Wiper Water Not Working ...what Could Be Wrong ? Ice ?

[dieseldick]

near new citreon ds3 . wipers etc have been working, no faults at all sinse buying car. today i filled wiper water bottle up, drove down road, went to spray windows and no water comes out, i drove a total of 60 miles today so even if the water pipes had iced up overnight ( was really cold and icey here last night ) the water pipes would surel have thawed out . surely.

when i pull lever to shoot water onto windows i cannot even hear the faint sound of the water pump motor working.

advice please

[bookbinder]

Did you put plain water in, or a mixture of windscreen wash + water?

[gingejbee]

The pipes MAY have thawed...but the exposed jets/nozzles will be solid....unless you used a good mixture of screenwash antifreeze. And, if you can't hear the pump...that'll be frozen up, too.

[BlackadderV]

Could be the nipples are still iced up.

[gingejbee]

^^^^modern cars don't have "nipples"...they have fan-jets, which are even more prone to icing/blocking-up unless the right sort of additive is used at the right concentration.

[dieseldick]

since i drove for a good hour and 30 mins then why werent the nipples or motor thawed out ?

i filled water bottle with plain cold water, no anti freeze etc in it.

anything i can do to fix this problem ?

[EcclesCake]

When the temperature gets above freezing syphon out some water and top up with screen wash following the winter formula guidance on the bottle. When topped up pump it through the system.

Hopefully you haven't ruptured any lines in the freezing conditions by not using screen wash.

[gingejbee]

^^^the screenwash jets are EXPOSED to the freezing air....and the washer-bottle body is usually in an awkward cold place in modern cars. You could wait til it thaws out (getting milder soon) and then use a good screenwash antifreeze...or, it will happen again and again!

[bhg481]

The washer bottle is often at the front of the car and in the airstream - that doesn't help it to thaw when the car is moving.
The jets are on the outside of the car, again in the airstream, so they don't thaw either.
You need to put windscreen cleaner into the tank, or meths but NOT ordinary antifreeze - that will stop them freezing but it will also strip the paint off the car.
If you can afford to buy a near-new car I'm sure you could afford a pound or two for some proper screen wash.

[Clanad]

Which is probably the answer to your question. The small pump is usually loacted at or near the washer fluid container. If you're an astute DIY-er you cn change it out fairly easy and save a lot of money... at least here in the U.S., since the labor to change the small pump item is cheaper than the part istself.

Here's a test you can do... with the engine shut off and the hood ... er... the 'bonnet' opened have a friend engage the wiper/washer switch and listen for operation. If it is making a noise it's possible the small diameter hosing that runs to both washer ejectors could be clogged. If so, the clog, in my experience is right at the opening of the sprayer. You can insert a small diameter wire into that apparatus for a short (maybe 1 to 2 inches) to see if it helps. If that doesn't help and you don't have the expertise to change the pump, the next stop is at the repair shop... take you check book or high limit credit card with you!

BTW... it's best to use automobile window washer fluid rather than water in that system since the fluid (very inexpensive... $1.50 a gallon here) and it has some window cleaning additive as well as alcohol to keep it from freezing...

[Gizmonster]

When I didn't put enough screen wash in my water bottles, it would sometimes take days before I could use my water washer - I always put plenty in now :)
The temperature needs to rise sufficiently to thaw out the ice. It's been 1 deg C max, here today; there's no way that would thaw the ice out.

[dieseldick]

ok so from now on i will buy windscreen wash, i would of thought the water bottle would be near the engine warmth at least to keet it from freezing. so when driving today there was not a chance it would thaw out as it was below zero today and when given the wind factor outside hitting car head on then it would have been even more cold. so i will wait a while to see if the pipes thaw out. though cannot hear the motor running at all which makes me hink motor is broken / frozen .

[BRIGHT SPARK]

You have tried to use the washers and the water was frozen....the pump overloaded and blew the pump fuse.You need a new pump fuse ..located in one of the fuse/relay boxes...maybe under the bonnet or below the dash.

[Clanad]

One correction to your summation, diesel... the wind "chill" factor has no effect on the temperature of anything except exposed flesh... It's what it "feels" when you take your gloves off outside in the wind, which has no bearing on the temperature of an inanimate object...

[chrissa1]

Poke a small sewing needle down the nozzles. It worked for me.

[Canary42]

Clanad, if you're right about wind chill, why are cooling fans installed on so much modern equipment ?

[gingejbee]

canary: cooling fans are used to remove hot air and to prevent a build-up of heat around heat-producing items...which allows more heat to escape from them, keeping them cooler. This has nothing to do with the "wind-chill" effect that humans feel (because skin is covered in moisture which evaporates in a wind and cools the flesh down...cooling by evaporation, it's called).

[stocksman]

Don't bother with the needle poking, just boil a kettle, let it cool slightly and pour hot water on the jets