How do you de ice in the morning ?

Start engine, squirt de-icer. Wait 10 seconds, use ice scraper to clear rest. Cry when i get in because heater doesn't work.

I put my hat on, go outside, scrape like a madman with my scraper (a decent one, made by Brabantia who make bins and things, the cheap ones are useless). I then get a bottle of warm water with some screenwash in it and run it over the washer jets to get them thawed (your thumb works too), chuck some more over the windscreen to clean it off. Spray deicer on the wiper blades if they're iced up. I start the engine a couple of minutes before I set off to make sure the windows are clear. I also make sure I tell people it's not cold out :P.

Same here except for last part. Plus I switch on my heated seat to warm up as I go round the car scraping the windows.

The message from andrew contains these words:

Water from the hot tap in a 2-ltr bottle. Dash of dishwasher rinse-aid to make it run off the screen and leave it dry so it doesn't refreeze.

Some may say I'm risking cracking the screen, but I've been doing it for

Of course...there'll now be a chorus of "Me, I bust one!"!

Oh, and pour some of it over the washer jets. Frozen nipples are worse than useless.

What /I'd/ like is some way of stopping washer fluid freezing on the screen. When the roads are salted you need frequent washing, but if it's really really cold the methanol in the squirt evaporates, taking away any heat and the antifreeze properties at the same time and you end up with a ball of blue oce on the far end of the blade which lifts the wiper off the screen and then you're really stuck, particularly on the motorway. Catching it as it comes near the side window and lifting it and dropping it so the ice shatters works, but it ain't something you really want to be doing when you're driving.

I go out and start the car up, heater on full, heated rear windscreen/mirrors on, heated seats on. Then go back inside and have my breakfast etc.

By the time I'm ready to leave, it's clear, but I only do this because I have a drive with gates, which make a lot of noise if opened and send the dog mad.

Dave

Go out, start the engine, switch on the heater, and the heated rear screen. Lock the car with the spare key, go back in the house and have a cuppa.

The message from "Ed" contains these words:

I hope it's a diesel!

I've never broken one that way either although I tend to use warm water in a kettle and keep pouring until the screen has warmed up enough not to refreeze.

-- Malc

In news: snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk, Guy King decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

I've seen a fair few windscreens cracked by putting the heater on full crack for five minutes though.. Vectras used to do it about, oh, once a fortnight when I worked in car hire.. done a couple myself.. but I *hate* Vectras so it meant I got to drive something else, like a Mondeo or Focus instead.

Ford heated screens *ROCK*.. (although I've noticed they're the same set up as the heated rear window in the 500 SEL)

Ford heated screen equipped cars tend to have heated nipples :-)

As an aside to this thread, does any car have heated washer systems? I like the Ford idea of a heated front screen. I've seen it in action, my mate parked beside my Volvo and after a 12 hour nightshift at sub zero up here in Scotland, he was clear to go first. Mind you, the inside of my car was warmer than his what with heated seats etc. But his screen cleared so fast it was incredible. Couple of minutes on heat then a swipe of his blades and he was off. I was still scraping, but my seat was warm ; )

It wasn't just the 500 SEL, my Dad, god rest his soul, always bought Mercs from Stuttgart, always 230's. His last one, an M reg 230, thats the old type M reg, had the hair thin wires in the back window. As a kid I thought it was really cool, cos at the time most cars had the stick on demisters, remember them?

In news:40198e6c$0$9389$ snipped-for-privacy@news-text.dial.pipex.com, Stuart Gray decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Any Ford with a heated screen (apart from, I think, the Fiestas)

The message from "Pete M" contains these words:

Next time I'm in a scrappy I mus acquire some.

I used to put a fan heater on the back seat for 10 minutes. Worked a treat. The only bit I had to do by hand was the mirrors.

Since then, I've changed jobs. Now I walk up to the car, smirk at it and then walk the rest of the way to work.

Colin.

I don't think the Ka has them either, as Dervman's posted about the lack of them before, and he deffo has the heated front screen. Can't be too hard to wire up a set from the Ford parts desk though.

I used to find that a watering can full of tepid water was much more effective than any de-icer spray, and also cheaper. However, these days I usually leave all of that stuff to my chauffeur James, and by the time I get into the old Jag, it's usually about 70F :-)

Terry D.

Non-heated mirrors. How quaint. :-)

Yes, some BMWs have an 'intensive washer system' which features a second bottle of strong screenwash, I think, and heated bits. Not mine though. I mean to find out if the heated nozzles are a straight swap for the normal ones because I'm sick of the washer not working on the very days you need it most. Really, for what it must cost to make one, I don't understand whay all cars don't have them.

Always works fine for me as well