Dilly said...

It's amazing that with all their technical knowledge, I still haven't met a man who could use a washing machine without boilwashing his wollen socks at least once...
Or one that can make a white sauce from scratch.
Or use another man's TV/Skybox/Virgin control combination without mucking up the settings (or explain to others how to use their own.

Simon Platt said...

What spiffy arrows!

(Also, I can't see how water could get from the overflow to the radiator - unless, perhaps, you were to drive like this. You don't do you?)

Carl said...

Sorry Mac but as my wife knew where the radiator cap was on your car without any prompting and she isn't good with cars it's still funny

Agnes B. Bullock said...

This is judgement for all of your blonde jokes!!! Now, succumb to the lure and admit it- you really have been jealous of us blondes and now, YOU ARE ONE!!! Embrace and celebrate it.

Agnes B. Bullock said...

PS_ my sympathies on the auto front. Have lived through them myself and they are NOT fun.

Mulier Fortis said...

Errrrm... Agnes...

I really am blonde...

Mr. Neutron said...

Actually you've been doing the right thing in spite of your blondeness. When you top off the overflow then it will get sucked back into the radiator the next time it cools off. The idea is that the overflow tank is never under any pressure and so it's safe to add coolant at any time, whereas you must wait for the motor to be stone cold before you add coolant directly to the radiator or you risk severe burns.

GOR said...

Mac: no harm done. I'm not sure about the British climate but here in the soon-to-be frozen Midwest of the US the recommendation is that coolant and water be mixed in a 50/50 quantity.

Dilly: I'll have you know that I DO make white sauce from scratch! Now as to "boilwashing" woollen socks, I think I'm safe - as I don't wear woollen socks!

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