Non-heated washer jets

[Guinness]

Hi all,
I have a PHEV 4HS with heated seats, heated steering wheel and the remote control app set to heat the car 20 minutes before I get in it. Seeing as it has heated everything, I was surprised to discover it does not have heated washer jets when I drove to work on Tuesday. I filled the washer bottle with as much low temp screen wash as I could last night, but they were frozen again this morning - I suppose I did not wash the screen enough after to ‘pull it through’. The washer jets themselves seem very prone, dangling in the air, and as I only drive 7 miles to work and back, the engine hardly gets used, so there is no heat going past to melt the ice in the jets. I’m just a little surprised Mitsubishi didn’t think of this, my previous few petrol cars have all had heated jets. Does everyone else just use a high concentration of screen wash?

 

[MikkB]

Does everyone else just use a high concentration of screen wash?

I will now. I got caught out with frozen washers despite a 20 min pre-heat. Cant remember the last time I had frozen washer jets...

 

[jaapv]

Hi all,
I have a PHEV 4HS with heated seats, heated steering wheel and the remote control app set to heat the car 20 minutes before I get in it. Seeing as it has heated everything, I was surprised to discover it does not have heated washer jets when I drove to work on Tuesday. I filled the washer bottle with as much low temp screen wash as I could last night, but they were frozen again this morning - I suppose I did not wash the screen enough after to ‘pull it through’. The washer jets themselves seem very prone, dangling in the air, and as I only drive 7 miles to work and back, the engine hardly gets used, so there is no heat going past to melt the ice in the jets. I’m just a little surprised Mitsubishi didn’t think of this, my previous few petrol cars have all had heated jets. Does everyone else just use a high concentration of screen wash?

In winter, it is impossible to buy anything but -20º screen wash (in ready to use form) The concentrate is -60º IIRC.

 

[ClasseClas]

Yes, -18C or -20C windscreen wash is the bare minimum here in Sweden. I have had no problems with the jets ever. As long as you go for ethanol based screen wash you are safer. The windchill effect when driving in say 100km/h @ -2C is quite severe. Even if you would have heated nozzles the rubber hoses would freeze directly.

 

[user 816]

If you have a BM store near you, their RAC ready mixed screenwash is claimed to be good for -15 and good value at £2.99. I have not had any problem with frozen jets with it.

https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/rac-all-seasons-screenwash-5l-328048

Pity Lidl don't do their winter one here any more, was rated -60 and although £5.99 you could dilute it to 3 times and it still was strong enough, not just to keep the jets clear, but would actually de-ice the windscreen if you were in a hurry.

 

[Guinness]

Thanks all, I did buy some Predstone from Costco that’s good for down to -23 C, but I don’t think I squirted the screen enough to bring it through – lesson learned, I will next year. I did squeeze an exposed area of pipe and I could feel it was icy inside, but not fully frozen – like a Slush Puppy! I think if the jets had been heated, I would have got something out to help shift the salt smear. Over the past 20 years I have always had cars with heated jets, and as they have been petrol cars they would have given some heat out into the engine bay and warmed the pipes too. I got into a habit of filling up the screen wash tank with neat screen wash at the start of winter, and then just filling with water at the beginning of summer. This has always been fine for British winters in the Midlands, but I would still have ticked the box for heated jets, even if they were £100, if it was an option on the PHEV. It still think it would have been worthwhile for me on a hybrid car that I use almost exclusively on electric.