R4P... Front washer nozzles not working?

[Nick72]

Reservoir full of minus 10 capable liquid.

Rear washer works fine.

Can hear the motor buzzing when I press lever.

Temperature plus 1C. Driving for over 1.5 hours on motorway with ICE on. Should be warm, no ice blockages.

Had to pull off as I couldn't see a thing with salt spray . Suspect I'll now be pulling over every half hour.

Losing confidence in the car.

 

Any ideas appreciated.

[forkingabout]

Blocked nozzles? 

Detached washer pipe? 

[ernieb]

I’ve had a partially blocked screen washer nozzle for a couple of weeks. So far not found a way to unblock it, never  had this issue ever before.

[Strangely Brown]

15 minutes ago, ernieb said:

I’ve had a partially blocked screen washer nozzle for a couple of weeks. So far not found a way to unblock it, never  had this issue ever before.

Snip a bristle off a fine wire brush and poke it in the hole. Always worked on Cortinas etc.

[DerekHa]

As Mark says use something fine like the wire off one of those brushes or as an alternative I've done the same with the fine copper wire you find in say a 5 amp flex. Thats easier to bend so you can work it around a little carefully without damaging the outlet in the nozzle whilst you poke it inside..

[NASY]

Just done 1100 miles trip down to deepest England and back (shame about the world cup), same issue with the washers failing. I thought maybe the fluid I used just didn't fully mix with the water, it didn't like temperatures below freezing when travelling at reasonable pace so I guess the windchill factor is at play. A little disappointing as I really like to be able to see where I'm going, an out of date perspective for some who would trust technology to do it all.

[NASY]

Reflecting on my experience I'm convinced the washer fluid is pretty useless as even when the washers were spraying fluid onto the windscreen it was partially freezing up. Never had this problem using other brands, this was Halfords concentrated allegedly fit to -20.

[Cyker]

I think it's how fine the spray is or something; I've noticed in my Mk1 and the Mk4 that using the washer jet in sub-zero temps tends to just spray frozen fluid onto my windscreen (Which is not helpful in making it easier to see...!), but the Mk2's 'jets' literally just fired two thick lines of water at the windscreen instead of a misty spray, and this never froze!

Although thinking about it, it may also just be because the Mk2 petrol ran a lot hotter than the Mk1 diesel and Mk4 hybrid... (The mpg in the Mk2 was garbage compared to the diesel and hybrid, but I was never cold in that thing!  )

 

[Nick72]

3 hours ago, forkingabout said:

Blocked nozzles? 

Detached washer pipe? 

First thing I checked then the reservoir. No evidence of blockage on the nozzles. 

Got home just now and something is dripping from under the engine. Could be detached pipe. Suit and shirt already covered in grime from faffing but I drew the line after a 4 hour drive and getting under the car to investigate. Freezing and dark. And knackered. 🤣

[Nick72]

2 hours ago, ernieb said:

I’ve had a partially blocked screen washer nozzle for a couple of weeks. So far not found a way to unblock it, never  had this issue ever before.

It's bizarre. Was actually working when I set off back. Then window thick with grime and salt spray on the M1 and no spray. Rear working fine. Front ones not working at all.

Had to stop 3 times on the way back to clear the windscreen. If I wanted to have to stop 3 times on a business trip I'd have bought an EV! 🤷

[Nick72]

2 hours ago, Strangely Brown said:

Snip a bristle off a fine wire brush and poke it in the hole. Always worked on Cortinas etc.

That's what I'm afraid of. Just recently I feel like I've got a car from 1982. 

[Nick72]

1 hour ago, NASY said:

Just done 1100 miles trip down to deepest England and back (shame about the world cup), same issue with the washers failing. I thought maybe the fluid I used just didn't fully mix with the water, it didn't like temperatures below freezing when travelling at reasonable pace so I guess the windchill factor is at play. A little disappointing as I really like to be able to see where I'm going, an out of date perspective for some who would trust technology to do it all.

It is disappointing. Never had this problem on a car from 1990 tbh.

Windchill is a human phenomenon. It's about forced convection and rates (thermal power of the human body fighting the wind taking heat from that warmer body away). But the temperature of a surface subject to wind cannot (for fundamental thermodynamic reasons) fall below the static air temperature. So if you are driving and OSAT is 1C then the car nozzles cannot possibly fall below that. In fact they will be above that temperature because you have a kinetic effect contribution to temperature referred to as the total temperature through the recovery law.

I was using arctic screenwash. Minus 10C rated. I think a pipe has come off since neither squirter is working, the motor is running, the screenwash is arctic stuff, temperature above 0, and there's something dripping.

[Nick72]

46 minutes ago, NASY said:

Reflecting on my experience I'm convinced the washer fluid is pretty useless as even when the washers were spraying fluid onto the windscreen it was partially freezing up. Never had this problem using other brands, this was Halfords concentrated allegedly fit to -20.

Did you use neat or dilute?

[ernieb]

To be honest I've been using the same washer build for more years than I want to think about and never had any issues before.  Well maybe in the '70s but I was running around in old bangers then.

I'll try the thin wire trick, the passenger side is working as is one side of the drivers side but now sprays over into the inside lane. @Nick72, If you drove on the inside of me then you'd be OK?

[Nick72]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

To be honest I've been using the same washer build for more years than I want to think about and never had any issues before.  Well maybe in the '70s but I was running around in old bangers then.

I'll try the thin wire trick, the passenger side is working as is one side of the drivers side but now sprays over into the inside lane. @Nick72, If you drove on the inside of me then you'd be OK?

I need to check it out this Saturday when I get time. There was a pool of soapy fluid under the car this AM. Soon I'm going to carrying a tool box in the boot for on road repairs like I did on my Cortina. 🤣

[nlee]

Would have thought these would have frozen. Mine have been frozen for days. With the nozzles being so fine, the tiniest amount of liquid is contained within the nozzle and does freeze despite the washer fluid being rated to well below zero (the rating is probably for a given volume of fluid). My last car had heated nozzles but they still froze occasionally using neat fluid, probably fluid freezes on the outside of the nozzle, or it is frozen atmospheric moisture on the outside. It never froze in the reservoir or pipes.

Perhaps apply a little bit of warmth to the nozzles and see if it works after?

If the pool of liquid is washer fluid, maybe it's because of the pressure created in the lines by activating the pump against a closed head and forcing it out of the joints instead.

[NASY]

Nick, thanks for the gen on heat, makes it more depressingly poor performance. Yes it was diluted as it said on the tin to do, mistake I think.

[Rav Rob]

I got somewhere today and found one of the headlight wahers stuck out like a little antler. It really didn't want to go back and can't it force as feel like its made for 10 pence budget.

Eventually large amounts of deicer sprayed inside and it freed up. Not impressed.

Lidl used to do an awesome -30C washer fluid but stopped it long ago.. not cheap but even at 25% dilution it was better than supermarket/petrol station rubbish. In really bad weather at 50% dilution it was unstoppable.

[DerekHa]

7 minutes ago, Rav Rob said:

I got somewhere today and found one of the headlight wahers stuck out like a little antler. It really didn't want to go back and can't it force as feel like its made for 10 pence budget.

Eventually large amounts of deicer sprayed inside and it freed up. Not impressed.

Lidl used to do an awesome -30C washer fluid but stopped it long ago.. not cheap but even at 25% dilution it was better than supermarket/petrol station rubbish. In really bad weather at 50% dilution it was unstoppable.

Hi Rob,

Read your post and your comment about the old Lidl washer fluid. I have been using their main competitors, Aldi, screen wash for quite a few years now. Never had that freeze up on me though confess to not having checked what temperature it's rated down to. Currently have this concentrated in my own Citigo and my partners C1 and haven't had any problems with it freezing during this cold snap. It's not that expensive from what I recall around £2 or £3 I think and it's ready to use so no diluting. Only problem is they only have it in a couple of times a year.

 

[TonyHSD]

21 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Reservoir full of minus 10 capable liquid.

Rear washer works fine.

Can hear the motor buzzing when I press lever.

Temperature plus 1C. Driving for over 1.5 hours on motorway with ICE on. Should be warm, no ice blockages.

Had to pull off as I couldn't see a thing with salt spray . Suspect I'll now be pulling over every half hour.

Losing confidence in the car.

 

Any ideas appreciated.

Normal occurrence when freezing cold. -10C° screen wash might not be good enough., you can  do -25C°  next time but also it’s important to bleed the system after refill with stronger mixture., pump few times to spray out older fluid. 
Another tip here, when all that happens you can take a bottle of warm water from home or services and clean your windscreen then pour over the jet wash nozzles both side and pump the spray again. This can help you defrost them and make them working again, it did helped me two night ago with the same problem, front were frozen while rear was working properly. 👍 

[ColinB]

My windscreen washers froze up on Sunday, it had just been serviced and they had obviously not topped up with a winter strength mix and not helped by the freezing fog. The headlamp washers still worked though.

After standing in a covered car park for an hour or so they unblocked and were ok all day after that. I topped up with undiluted screen wash and have my fingers crossed that they will be ok

[TonyHSD]

My one got frozen properly from last night deep freeze -8C° and both pumps stopped working. Thankfully I had a spray bottle with window cleaner in the boot and I had to stop few times to spray and worked great. Now I did try warm water over the screen wash tank and the pumps started working again but no spray available on both front and rear, perhaps the pipes got frozen too, as I did warmed up the nozzles but no luck this time. Got to wait till Monday when temperatures rises above 0 C° and see if any damage has happened. 

[NASY]

I think it's totally worth carrying wash fluid in a container kept warm in the car which is the only reliable method at really low temperatures, a jeycloth helps too - can also tend to the headlights.

[Cyker]

Add me to the count of people with frozen washer jets today!

My poor car has so much salt on it it looks like it's white on one side!  

 

 

[TonyHSD]

16 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Add me to the count of people with frozen washer jets today!

My poor car has so much salt on it it looks like it's white on one side!  

 

 

Worse than that? 
My one is disgusting, and I left it this time unwashed for 4 weeks because of the icy cold weather and the fact that I am driving in the worst possible conditions, in between the glitters late night and early mornings. There is so much salt on it that even has melted the snow around 😂🫢