heating washer fluid

Grim/Don

Grim/Don

Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
1,221
My truck's washer fluid freezes up when it gets at/below zero (05 Silverado). Anyone have any tips (besides parking inside) or know where I can get something to help? I saw a thing called the Hotshot which heats the fluid, but it was $189 (once I found a price...)

http://www.microheat.com/Products_hotshot.asp

My squirters are out on the wipers, so they're completely exposed. I was also thinking that I'd try to find a thing like the rear-window defroster for the very bottom of the front window, to help melt the snow/ice which can trap my wipers. From what I saw, certain cars come with that already, but I didn't find an aftermarket item.
 
get some cold weather solvent. in the old days people would use stright antifreeze
 
Is Mo. Montana? Don't use the summer stuff that is made for dissolving bug guts, that freezes easily. You should be able to buy stuff that's good to -40 Celcius (usually purple or blue). Maybe they just sell us that up here in Canada, but it works great. No glacier if you use it before your truck warms up either.

Nolan
 
Yeah, just use the right solvent.

Summer solvent is made for, as Slowpoke points out, cleaning. In the winter, bugs aren't a problem, but snow and ice is. Winter solvent is made for thawing. As a result, it doesn't, itself, freeze until way low.

Some cars take this a step further by actually heating the fluid. But, because the heater doesn't run when the car sits overnight, the purpose of this feature is not to keep the fluid from freezing but rather to help it thaw ice and snow better.
 
Go to the store and read the labels on the windshield washer fluid. In my area most of them are rated to -25 degrees F.
 
Up here, you can buy the -40 stuff just about anywhere, but Canadian Tire also sells one of those heater jobs for $60 CDN.

Even the -40 stuff will freeze if you have a thin layer of it on your window while driving 65 down the highway. Apparently real Canadians are smart enough to avoid this, but I'm just getting there.
 
Mo. is Missouri, but I'm sure people from Montana would be curious about this (if they don't already know).

I was thinking about anti-freeze, but was worried about the finish on my truck. I don't think I've ever topped off the fluid in this truck... it's never ran low, and they always top it off when I have my oil changed. I'll check an auto parts store this weekend for the cold-rated stuff.

Thanks all! I knew the posters on this board would know what to do.
 
Anti-freeze will damage modern clear coats...I would not recommend using that.

Rain-X De-Icer is probably the best washer fluid on the market and the one I recommend to clients. It is orange and has a -60 freezing point or something. It also applies Rain-X to your car everything you use it. At about 2 bucks a gallon, it's pretty economical also.
 
Another vote for the Rain-X deicer fluid. Been using it for years and never had any problems.
 
Had a device on a Land Rover once, essentially a heat exchanger on one of the engine hoses. Didn't make it easy to start squirting if the nozzles were frozen but once going warm water came out of them. Handy on British motorways in winter.
Methyl alcohol is what you want, and the colder it gets the stronger it needs to be. Check the content of a commercial product and don't buy watery stuff. Google Finland and lock deicer for an amusing tradename.
 
they make a kit for such things,at least they did years ago-

its a extra piece of hose that wraps around your radiator hose and heats the pisser water-i had one years ago for a cheby that had lines on the wipers
 
The dealer or oil change place probably just used dyed water, Put the real stuff in yourself.
 
You could also add methyl hydrate to your fluid tank, it won't harm the rubber hoses and removes ice fast.
 
I picked up so RainX that says it's good to -25 degrees. And waht happens... the temp here goes up to 40! So I squirted out the old stuff and added the new. Porbably get to test it today. I left the jug in the back of my truck, in some snow, and it was still liquid the next morning when I poured it.

Dave H -I was thinking that the oil change places probably used watered stuff. I'm going to buy the RainX and keep topped off with that.
 
You can also go to the parts store, and purchase washer hose from them. Get several feet of it; it isn't that expensive.

Run the new hose from the resivoir, and wrap it around your heater hoses in a tight coil, but not so tight it collapses or stretches the hose. Use wire ties to lightly tie it in place, and connect the other end to the Y adaptor that goes to the squirter nozzles.

I have done this on all of my vehicles, and I also use the Rain-X stuff all year around. Haven't had any freezing problems since.
 
wayne37 said:
You could also add methyl hydrate to your fluid tank, it won't harm the rubber hoses and removes ice fast.
Click to expand...

I would not recommend this as it is flammable, despite the fact that it does dry exceptionally fast when moving but the chance of a cigarette butt hitting the windshield and resulting in a fire is (remotely) possible. Additionally, it strips wax.
 
DaveH said:
The dealer or oil change place probably just used dyed water, Put the real stuff in yourself.
Click to expand...

Dealers generally use water mixed with a minute amount of actual fluid when they are low. They tend to do this across the board, even in areas that freeze. Why I do not know, but dealers generally don't know too much about their vehicles anyway.
 
For some reason, this year they stopped selling the 50 below washer fluid, and only the 25 below is available around here. I'm not sure why they stopped selling it (and I mean everywhere!), but the -50 stuff worked great. :grumpy:
 
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