manually drain windshield washer fluid?

luttersj

luttersj

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Woodbury, MN
My car is an ex-California car. It now resides in MN where the ambient temp is now 7 degrees. Needless to say, I have a brick of blue washer fluid and a very dirty windshield!! If I can get that stuff melted is there an easy way to get that out so I can put in the stuff that won't freeze? Or can I add something to it to prevent it from freezing until it gets used up? I've been adding the no freeze stuff hoping that it would dilute it enough but it's not working...
 
Park the car where its warm? Or you could remove the whole washer fluid tank and take it inside. Its not that hard to do.
 
I dunno if you can reach it from the top but if you disconnect the hose attached to the reservoir the fluid should come out (if melted! :D)
If you take off the wheel well spash guard you can get to it.
 
fill it with vodka. wont freeze and itll make your windshield super clean.. just make sure and hit your spray button when you get pulled over and start slurring your words.. hehe.
 
Vodka eh? any specific brand?

I'm going to put it in the garage where I work tomorrow during the day. after 10 hours it should be melted. the garage is about 60-65 degrees. then I'll attempt to drain it. Hopefully it'll be as easy as pulling a hose off...

Pektel, any troubles with your's freezing up? Once I get the no-freeze stuff, I should be OK, right?
 
I had the same problem. I think that once it started to freeze I used up all the liquid that prevented the rest from freezing therefore making it freeze faster. I waited til it melted later that day and sprayed til it was dry only took a few minutes. Oh, this reminds me.. i have to make a new post about that... good luck
 
hey man, how is everything in Woodbury? I do not understand what are you using. I have not had any issues yet with the fluid in the MN weather.
 
I haven't had an issue with the fluid in the resevoir. however, when we had that 30 below weather, it took a few seconds for the washer fluid to come out of the nozzles. of course there could've just been ice on them. it was too freaking cold for me to check.

I also park in the garage. it's uninsulated, but protected from wind chill.
 
pektel said:
I haven't had an issue with the fluid in the resevoir. however, when we had that 30 below weather, it took a few seconds for the washer fluid to come out of the nozzles. of course there could've just been ice on them. it was too freaking cold for me to check.

I also park in the garage. it's uninsulated, but protected from wind chill.
Click to expand...

you guys are lucky, 24 hours outside for me in the cold.
 
jk52781 said:
hey man, how is everything in Woodbury? I do not understand what are you using. I have not had any issues yet with the fluid in the MN weather.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same as in St Paul :D

I don't really get what's going on either, but it makes sense to me that they'd have a different formula for those of us in a cold climate. The car came from CA in August. So I can only assume that the stuff in the container right now is pretty much Windex. I mean, I've got a jug of the stuff in my uninsulated garage and it's not frozen. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.

I'm glad to hear that it's not a common problem, though. I'm pretty sure that once I get that frozen clump out of there and replace it with new, it'll work.
 
If you are having a problem getting the existing brick of fluid melted then just disconnect the little reservoir pump line, boil up some water and carefully pour it into the reservoir. Once it has melted the block of fluid then just hit the button and drain all the fluid and water out. Once it is all gone then run new fluid through the lines to get the rest of the water out. Now you are cleared and ready for whatever step you decide to take after that.
 
I thought about the rubbing alcohol but wondered what that might do to my paint.

I have the car parked in a 60-65 degree garage right now. After 10 hours it should be back to a liquid state!

Is there any chance of burning out the washer fluid motor by running whatever the full capacity of the reserviour is though it in one shot? I don't want to go from being frozen to being burnt out!

I'm going to look for a way to drain it first, but if I have to, I'll spray it all out!
 
Friend, this isnt that complicated. It appears that a previous owner placed something that didnt have proper non-freeze properties in the reservoir.

So..once it thaws in the garage, simply use the washer and let it all (or the majority of it) squirt out. It will not burn out the motor, as the motor is designed for many years of use anyways. Once its all out, simply refill with something approproate that wont freeze.
 
a starter is designed for many years of use, too. are you trying to say that I could crank over an engine for +/- 5 minutes without causing damage to the starter? I realize that the motors are meant to last the life of the car. I just don't want to use up that life tonight!! I'd say at the most, I've only used a washer fluid motor for 5 seconds at a time.

The plan is to find an easy way to drain it. If that's not possible then I'll pump it through the nozzles. Worst case scenario the motor gets replaced under warranty...j/k if any warranty underwriters read this.
 
you could just get a hose and siphon it out. I think it would be quicker....
 
Rubbing alcohol will work, and will not damage your paint. And that way you do not have to go through the hassle of removing it.
 
for anyone following this topic (and I don't think many are...) I took one look at the reservoir and knew that I'd never get it out of there without pulling off the front wheel and removing the plastic wheel well. There's no way to simply pull it out from the top and now way to reach under to yank off any hoses. So I fired up the car and started hitting the washer fluid. It comes out for about 12 seconds at a time. realease and repeat about 30 times. After about 8 minutes or less I had all of the fluid drained according to the warning that I received in the message center. I refilled with some new fluid good to 20 below. Which is good because that's the forcasted low for tonight! I'll know mo tomorrow morning after it sits there all night (inside the garage it should stay above zero) but I'm fairly certain that it'll work just fine.
 
Yep, once the new stuff started coming out I let it run for +/-5 seconds. It was 10 below this morning so I didn't try it out yet for fear of not being able to see anything if it did work!
 
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