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windshield washer nozzle broken AGAIN!!

29906 Views 28 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  asathananthan, 
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Check the picture
Somehow the piece inside the nozzle was gone and the water didn't have enough pressure to reach the windshield.

This is the second time I have seen on my van.
The 1st time happened on the passanger side. Now, is the driver side. $14.00 for the part last time. Will see how much it cost this time :(

compare the 2 pic to see the missing part

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topspy said:
The "blue" stuff comes in different temperature ratings. In my general area...usually for "down to 32F"...
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Isn't that just water? :D

I assume that a 32 F / 0 C fluid is not intended for use in freezing conditions, and has only detergent added.

I wouldn't buy any washer fluid not rated for at least -30 C (-22 F).
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topspy said:
Hmmmmm.....maybe as a pre-emptive/preventative measure, we should all try and "super glue" (or something) the spray nozzles to their housings....of course, be careful to not plug the spray holes. ;D :eek: 8)
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... or just keep a spare one in the toolbox, since the original is unlikely to ever fail and the gluing effort is probably just as high as replacing the thing.

I'm not going to worry about it; mine are on their seventh winter and are fine.
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I had never heard of this type of problem before, in any brand of vehicle, driven anywhere.

spender said:
I've replaced two of these already, I think it's when water gets trapped in them from running off the car, then freezes, which loosens the whole sprayer enclosure, resulting in the centre "popping" out.
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This seems plausible to me, and would explain why it would affect a vehicle in conditions which frequently hover around freezing and include a lot of rain. Here, once winter settles in there would be few times that runoff water would be a concern until spring.

I suppose the key might be to jog the sprayer when parking to ensure that the nozzle is filled with the non-freezing washer fluid rather than water.
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topspy said:
Unfortunately, the lower-temp stuff usually isn't available locally in many places.....unless below freezing temps are common during the winter.
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That's understandable. We can get -45 C (-49 F) stuff here :D

Since washer fluid is sprayed on the outside of the car, it must be compatible with all autobody materials and environmentally acceptable. As a result, it doesn't have really effective anti-freeze components (such as the glycol used in engine coolant), and depends instead on alcohol. They are basicially just water, alcohol, and touch of detergent; you can make your own (or make the available stuff into a more winter-suitable version) by adding alcohol.

The alcohol is generally methanol - which is toxic but acceptable when appropriately diluted - but I just learned today that at least one ethanol-based fluid is available, and some use a very small amount of isopropanol (IPA). For home-brewing, just adding methyl hydrate (which is methanol) from the auto supply store or even ethanol or a touch of isopropanol from the drugstore should work.

Learn more than you ever wanted to know about this stuff on the Recochem Windshield Washer Fluids web page. Recochem is refreshingly forthright about chemical composition information; mixing chemicals to make products for sale under their own name or for others is their business.
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I would guess that Recochem sells only in Canada, but I assume that the range of formulations and range of products are the same everywhere, except for those temperature-based variations. The Wal-Mart house brand here is Recochem as well, but Wal-Mart doesn't carry all of the variations... for instance, they don't have the ethanol-based washer fluid (although they do have an ethanol de-icer in a spray bottle, which is presumably just more concentrated washer fluid).
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