The first frosts always come unexpectedly, and this happens every year! As always, one day is not enough to drain the water and refill the antifreeze. Warm up the engine and it will warm up on its own, it will not work, because... The water froze not only in the tank itself, but also in the pipes and in the nozzles that are located on the hood, whether outside or in the cold. No, if you drive 300 kilometers, then maybe the engine heat will be enough to melt everything, but this is impractical!
How to defrost the washer reservoir
Driving until spring or until it gets warmer is not an option if you urgently need to melt the water and return the functionality of the windshield washer.
Having studied the advice given on the Internet, one option was to find a warm room and wait there until it thaws. But where to look for it, is it a warm room? This is not an apartment for a day or an hour. All warm garages have long been occupied by their cars.
Of course there were some tips:
- Heat anti-freeze (vodka/alcohol) and pour it into the tank and hope that it will melt the water there.
- Heat with a construction hair dryer or even a household hair dryer. Yeah, take a hair dryer (especially a hair dryer), take electricity and stand in the cold, warm it up.
To avoid getting into such a situation
NEVER fill the tank full with water ahead of cold weather.
Fill in half a liter or a liter, and put a bottle of water in the trunk, to which you first add a little liquid soap or dishwashing liquid.
The fact is that liquid soap contains components that prevent water from freezing at zero temperature.
Then there is a high probability that the water, if it freezes, will be at the bottom of the tank, because... if there is not enough water, then it will flow through the tubes to the bottom of the tank. It will melt from the heat of the engine. If the anti-freeze bay is filled, you can use the washer.
If you don’t have time, but you urgently need to go, you will have to take water with you and periodically stop and wash the glass!
The fastest way to defrost
If there is no extra time to wait for the ice to thaw, or simply the previous method does not work for some reason, then there is a faster method:
- Take good, high-quality non-freezing water. It is advisable not to save money and buy with a low temperature threshold.
- Raise the engine temperature to maximum.
- After this, warm up the antifreeze and pour it into a container with frozen water.
- Then you can go to a warmer place, and at the end just add a little more product.
While the car is warming up, you can go about your business, and then completely pour out the water from the washer and replace it with anti-freeze.
The water in the washer reservoir is frozen, how to defrost it
You can also stop by a warm car service center for suspension diagnostics or an oil change. But it's money wasted if your car is fine or you recently changed the oil.
But, if it so happens that you missed the moment and the water froze, then the most effective way to defrost the water is to go to a car wash !
Most car washes will be free, and an extra body wash, and even with wax, will only benefit your car.
The wash lasts 40-50 minutes, the wash box is a warm room . During washing, the water will definitely melt and you can spray it out, or if the frost is not severe and there is not much water, then add anti-freeze.
What not to do if the liquid is frozen
Warming up windshield washer fluid is a labor-intensive procedure that requires great care and compliance with safety precautions. When heating a frozen antifreeze, you must not:
- create strong temperature changes so as not to damage the components of the glass washing system (the use of boiling water, open fire, and strong heat is excluded);
- if the windshield washer reservoir is located above the wing of the car, prolonged warming up of the engine will not help - you will only burn the fuel: combined heating methods should be used here;
- All stages of heating the anti-freeze should be performed slowly and with pauses so as not to damage the frozen pump (impeller and washer pump motor).
Benefits of a car wash
- There is no need to look for a warm room and owe someone for letting you warm up there.
- There is no need to wait for the right time: if one car wash is busy, then call another and find a free one.
- There is no need to heat anything, no anti-freeze, or a hairdryer to warm it up.
- Save time and guaranteed results.
- There is no need to do unnecessary diagnostics in a warm car service center.
- A clean car pleases the car owner's eye and a clean car is much more pleasant to drive.
Simply, if the problem is not solved in the near future, then there is a high probability of ending up with expensive repairs, because... Frost water can expand so much that the washer reservoir bursts! Therefore, do not put off solving the problem until later!
A pressing issue in our climate zone, with cold and long winters. And then it came, the frosts began to get stronger. Naturally, you need to fill the washer reservoir with a special antifreeze liquid. But who could have foreseen that there would be frosts that night?
We rush to the store for a miracle solution, buying the most expensive, and sometimes the cheapest liquid. We fill up the tank and go about our business. We leave the car outside for several hours, come back, get into the car, start it, the windshield is of course frozen.
We turn on the stove and wait for it to thaw; to speed up the process we try to spray liquid on the glass, but it doesn’t flow. We open the lid of the tank, and there is ice instead of liquid.
Snowball game. What to do if the windshield washer freezes?
The sudden onset of frost took many car enthusiasts by surprise, including journalists from our editorial office. The not-so-low-temperature washers that were filled in at the beginning of winter froze in the tanks, hoses and nozzles. Stopping near every snowdrift for a handful of snow for the windshield is never an option! How to defrost a windshield washer?
Method No. 1. From personal experience
In my case, the problem was solved by a long trip around the city and filling with low-temperature washer fluid. I was lucky most likely because the old fluid in the tank was almost gone, and the new one simply “melted” the remnants of the old one.
However, to find a liquid that freezes at temperatures below -20°C, I had to visit two supermarkets and three gas stations. All crushed! At one of the gas stations there was no anti-freeze liquid at all, and only at the last gas station was it possible to steal the last container of Krugozor from the display case with a temperature threshold below -25°C. Why weren’t shopping centers and gas stations prepared for the booming demand for washer fluids? Were you expecting global warming? Didn't wait...
In general, the method is clear. If there was little old fluid in the washer reservoir, simply pour in new fluid, but with a low freezing point. You can try to find a “wash” for harsh winters or pour in the most frost-resistant concentrate. But personally, I didn’t find anything below -25°C in five retail outlets.
What should I put in the washer reservoir? Our author Sergei Boyarskikh recently tested anti-freeze liquids - “Testing “anti-freeze”: which will freeze, which will not?
Method No. 2. “Pour vodka into the tanks, otherwise we won’t leave!”
Remember “Peculiarities of National Fishing”, where the heroes poured vodka into the tanks of the submarine? The principle is approximately the same: pour alcohol or vodka into the system - they will defrost the water in the tank. But there will be such a smell from the alcohol in the washer that if the traffic police stops you, then, quite possibly, the inspector will offer to take an alcohol test.
It is clear that it is morally difficult for our person to do this. But it is necessary, Fedya, it is necessary!
Method No. 3. “Sleep” in a warm room
It’s a pity you can’t, like in the cartoon about Prostokvashino, drag a car into an ordinary apartment. And if such a number will still work with the Peel P50, then with the Hyundai Accent, alas, it won’t.
The method is as follows: you need to leave the car in a heated garage or warm parking lot. To warm up the engine compartment, let the engine idle, which will speed up the process of defrosting the system. In the morning you just need to drain the old fluid and add new one.
By the way, if the reservoir is located near the engine, you can try to fill it with the same washer fluid for harsh winters and drive the car for a long time. But if it is located somewhere near the front bumper, then driving and warming up the car is useless.
Although it is still better to warm up the car well: the heat in the engine compartment will help to thaw the hoses of the windshield washer system.
Finding warm parking, it turns out, is also a problem. At an outside temperature of -18°C in the underground parking of the Skala shopping center near the metro station. “Sports” the on-board computer showed -10°C. This is unlikely to be enough to defrost the washer. But it’s warm in the Stolitsa shopping center. The prices here are quite affordable: holding a car for 2 hours costs 35,000, 3 hours - 40,000 rubles. For each subsequent hour, plus 3,000 accrues, and a day in the parking lot will cost 103,000 rubles.
Method number 4. Radical
The method seems to be the simplest: remove the tank and put it in a heated garage overnight or bring it home. This is if the tank is located in an easily accessible place, but often to dismantle it you need to remove some parts like the fender liner or bumper, which is labor-intensive and uncomfortable in the cold. But if they took it off, good. You can speed up the process by placing the tank on the battery or rinsing it with hot water, but not boiling water.
If the pipes and injectors are frozen and you have a garage, warm up the system with a hairdryer.
By the way, if the system itself is frozen and there is no hairdryer, you can disconnect the washer hoses and inject a special liquid into them to defrost the locks. Or the same alcohol. It is important that the engine is warmed up at this point - in a warm engine compartment, the supply tubes will quickly warm up and the ice in them will melt. When the washer starts working, do not spare the system - not only in the tank, but also in the pump, tubes, and nozzles there should be not water, but non-freezing liquid.
Another simple life hack - the nozzles can be cleaned and adjusted with a simple needle. Always keep it in the glove compartment or behind your visor.
How to drain old fluid from the washer fluid reservoir?
So, you have finally defrosted the washer fluid in the reservoir. Now it must be drained, and it does not matter at all what kind of substance it was previously - simple water or a special liquid. It will have to be replaced in any case, now it is imperative to use an “anti-freeze” one. How can I drain this liquid without removing the reservoir? We find the connection point of the hoses in the tank - you can carefully warm the connection point with a lighter - and disconnect it. We insert one end of the hose that comes out of the tank into a regular plastic bottle, start the engine and turn on the washer - all the liquid will flow into the bottle. Now feel free to fill in the “anti-freeze”. One note: if your car has headlight washers, make sure the headlights are turned off.
The liquid can also be drained using a piece of hose through the top, causing the necessary vacuum in it. The main thing is not to get poisoned by this crap.
If there is not much liquid, then we simply turn on the heater motor and wait until the liquid pours onto the glass.
Method No. 5. Hot water
If you didn’t have much liquid in the tank, you can fill it with hot water (not to the brim) and wait until the ice melts. Drain the old fluid and add a good anti-freeze solution. But the method is controversial. Firstly, you cannot pour boiling water, since a large temperature difference can cause the tank to become deformed. Secondly, if the old liquid does not melt, then we get several more liters of ice in the washer... If the liquid in the reservoir has melted, but nothing is still pouring onto the glass, then you need to pour hot water over the washer system tubes.
Method number 6. Combined
All previous methods can be combined at your discretion. But here is one of the interesting and quick solutions.
We go to the store and buy a high-quality “anti-freeze” that has the lowest possible temperature threshold. Next, we warm up the car to the maximum and heat the “anti-freeze” in any convenient way. When both the car and the anti-freeze system have warmed up sufficiently, add the heated liquid to the tank and drive to a warm room. Place the container with non-freezing liquid in a warm place where the air flow from the stove is directed. Upon arrival at your destination, take a container of liquid and add it to the tank, where space has become free due to the melting of ice (as you know, ice takes up more volume than water).
While the car is in a warm room and the defrosting process is in progress, you can go shopping and make the necessary purchases. After about two to four hours, depending on the amount of ice in the tank, the entire system should defrost, the pipes and nozzles should melt. After this, you need to drain all the water from the windshield washer reservoir and fill it with the liquid that was in the car.
Method No. 7. Boiler
You can try to melt the tank using a boiler. But a number of problems arise. The boiler must be very compact so that it fits into the filler neck. The tank can be damaged, you need a 220 volt power supply, etc. and so on. - in general, a dreary matter.
That's all for us. We tested how these methods work in practice back in 2007. Read about this in Ivan Kriskevich’s material “Three approaches to defrosting.”
Yuri GLADCHUK Photos by the author and from open sources ABW.BY
What tips can you give for defrosting the windshield washer? Leave your messages on the forum
The washer fluid is frozen in the tank, what should I do?
Funny. Antifreeze liquid frozen? Yes, easily! This is especially true for cheap fakes and counterfeit non-certified liquids.
Or maybe they just didn’t have time to change the summer fluid to the winter one, or they forgot, or by coincidence there was water in the tank?
The worst thing that can happen is that if there was too much water in the tank and it froze, then the tank could simply be crushed, since water expands when it freezes. Of course, it won’t be possible to quickly melt a liquid in its second state of aggregation, much less on the street.
How to make your own “anti-freeze”
Car owners with experience prefer to make an anti-freezing solution with their own hands. This is cheaper and more reliable, but no less high quality. The risk of falling for an unscrupulous seller will be reduced. To do this you will need:
- purchase two bottles of vodka and a liter of triple cologne;
- mix in a five-liter canister;
- To get an even larger volume, you can add another liter of water and anti-freeze.
This mixture will have approximately 60% alcohol. This guarantees excellent durability even at -50 degrees Celsius.
How can you defrost injectors?
All of the methods and methods listed above help if the windshield washer reservoir is frozen. However, this is not enough for the car to function normally. After all, the ice will still be in place in all nozzles and tubes. Even if the pipes freeze on their own while under the hood, the injectors are located on the hood itself. They may freeze while driving while the washer itself remains operational. To defrost them, you can use several methods:
- Warm up the injectors by hand. There will be enough warmth, but your hands themselves will freeze.
- Use a professional lock defrosting agent or alcohol. Spray liquid into the nozzle and immediately spray with windshield washer.
All this must be purchased in advance and kept near you. It is advisable not to leave the lock defroster in the car for a long time, but to take it out when necessary. Moreover, if you use the method of heating the space under the engine hood, such a problem will not arise, since the warm air will directly affect the entire system.
Cover with salt
If you don't have a hairdryer at hand, you can use regular table salt. Just pour the whole tank directly into the tank. The sodium will react chemically with the ice and begin to release heat. This is what will melt the ice. Please note that under no circumstances should the saline solution be poured directly through the windshield washer system. Salt is harmful to it: it can damage the metal and accelerate its corrosion. To pump out the solution, it is best to use a special pump designed to pump fuel from the tank into the canister.
Don't forget to rinse the salt tank. It is best to do this with a non-freezing liquid.
Warm up with a hairdryer
This method can be used even if the entire tank is filled with ice. But you can defrost it only at low temperatures. In the cold, a hairdryer will not be able to heat the air so much that the ice will melt on its own.
Direct a stream of hot air directly into the neck. If the design of the tank allows it, try to heat its upper part as well. This will speed up the defrosting of the ice. Remember to turn off the hair dryer from time to time and let it cool down. Otherwise, you might accidentally burn it. As a rule, it takes about 2-3 hours to defrost the tank in this way.
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