Wiper Fluid Frozen

[roughyear]

Ok... last week and this weekend, with the bitter cold, my darn windshield wiper fluid would NOT squirt out of either the front or rear sprayers. I surmised that the $tealer used a very diluted wiper fluid mixture which was mostly water.

I spoke with the dealer when I went in for an oil change this past weekend, and he said they buy the fluid by the bulk and dilute it to a 50:50 mix!! I said no way, and he said, "maybe you got the end of the container that contained more water than mix"!! Whatever....

I did go to the auto parts place and bought some wiper fluid (good to -25degs) and tried to spray out the remnants of the older fluid, but I guess I didn't get it all out, because it froze the next morning as well.... man, I could not see with all that dirt/salt on my windshield. The washer/sprayer did work by afternoon.

Anyone else experience this bull$hit??!!

 

[grillmaster]

It's possible the frozen stuff was still inside the lines and/or a small amount left in the bottom of the reservoir. When you put in the minus to 25 degree stuff, did you test it to see if it sprayed out?

What temperature was it that night where you are located? It's possible it was under the 25 degree mark. It's been that off and on at night, here in North Texas ,but my vehicle is parked in the garage.

 

[Dread_Parrot]

yeah, I had that happen to me roughyear. I had taken my IS350 in for a recall issue and they filled the reservoir. Froze in November one morning, but luckily it didn't bust anything. I guess they try to stretch that dollar jug of windshield fluid as far as it will go.
I always fill the reservoir now before I take it anywhere, even in for a state inspection.
Try to run it through with the vehicle idling, maybe the heat from teh engine will heat your lines enough to flush it. Bummer
I don't know why they do that
have a good one,
parrott

 

[Gumbey]

Never cheap out on that stuff. If you run out or use the crappy quality stuff you risk a dangerous situation....

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[roughyear]

The temps got down to about 5degs with windchill of about -10degs.... So, water would freeze, but if the wiper fluid was fresh/real-mccoy, it would not have frozen. Don't know how I can tell if anything got damaged other than leaking water, which I have not noticed.