Ok, it was 15 degrees F tonight, but while flying down a dark unlit highway, I felt a need to clear my windshield which was covered in salty road spatter, could not see well. I hit the windshield washer button, and the wipers wiped, but no fluid came out. The fluid in the jug is the fluid that came with the car when brand new from Ford. You think Ford would have put in some decent fluid! I guess the dealer puts in the fluid... cheap bastards, they must have put in some cheap stuff mixed with a lot of water. So, my wipers then smeared the dirt across the windshield resulting in a condition that was quite dangerous... could hardly see at all. I know better than to attempt to use the windshield squirters when on the highway (I usually do it only when at a red light), but I figured, heck, the car is just about brand new, everything should work, and I had another half-hour on the highway with really no where to pull off, so I put my faith in my new Ford and hit the squirter button. I finally had to pull off the highway and wash the windshield with some snow. I could see that ice had formed over the squirter nozzles. Tomorrow I need to siphon out whatever crap is in the washer jug and put in some good Prestone winter washer fluid and flush it through the system. On a related note, my sister took her Subaru into the dealer for some service recently. I normally do all the work on her car, and the last time I had it, I had filled her windshield washer jug with 100% good winter Prestone stuff. She never had a problem. Anyhow, the dealer gives her the car back and says "as a favor, we topped off all your fluids". An hour later, she is on the road at night in the salt and slush, and the squirters freeze up and are useless... the damn dealer must have dumped WATER in the reservoir! Gee whiz, man. Well, my tip of the day... go fill up your windshield washer jug with 100% good Prestone winter de-icer washer fluid, and keep it topped off at all times so that your dealer or anyone else cannot add any water or el-cheapo washer fluid to the jug. You will be happy you did so when you really need those squirters to work! Another tip... use 100% Prestone winter de-icer fluid all year round, because if you throw some water in during the summer, there's a good chance you'll forget about it and never use it all, then the winter comes and your washers are dead. It's worth the extra $4 per year or whatever to keep yourself from potentially getting onto a very dangerous situation. If you lose your vision for even three seconds, you could hit something like a tree or a person.
- posted
20 years ago