Rep Power: 0

I know, I'm an idiot. What happened: I could see a little coolant on the ground so figured I had a small leak but I really needed to get going so I took off in my 2005 Civic. About ten miles into the drive, the temperature gauge pegged. I pulled over, steam coming out the hood. I couldn't remember if I had any coolant but looked in my trunk and found a half full jug of 50/50. It was dark, I was roadside and I had to be somewhere. So I start pouring it into the radiator. Probably got a quart in when I realized it didn't look like coolant. It was actually old oil from when I changed my oil a couple weeks earlier. I'd put the old oil in an empty coolant jug and put that in my trunk intending to take it to the hazardous waste facility.

After realizing this, I called for a tow. The car has been sitting at my house for ten days (I had to leave on a trip), a reminder that I'm never too old to act stupidly in haste.

Can I drain the radiator, flush some water through, find the leak and move on? Or is this more complicated? Thanks for any help!

 
Rep Power: 242

Is this the first time it overheated?

Since you didn’t start the car it should not have circulated much. Flushing the oil out should suffice.

 
Rep Power: 221

Flush it a few times, maybe use a cooling system flush