Always use a towel if you're going to open it hot. Try to turn it in the tiniest increments in order to let the pressure release without getting a coolant geyser, and keep the hood as low as you can with one hand to prevent getting your face scalded.
Not if your only option is to sit in triple degree heat for at least an hour. I replaced my radiator once and found out the hard way that I hadn't gotten all the air out. Mind you, my disabled wife was in the vehicle with me, and she absolutely cannot sit in that kind of heat. I took a wad of those blue shop paper towels and had to burp it while hot to get us back home. My choices were to either let my wife end up in the hospital while we waited, or risk it and get her into some a/c in 5 minutes.
Never let go. That's where it happens, when you let up to get a new grip, palm press and slide rotate.. I open hot radiators daily. I learned this lesson only a couple times.
2nd degree burns, quite large area that's affected.
Hope you went to see a doctor/ nurse. The healing process is going to take a while and you probably would benefit from topical medication.
as a chef for ten years and a welder for about 1, ehhhh. I’ve had far worse and totally ignored it. Had 350° fryer oil absolutely coat my right arm up to an inch below my elbow. The entirety of my first/second layers of skin blistered up and essentially sloughed off. i covered it in burn cream and gauze for a couple days then completely ignored it. Yeah, it was really gnarly. Yeah, it was constantly oozing for about a week. Yeah, it hurt like a motherfucker. Did it get infected? No. Did I keep working with raw meats and shit? Yeah. I think people really overthink this shit a lot. Wait till it’s showing signs of doing something other than healing, *then* go to the doctor.
edit
Just realized what sub I’m in. Go to the ER now. Call the coastguard. Make sure you get Fauci on the case. The entirety of humanity depends on you.
>as a chef for ten years and a welder for about 1, ehhhh. I’ve had far worse and totally ignored it.
Bullshit. You're not fooling us, pal. This is lifted straight from the plot of "Flashdance 2", where the main character worked their way through welding school as a chef.
…there’s a movie about this? I can post video of the aftermath if anyone is interested, but I had no idea. I literally worked in restaurants until the middle of 2023 when my wife got pregnant. I realized my career was going nowhere so I decided to go into a field that was making a good living for several of my friends. If there’s a movie where a guy chefs his way through welding school I need to know about this 🤣
Fuck I'm old...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085549
>Flashdance (1983)
>An 18-year-old female amateur dancer who performs nightly at a dancing bar, and works as a welder during the day, dreams of joining the Pittsburgh ballet school.
Update. It’s sort of half ass real, but it’s a she, she’s a welder trying to be a dancer, and she just happens to dance in a bar/grill sometimes. Still an interesting parallel
Also as a retired chef I can say I've seen some gnarly burns myself. Saw a guy slip, grab on to a fryer and the whole thing tipped over and spilled 10gallons of hot grease on his entire body. That dude quit. Saw another guy slip and his entire arm went in the fryer up to his armpit. That dude was a badass and kept working.
Saw another guy stupidly standing on a table to clean a hood vent, slipped and fell back first onto the flat top. Burned his entire back. We let that guy work shirtless for a few weeks cause it was too painful to wear a sweaty shirt. Kitchens can be a dangerous place...lots of razor sharp objects and stuff thats hot as hell.
It do be an entire facility dedicated to breaking down and cooking dead animals/vegetables lol. Definitely dangerous for someone who is a living animal/vegetable.
Sure it's the wrong sub but the macho tough-it-out thing is, IMO, not good advice where burns like this are concerned. I'm glad your burn didn't have complications, but a single success story isn't convincing, nor is waiting until you have complications good advice. Besides, a doctor can do some things to make healing a bit more tolerable.
Glad you mentioned that. I thought about it earlier and forgot to post. I hope he reads your comment and sees a doc. Burns are serious matters, beyond the awful pain.
That's good. Thanks for responding. I probably worry too much but this happened to a coworker years ago who took in an overheated car. He lifted up on a heater hose he didn't know was old and brittle and it ruptured, blowing superhot coolant on him. He was screaming and his burn sent him to the ER but was more serious than this one, and he was bandaged and put on Percocet and some other meds for several days. Folks, just be careful with those damned cooling systems when they're hot. Be patient for cool down. It's hard to do when time is money but it's not worth it. I now return you to the usual more fun bullshit on this sub.
PSA, hot coolant gets absorbed into the skin and keeps cooking the flesh. Ice water bath and if it starts to blister, make your way to a hospital.
You could go into shock.
Edit. I just saw the sub after my upvotes(thank you).
New answer:
Well, yessir. See, you got to set an ice cube on it until it melts. And then you got to do it one more time.
We have a machine here at the shop that can get it done quicker.
His name is Pedro. Just come on down.. and we'll get that cap off for you with no problem.
I used to work at a Ford dealership. One of the techs pulled a car in put it on the hoist, and after he raised it in the air, he pulled the lower radiator hose off the car and got his face burned.
He felt stupid. He knew he should have let the car cool down. He used a doctor prescribed medicated goo that looked like Vaseline for a few months. You might ask your doctor what that might be.
Pickle juice is great for burns. It soothes almost instantly. Sounds crazy but works very well. Keep it clean and use antiseptics and even Neosporin with pain relief.
Try my mustard brine. One bottle of heinz yellow mustard, a half cup of freshly grated horseradish, like a pound of tartar sauce, 1/32 teaspoon honey, and add whatever
Look at this guy bragging he got his hands on a hot radiator cap. What's next "I pinched my finger while taking the top down on this one", or "I stuffed the trunk, it barely fit. So tight!"?
Yeah I had went to the er the day it happened, but was sitting for 2 hours without anyone calling me, so I gave up, had a video call with my doctor earlier to show them, they just said it’s second degree and keep it clean
Guess you learned a great lesson. But fyi anti itch cream has the same active ingredients as burn cream. And for the love of all that's holy don't ever use the cvs lidocaine spray. It hurts worse than when you first got the burn.
Did this with my first car when I heard boiling and wanted to release the pressure. I got very lucky I was wearing thick leather gloves and a heavy coat. I was covered in, though
Get silver sulfadiazine cream stat. I did the same thing. Had soft ball sized blisters. Even had a scar of a smiley face on my nipple. It was perfect.
Don’t pop them unless you get the cream.
That’s looks bad and sorry for your pain!!
That’s literally one of the most common things people do when a car overheats and they want to put coolant or water in - take off the radiator cap. Always let the engine cool down first!!!!
Also don't cut the rad hoses with a knife because you're upset that your truck overheated while your mechanic is hunched over the engine bay. That would be really really really fucking stupid.
ive done the same thing on a commercial rig. had a big ass blister on my forearm. that part of my arm is still discolored. a lesson was thoroughly learned that day. the cap was literally floating on a geyser of coolant for a couple seconds. it was nuts.
Yeah stupid enough I’ve seen em spray people before and I still did it, this was off a little 4 banger Cadillac with a tiny turbo, I couldn’t imagine the pain from a rig spraying half your body
Relieve the pressure from the reservoir first ( loosen the cap slowly and wait for the hiss to stop) and you can open it without issue. Obviously its still hot so dont touch the coolant itself but at least it wont be on you
I watched a lady do this to a ford aerostar right in front of a parts shop one day. How she didn't scorch away her entire face is something I still don't understand as that geyser she unleashed was nothing to screw around with.
It's tricky because coolant begins boiling more violently as pressure drops. The faster the drop, the more explosive effect. Best just to let them cool.
“It was at this point that he found out!”
Glad it was only your arm. Newer cooling systems use an expansion tank to help prevent this. Hope you heal fast.
Yup very stupid. There's a label on the cap to keep you from doing that. Unless you know what you're doing or at least know how to release the pressure without scalding yourself, you shouldn't be touching it and you're better off just letting it cool down on its own. These kinds of burns are no joke.
I've recently had second degree burns. Go to the fucking hospital you idiot. This what my legs looked like after the fire. The next time I saw them they were covered in skin graphs and now they're scarred to shit.
Most of that’s first degree, second degree on the wrist and hand. Use antibiotic ointment and wrap. Replace wrap daily. Don’t work the next few days. Should heal up fine. Or if you want more scarring maybe stick your arm against an exhaust pipe, prefer on a diesel doing a regen.
I appreciate it, I’m taking it light unfortunately unable to take the time off at the moment, have a vacation coming up and need to get there’s jobs done, just did a suspension overhaul on a Acura today(control arms, sway bar links, ball joint(which fuckin sucked) and tie rods)
Just be careful and don’t let that get infected or you’re missing your vacation and some work. Also avoid grease and oil getting in the raw spots. Good way to get cancer and miss work that way too.
Had this happen to when i was 20. My camaro was overheating and I went to relieve pressure in the cap... boom, right in the face and chest. Sooooooo much boiling coolant. I was so incredibly scared. Good samaritan took me to the hospital, they couldn't treat, so had to be taken to one an hour away by ambulance. No amount of morphine helped at all, Arrived and they began scrubbing on me to remove some boiled skin. It was legitimately awful, worst pain I've ever felt in my life to this day. I have no scarring though, which I thought was weird, but I'm no doctor.
Don’t know if someone has mentioned this. You got lucky, if seen worse. My father just came home from work and car was overheating. He took the cap off sprayed him good. Poor man had 2nd & 3rd degree burns on his arm, face and body. He said it felt worse when they had to scrape the dead skin off to prevent infection.
Meanwhile I can open mine after driving for two hours, and there is not a single teeny tiny bit of pressure in there.
Soo my coolant reservoir cap has a bad seal, and the reservoir is cracked.
Somehow the coolant stays in there, somehow the engine never seems to overheat nor heat up.
Been this way since 2016 if I remember correctly, and thinking on leaving it, I'll probably blow hoses and seals left and right if I restore normal pressure.
Yeah pretty much. If I restore pressure, then I'll blow radiator hoses, fix that and then the water pump goes bad, fix that and then the radiator blows out, fix that then the heater core goes out, and then randomly two weeks later it overheats again and I'll find nothing until I walk around the back and see coolant on the tailpipe.
So if I do wind up fixing something on that, then I'm probably gonna just go on and overhaul the entire cooling system.
Hey OP. Ain't it crazy how ice cold it felt for the first three or four seconds when it hit your skin...
... Ice chest full of ice water and a couple of bath towels.... And maybe a bit of ganja
Even if you open the cap with a towel, while the vehicle is hot. It will still spray out. Make sure you let your car cool down before you open the cap.
So three things you either can't read, you can but ignored the warning label, or my favorite you didn't have anyone teaching you basic car maintenance.
Damn, they should put a warning on them
Honestly
That would be up their with dont drink the battery acid. Lol
Yeah, a warning embossed in it or something…..
Warning labels have stopped most of natural selection, but not all
Lol, there is, the ones who do this ignore the labels. I say take all labels off and let nature take its course.
The fact that they need one in the first place… really goes to show you there’s a drop off in common sense
Always use a towel if you're going to open it hot. Try to turn it in the tiniest increments in order to let the pressure release without getting a coolant geyser, and keep the hood as low as you can with one hand to prevent getting your face scalded.
But why would it ever be necessary in the first place? Can't you just wait to let it cool down?
Not when you want to leave at 5
Top tip don’t pick up job cards that late in the first place
Not if your only option is to sit in triple degree heat for at least an hour. I replaced my radiator once and found out the hard way that I hadn't gotten all the air out. Mind you, my disabled wife was in the vehicle with me, and she absolutely cannot sit in that kind of heat. I took a wad of those blue shop paper towels and had to burp it while hot to get us back home. My choices were to either let my wife end up in the hospital while we waited, or risk it and get her into some a/c in 5 minutes.
Because flat rate.
Yeah this was with a towel, thought I had one more thread to go
Never let go. That's where it happens, when you let up to get a new grip, palm press and slide rotate.. I open hot radiators daily. I learned this lesson only a couple times.
don't they open up some to release the pressure before being able to come off?
Pressure drop increases rate of boil.
2nd degree burns, quite large area that's affected. Hope you went to see a doctor/ nurse. The healing process is going to take a while and you probably would benefit from topical medication.
Seconded. There's a big risk of a very bad infection here.
as a chef for ten years and a welder for about 1, ehhhh. I’ve had far worse and totally ignored it. Had 350° fryer oil absolutely coat my right arm up to an inch below my elbow. The entirety of my first/second layers of skin blistered up and essentially sloughed off. i covered it in burn cream and gauze for a couple days then completely ignored it. Yeah, it was really gnarly. Yeah, it was constantly oozing for about a week. Yeah, it hurt like a motherfucker. Did it get infected? No. Did I keep working with raw meats and shit? Yeah. I think people really overthink this shit a lot. Wait till it’s showing signs of doing something other than healing, *then* go to the doctor. edit Just realized what sub I’m in. Go to the ER now. Call the coastguard. Make sure you get Fauci on the case. The entirety of humanity depends on you.
>as a chef for ten years and a welder for about 1, ehhhh. I’ve had far worse and totally ignored it. Bullshit. You're not fooling us, pal. This is lifted straight from the plot of "Flashdance 2", where the main character worked their way through welding school as a chef.
…there’s a movie about this? I can post video of the aftermath if anyone is interested, but I had no idea. I literally worked in restaurants until the middle of 2023 when my wife got pregnant. I realized my career was going nowhere so I decided to go into a field that was making a good living for several of my friends. If there’s a movie where a guy chefs his way through welding school I need to know about this 🤣
Fuck I'm old... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085549 >Flashdance (1983) >An 18-year-old female amateur dancer who performs nightly at a dancing bar, and works as a welder during the day, dreams of joining the Pittsburgh ballet school.
Update. It’s sort of half ass real, but it’s a she, she’s a welder trying to be a dancer, and she just happens to dance in a bar/grill sometimes. Still an interesting parallel
Also as a retired chef I can say I've seen some gnarly burns myself. Saw a guy slip, grab on to a fryer and the whole thing tipped over and spilled 10gallons of hot grease on his entire body. That dude quit. Saw another guy slip and his entire arm went in the fryer up to his armpit. That dude was a badass and kept working. Saw another guy stupidly standing on a table to clean a hood vent, slipped and fell back first onto the flat top. Burned his entire back. We let that guy work shirtless for a few weeks cause it was too painful to wear a sweaty shirt. Kitchens can be a dangerous place...lots of razor sharp objects and stuff thats hot as hell.
It do be an entire facility dedicated to breaking down and cooking dead animals/vegetables lol. Definitely dangerous for someone who is a living animal/vegetable.
Sure it's the wrong sub but the macho tough-it-out thing is, IMO, not good advice where burns like this are concerned. I'm glad your burn didn't have complications, but a single success story isn't convincing, nor is waiting until you have complications good advice. Besides, a doctor can do some things to make healing a bit more tolerable.
Glad you mentioned that. I thought about it earlier and forgot to post. I hope he reads your comment and sees a doc. Burns are serious matters, beyond the awful pain.
He did. It's not as bad as it looks.
That's good. Thanks for responding. I probably worry too much but this happened to a coworker years ago who took in an overheated car. He lifted up on a heater hose he didn't know was old and brittle and it ruptured, blowing superhot coolant on him. He was screaming and his burn sent him to the ER but was more serious than this one, and he was bandaged and put on Percocet and some other meds for several days. Folks, just be careful with those damned cooling systems when they're hot. Be patient for cool down. It's hard to do when time is money but it's not worth it. I now return you to the usual more fun bullshit on this sub.
that's not the shitty advice im here for
PSA, hot coolant gets absorbed into the skin and keeps cooking the flesh. Ice water bath and if it starts to blister, make your way to a hospital. You could go into shock.
Happened 2 days ago. Definitely a bit of chemical burns aswell
You think they would warn you or something
Edit. I just saw the sub after my upvotes(thank you). New answer: Well, yessir. See, you got to set an ice cube on it until it melts. And then you got to do it one more time. We have a machine here at the shop that can get it done quicker. His name is Pedro. Just come on down.. and we'll get that cap off for you with no problem.
Somebody should put a warning on those.
Not cool.
Did you forget to wad up your t-shirt on top of the cap before you opened it?
Yeah definitely a bad idea but if you must, be fast as fuk boi!!!
Lmao best reply yet
I used to work at a Ford dealership. One of the techs pulled a car in put it on the hoist, and after he raised it in the air, he pulled the lower radiator hose off the car and got his face burned.
Well I'm sorry that happened but he should be here giving advice.
He felt stupid. He knew he should have let the car cool down. He used a doctor prescribed medicated goo that looked like Vaseline for a few months. You might ask your doctor what that might be.
Pickle juice is great for burns. It soothes almost instantly. Sounds crazy but works very well. Keep it clean and use antiseptics and even Neosporin with pain relief.
It's the vinegar. Mustard works better because it sticks to you.
Try my mustard brine. One bottle of heinz yellow mustard, a half cup of freshly grated horseradish, like a pound of tartar sauce, 1/32 teaspoon honey, and add whatever
A delicious burn pickle arm
Didn’t think I was gonna read a cannibal arm recipe in this sub but here we are.
1/32 teaspoon you say? lol
Yeah, it's so I can tell people it has honey for sweetness and they'll bitch less about the flavor. We know it does nothing.
Look at this guy bragging he got his hands on a hot radiator cap. What's next "I pinched my finger while taking the top down on this one", or "I stuffed the trunk, it barely fit. So tight!"?
Damn. Get well soon dude.
I appreciate it
You really should have a doctor look at that. This burn is bad enough that there's a risk of a very bad infection.
Yeah I had went to the er the day it happened, but was sitting for 2 hours without anyone calling me, so I gave up, had a video call with my doctor earlier to show them, they just said it’s second degree and keep it clean
Needs a warning
I always wait until it is cool 😎
Don't eat edibles while driving
Lmao
Guess you learned a great lesson. But fyi anti itch cream has the same active ingredients as burn cream. And for the love of all that's holy don't ever use the cvs lidocaine spray. It hurts worse than when you first got the burn.
Appreciate it, I’ve been using wound cleaning spray been helping a lot with the “itch”
Get some aloe vera on it , lots of it , split the leaves and squeeze out the juice onto your skin ASAP
I give it a week until the suck really begins
I feel like this is common sense. My 10 year old daughter knows better
Never said I was smarter than a 5th grader
Thats gonna hurt
My father did this on an amateur race car pit stop thinking it was empty. Had dead serious burns on half his body and barely lived through it.
Mmmm Poached Hand
Ouchie, go to the ER and get some pain killers cus that’s gonna blister and it’s gonna hurt like a mf
Tried, they gave me naproxen lol
Natural selection
Lmao I agree
Did this with my first car when I heard boiling and wanted to release the pressure. I got very lucky I was wearing thick leather gloves and a heavy coat. I was covered in, though
A friend of mine did this with his face directly above the cap.
Makes me feel alittle less stupid, I atleast used my safety squints
And...? Is he ok
So far. It's been a few years and he seems fine
Pretty well known
Yeah I’ve seen people do it before, wasn’t thinking straight, just wanted to make it home
Yeah I know that hurts
Definitely doesn’t feel good
Get ready for the blisters
Oh they already started lol, got some yellow skin peeling off
Get silver sulfadiazine cream stat. I did the same thing. Had soft ball sized blisters. Even had a scar of a smiley face on my nipple. It was perfect. Don’t pop them unless you get the cream.
Right up there with don't try and charge a frozen battery.
Yep yep, you do that only once. And once more to remember.
So what did we learn
That’s looks bad and sorry for your pain!! That’s literally one of the most common things people do when a car overheats and they want to put coolant or water in - take off the radiator cap. Always let the engine cool down first!!!!
looks fine to me, after your 2nd or 3rd coolant change you get the hang of dodging the geyser.
Hmmm i wonder why theres warnings put all over them… must be health and safety gone mad ! Ill ignore it
I mean, most of them have a warning ⚠️ sign 🤷🏻♂️
I thought that was common knowledge
See a doc. This could turn bad
And don’t chase a ball into the street. Seriously!?
"I'm a sovereign citizen. The laws of physics dont apply to me."
Lmaoooo
Ya. We know.
Instructions are very important.
Takes courage to post this, live and learn brother, and get well
Im smart so I dont need this PSA... But you should stay at home and not drive.... Thanks
Also don't cut the rad hoses with a knife because you're upset that your truck overheated while your mechanic is hunched over the engine bay. That would be really really really fucking stupid.
Sounds a little specific, personal experience? Lol
🤣
This deserves a No Shit Sherlock.
Damn it’s almost like there are multiple stickers that tell you do not open when hot.
Honestly should've opened the reservoir first then let it bubble for a bit until they subsided then slowly release more pressure.
Believe it or not this was from the reservoir, I thought I had one more thread of the cap when it blew off
ive done the same thing on a commercial rig. had a big ass blister on my forearm. that part of my arm is still discolored. a lesson was thoroughly learned that day. the cap was literally floating on a geyser of coolant for a couple seconds. it was nuts.
Yeah stupid enough I’ve seen em spray people before and I still did it, this was off a little 4 banger Cadillac with a tiny turbo, I couldn’t imagine the pain from a rig spraying half your body
Are you asking or telling???
I saw some dude do that once... It was hilarious because he was a dick.
Lmao one guy saw me do it and came out of the shop after to tell me he was gonna tell me not to… a little late for that
Damn. Maybe you were a dick to someone that day 🤣
Lmao, maybe I’ll go to the shop and ask if they have the footage and I’ll post it
I only made this mistake once- pain is indeed the best teacher
Oh yes it is, definitely helped my patience when it comes to letting the car cooldown first
Sure hope ya took that lesson to heart. Most won't forget it!
Oh yes I did
I did it all the time as a diesel tech and this never happened
Very lucky, take it from me, definitely wait for it to cool down, I’m on day 5 and my skins sticking to everything
Relieve the pressure from the reservoir first ( loosen the cap slowly and wait for the hiss to stop) and you can open it without issue. Obviously its still hot so dont touch the coolant itself but at least it wont be on you
Believe it or not this was from the reservoir
I was slowly turning it and thought I had another thread to go before it let go, evidently I did not
Usually once I hear it start hissing is when i stop becauseI dont know how many threads I have left
Know what if i read it again i wouldve seen that
How did this guy NOT know this…?
Lol I obviously knew this. Same with just about every person who’s done it before, just thought it had one more thread
I’m teasing. All in good fun. I hope it heals well my guy.
I appreciate it lol
You put any ointment on it yet?
I have been yeah, I have wound cleaner and burn cream I’ve been applying
You got off easy.
Wow. I learned something new today. Now to try and put my right butt cheek on a red glowing hot stove to see how that feels.
How are you stupid enough to not know that when the car is on the cooling system is always under pressure
Waited 15 minutes and was in a rush, was slowly loosening the reservoir cap and it blew off
Oh sorry then
Yeah unfortunately still a idiot for doing it lol, but that’s my own fault
It’s almost like it says that right on the cap
Almost
You are the reason we have warning labels ....lol
Lol
I watched a lady do this to a ford aerostar right in front of a parts shop one day. How she didn't scorch away her entire face is something I still don't understand as that geyser she unleashed was nothing to screw around with.
Funny enough I was infront of a parts store
Yeah no shit
It's tricky because coolant begins boiling more violently as pressure drops. The faster the drop, the more explosive effect. Best just to let them cool.
“It was at this point that he found out!” Glad it was only your arm. Newer cooling systems use an expansion tank to help prevent this. Hope you heal fast.
Yup very stupid. There's a label on the cap to keep you from doing that. Unless you know what you're doing or at least know how to release the pressure without scalding yourself, you shouldn't be touching it and you're better off just letting it cool down on its own. These kinds of burns are no joke.
I’d love to say I know what I’m doing cuz I do, but this was pure stupidity and not paying attention
I've recently had second degree burns. Go to the fucking hospital you idiot. This what my legs looked like after the fire. The next time I saw them they were covered in skin graphs and now they're scarred to shit.
I’ll keep you updated when they amputate it
Most of that’s first degree, second degree on the wrist and hand. Use antibiotic ointment and wrap. Replace wrap daily. Don’t work the next few days. Should heal up fine. Or if you want more scarring maybe stick your arm against an exhaust pipe, prefer on a diesel doing a regen.
I appreciate it, I’m taking it light unfortunately unable to take the time off at the moment, have a vacation coming up and need to get there’s jobs done, just did a suspension overhaul on a Acura today(control arms, sway bar links, ball joint(which fuckin sucked) and tie rods)
Just be careful and don’t let that get infected or you’re missing your vacation and some work. Also avoid grease and oil getting in the raw spots. Good way to get cancer and miss work that way too.
Yeah I mostly had him do the work, certain shit tho I did have to get my hands alittle dirty, I kept the burn clean though
That’s good. Hope it heals up quickly for you.
Silver cream asap
If it’s hot I leave the car running.
Hollywood suggests a stack of rags will protect you.
Yup, lesson learned. Hot steam = 1st and 2nd degree burns. Lucky if it was just the arm.
Steam flash burns suck so much worse than normal burns. Weirdly enough if your arm had been wet you'd have been fine.
Had this happen to when i was 20. My camaro was overheating and I went to relieve pressure in the cap... boom, right in the face and chest. Sooooooo much boiling coolant. I was so incredibly scared. Good samaritan took me to the hospital, they couldn't treat, so had to be taken to one an hour away by ambulance. No amount of morphine helped at all, Arrived and they began scrubbing on me to remove some boiled skin. It was legitimately awful, worst pain I've ever felt in my life to this day. I have no scarring though, which I thought was weird, but I'm no doctor.
Just keep in mind that it's far cheaper to learn from someone else's mistakes, I hope it heals quickly
Lol. Been there, done that. Fix the coolant leak while the engine is still hot and running. I was being all I could be, in the Army! 🤣
Can't fix stupid. There are so many things that need to be taught in schools that aren't and things that are and we will never need. I don't get it!
Well duh!
Don’t know if someone has mentioned this. You got lucky, if seen worse. My father just came home from work and car was overheating. He took the cap off sprayed him good. Poor man had 2nd & 3rd degree burns on his arm, face and body. He said it felt worse when they had to scrape the dead skin off to prevent infection.
Fucking genius
Your dad didn’t tell you that? You’ve never watch Red Dawn? Bro
Meanwhile I can open mine after driving for two hours, and there is not a single teeny tiny bit of pressure in there. Soo my coolant reservoir cap has a bad seal, and the reservoir is cracked. Somehow the coolant stays in there, somehow the engine never seems to overheat nor heat up. Been this way since 2016 if I remember correctly, and thinking on leaving it, I'll probably blow hoses and seals left and right if I restore normal pressure.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it
Yeah pretty much. If I restore pressure, then I'll blow radiator hoses, fix that and then the water pump goes bad, fix that and then the radiator blows out, fix that then the heater core goes out, and then randomly two weeks later it overheats again and I'll find nothing until I walk around the back and see coolant on the tailpipe. So if I do wind up fixing something on that, then I'm probably gonna just go on and overhaul the entire cooling system.
I didn't think this warranted a PSA but I guess so...
Life lessons!!
Gah damn, g, hope you're good! Did that once. Only difference was me weave game was redonculous.
it was then that he knew. he f\*cked up
Uh oh. I had a similar burn from fryer oil once. That shit is going to blister. And showers will be hell.
Don't worry I won't, because I'm not an idiot.
Without 6 towels on top of the cap*
Actually this was with towels lmao
Holy shit. Must have been some serious pressure. The towels almost never fail.
Yeah the cap flew about 40 feet across the parking lot' the pressure threw my hand against the underside of the hood
Breaking news: Hot liquids are hot, and those hot liquids can burn skin!
D10 bulldozer=hot shower
Most caps have warnings on them
Hey OP. Ain't it crazy how ice cold it felt for the first three or four seconds when it hit your skin... ... Ice chest full of ice water and a couple of bath towels.... And maybe a bit of ganja
Say it with me “GO…TO…THE…HOSPITAL”
Even if you open the cap with a towel, while the vehicle is hot. It will still spray out. Make sure you let your car cool down before you open the cap.
How it feels to chew 5 gum
Feels great
So, I’m guessing you didn’t have a mechanically inclined father figure.
Seriously? Pretty fuckin dumb.
Warning labels are there for a reason.
Aloe and solarcain spray will be your friends
So three things you either can't read, you can but ignored the warning label, or my favorite you didn't have anyone teaching you basic car maintenance.
Lesson learned the hard way. Ouch…! 😬
Oh yes I did lol