Motoring Discussion > How to defrost windscreen washer?	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Fursty Ferret	Replies: 35

Mon 20 Dec 10 19:43   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Fursty Ferret

I haven't refilled the washer fluid on the BMW since I bought it in November; it seems to have a cavernous container. Unfortunately, with the cold weather and the fact that BMW appear to have filled it with plain water, it's frozen solid. Peering down the filler neck reveals a solid column of ice, and despite driving 45 minutes today it hasn't melted at all. I have two bottles of neat screenwash ready to go in, but I need to get the ice melted first! Innovate suggestions required (other than taking it back to BMW with a Post-It note saying "Fix this please" stuck to the windscreen). Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 19:47   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Navy

Put it in a nice warm aircraft hangar, or in your garage with an appropriately placed fan heater. You will need to get the whole system warm enough to thaw the pipes as well. Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 19:52 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 19:54   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Skoda

Boil the kettle, pour it in :-) It's made of stern stuff, it can take it. None of this paper thin nonsense on lesser marques. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 19:56   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Navy

Can the pump withstand freezing? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 19:56   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Iffy

Is there space for much fluid as it stands? If so, pour in the neat screenwash which will at least stop it freezing any harder. Expansion has probably already taken place, hopefully it hasn't cracked the bottle. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 20:00   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Armel Coussine

Blank the radiator with a bit of cardboard. Empty the oil out of the sump, or simply remove the sump plug. If you don't know where it is, ask Quickfit. They might even do it for you if you smile nicely. Drive flat out in second gear for 20 or 30 miles. When the water temperature warning light comes on, park in a warm garage leaving the bonnet closed. That ought to do the trick. If it doesn't, try to set fire to the engine bay by pouring petrol or paraffin over the engine and igniting it. When it is well alight, shut the bonnet. Wait till the fire goes out. Even if it doesn't melt the ice, it will melt the screenwash reservoir. Then you just chuck the residual lump of ice away and ask Quickfit to repair any damage. Failing that, what about an old-fashioned tosher's blowlamp? Seemples as people keep saying. Note: if you are tempted to try any of these methods at home, don't. No reason in particular, but just don't. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 20:10   How to defrost windscreen washer? - NortonES2

How about putting some plain water into the Eishöhle, and inserting one of those portable water heating devices for tea making? Here's one - tinyurl.com/2voq4yf Chosen at random for illustration only:) Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 21:01   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Bagpuss

Hair dryer or hot air gun. If using the latter, be careful not to melt the insulation on the surrounding wiring. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 21:09   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Navy

>> Hair dryer or hot air gun. If using the latter, be careful not to melt >> the insulation on the surrounding wiring. >> Or melt the plastic bottle. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 21:22   How to defrost windscreen washer? - madf

Gin works. At least it defrosts me. Hic.. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 21:37   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Bagpuss

>> Or melt the plastic bottle. Good point. Once got into enormous trouble for using the wife's hairdryer to dry out some condensation in the headlight of her Ford Ka after changing the bulb. Didn't want to use the hot air gun for fear of damaging the polycarbonate lens or burning the paint but the hairdryer was never the same again (maybe because I went to the trouble of untangling the mains cable, but that's another thread). Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 22:06   How to defrost windscreen washer? - scousehonda

Drive for another 45 minutes. Once the thaw starts it works its way through pretty quickly. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 23:23   How to defrost windscreen washer? - legacylad

Once it has melted, somewhere in the 'Bargain' thread on here you could buy 5litres of concentrated screen wash and get 1 FOC. Thanks to whoever recommended it. I bought some, and it was delivered to my home carriage paid. £5.99 for 10litres was a good deal..only 5 minutes on t'net and no messing about in shops. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 06:06   How to defrost windscreen washer? - MD

Were you bored AC? Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 09:23   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Zero

>> Were you bored AC? judging by his post here, and his outburst in others, "Tired and Emotional" last night would be nearer the mark. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 09:40   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Iffy

...outburst in others..."Tired and Emotional" last night would be nearer the mark... Agreed. I thought he was Zero in disguise. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 09:59   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Zero

The Mask of Zero you mean? ~ Z ~ Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 11:00   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Armel Coussine

>> "Tired and Emotional" Yes, very. I'm not covered in shame exactly, but I hope ON and NC won't take my rudeness in another thread too much to heart, especially ON who says (and I believe him) that he used to do tail-out slides in an HGV 40 years ago. Having never even driven an HGV or artic, I feel I ought to nibble a small piece of humble pie for breakfast. And the brandy butter hasn't even been made yet. Ugh. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 15:28   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Navy

>> >> "Tired and Emotional" >> >> Yes, very. All is forgiven, I had my suspicions. I did power slide a RAF 5 ton truck through a 180 deg turn on their parade ground. I was suitably ear bent by the owner, who marched off muttering about matlotes. I belive it is called "drifting" these days. :-) Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 00:35 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Dec 10 23:32   How to defrost windscreen washer? - FotheringtonTomas

Use a greenhouse heater on "low" and a plastic tarpaulin to keep the draughts out. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 05:13   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Pat

Why does it worry me that you can fly an aeroplane but not be able to.....:) Pat Reply to this message | Report message       2

Tue 21 Dec 10 07:55   How to defrost windscreen washer? - BiggerBadderDave

Noddy can fly an aeroplane but he can't tie his own shoe laces. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 08:11   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Zero

Noddy is scared of the goblins. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 09:02   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Navy

Some pilots have scared me. Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 21 Dec 10 at 09:03 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 09:23   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Dog

Use a washing up liquid bottle for now with a 50/50 mix of windscreen/w fluid, and wait til it thawz. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 10:46   How to defrost windscreen washer? - movilogo

Why the windscreen washer container is made of plastic instead of metal? If it were made of metal, then engine heat would have kept it warm all the time, which in turn would have helped cleaning the ice from screen more effectively. To check the washer level, a narrow transparent glass window could have been on the side of the container. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 10:54   How to defrost windscreen washer? - R.P.

If memory serves me right the one in the Moggie Thousand was glass - which was pretty potty - it may have been an aftermarket one ! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 11:04   How to defrost windscreen washer? - FotheringtonTomas

I remember the originals as being plastic (polythene), and holding about 1 1/2 pints, clipped to an inner wing by a spring clip like a cyclist's trouser clip. The tube went into the bottle through a hole in the cap. The washer was operated by pressing a pump on the dashboard with a finger or thumb. Last edited by: FotheringtonTomas on Tue 21 Dec 10 at 11:05 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 13:35   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Zero

>> If memory serves me right the one in the Moggie Thousand was glass - which >> was pretty potty - it may have been an aftermarket one ! If it had "co-op dairy" on it, yes it was non standard. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Dec 10 11:33   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Old Sock

>> Why the windscreen washer container is made of plastic instead of metal? Because modern designs dictate the use of very irregularly-shaped washer fluid reservoirs to fit in wheelarch spaces etc. This would of course be prohibitively expensive done in metal. To thaw out the system, pour boiling water into whatever space may still be available in the reservoir. Go for a longish run to get the underbonnet as warm as possible (though not as warm as AC suggests!). Park in as sheltered a spot as possible and drape heavy blankety stuff over the bonnet area. Try the squirty thingies at regular intervals - once fluid issues from jets, keep operating the pump to drain the reservoir. Re-fill with an approriate washer fluid. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 24 Dec 10 10:21   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Runfer D'Hills

Now in advance I want to make it utterly clear that I'm not recommending the following and will not risk it with any of my cars but... I was in a London cab this week and got chatting to the really quite elderly driver. Well I say elderly, he looked it anyway. Been a cabbie all his adult life he told me. Certainly knew his way around. Anyway, we got onto the weather somewhat inevitably. I mentioned that no matter how strong the concentration of my screenwash it had still frozen once I got any speed up and thawed again when travelling more slowly. We didn't discuss the impossibility of that as he agreed it had happened to him too. However, the advice he gave astonished me. He claimed that he put a tablespoonful of antifreeze in each fill up along with just enough normal screenwash to act as a detergent and had never had the jets freeze since first trying that decades ago. I remarked that it must surely damage the paint or the mechanism but he assured me it didn't in that concentration. Interesting at least. Still not going to risk it though ! His cab was immaculate by the way. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 24 Dec 10 11:48   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Netsur

Taxis - built to withstand the stupidity of taxi drivers! If it works - don't knock it. Don't know how a tablespoon can do much harm? Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 24 Dec 10 12:11   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Rudedog

But who's going to be the first to dare to try it? Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 24 Dec 10 12:44   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Zero

Humph me ole mate, a word in yer shell-like. Wot the flounder driver told ya, its the same ole spiel he gives anyone wot dont leave him a tip. Reply to this message | Report message       2

Fri 24 Dec 10 13:32   How to defrost windscreen washer? - Dog

>>Wot the flounder driver told ya, its the same ole spiel he gives anyone wot dont leave him a tip<< - - - - > :-D Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 24 Dec 10 14:35   How to defrost windscreen washer? - John H

>> Anyway, we got onto the weather somewhat inevitably. I mentioned that no matter how strong >> the concentration of my screenwash it had still frozen once I got any speed up >> Obviously, you are using the weaker screen-washes made for the British market. Buy the ALDI stuff next time it is on sale. It is designed for the Continent and claims to work at temperatures as low as -70C if used undiluted. >> frozen once I got any speed up and thawed again when travelling more slowly. We didn't discuss the impossibility of that oh no, not windchill factor again! :-) Reply to this message | Report message