Frozen washer fluid

[JamesCL]

Had my car serviced recently and today my fluid froze, nothing came out , so i stopped and put some winter -40 fluid in, and still nothing, So I put all my head on and let my car run for another 20 mins in my driveway after my 40 mins drive home efrom work, still frozen, nothing coming out.

Any suggestions?

[Thrizzl3]

i never understood how it froze..how cold is it where you are during the night

[JamesCL]

i never understood how it froze..how cold is it where you are during the night

I think they maybe used water or summer fluid at my service or something because I've never had this problem before and my car has seen colder days overnight.

Last night it dipped down to -10 i believe

[Thrizzl3]

most likely the summer stuff..i guess you didn't get the chance to add the winter type

[JamesCL]

That's all I've used on my car in the the colder months, apparently ppl at mazda aren't the brightest people. I topped it up this morning with winter stuff in hopes it work thaw out while i drove, no luck, still frozen, and now i cant use my wipers great.

[Thrizzl3]

use hot water to melt it?

[JamesCL]

it's probably frozen into the resevoir and and using hot water will only freeze again once it dilutes with whats in there now and when the temp drops again.

Argh this is frustrating. ****ing mazda not only rips me off they put the wrong fluid in my car. bitter bitter bitter!

[Thrizzl3]

this is such a bizarre problem lol..i never experienced a frozed washer fluid reservoir..uness it was water in there whole time.

[TheMAN]

I won't be surprised if those tools used water to top off your washer fluid as a "courtesy"

you're probably better off putting a space heater right next to the car or stick a hair dryer to it

if the frozen fluid broke your pump or your washer nozzles, I'd be back there to raise hell in a heartbeat!

[blankets3]

i read this problem some where b4 (im pretty sure m3f) its the actualy nozzle thats frozen, from what u member just get a pin n poke the hole to clear it up and it should be fine...


but like i said this is from memory id look into it more on m3f.


hhahaha it was me

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=137176.0

[repoman_2]

it's probably frozen into the resevoir and and using hot water will only freeze again once it dilutes with whats in there now and when the temp drops again.

Argh this is frustrating. ****ing mazda not only rips me off they put the wrong fluid in my car. bitter bitter bitter!

Pretty sure if you use hot water to thaw it and then run the washer sprayers until it goes dry you won't have to worry about the fluid freezing again overnight.

[Kevin@nextmod]

It not just mazda its every dealership. And they use the same washer fluid all year round. And yes they do suck

[aris]

Maybe if you go to coin wash you could spray some warm water on it to defrost it??


This once happened to me and after it happened i put winter washer fluid all year round...

[liquidzyklon]

There are two possible reason for the washer fluid to be frozen: 1) either moisture from the outside gets into the nozzle and freeze there or 2) someone managed to use water or summer fluid to mix with your winter fluid so its melting temperature has changed and freezes.


you're probably better off putting a space heater right next to the car or stick a hair dryer to itThe suggestions from TheMan is pretty good. Best to have the car in a warmer garage for the liquid to melt. Afterwards is to use up all of the washer fluid and refill with only winter fluid.

[TheMAN]

pouring a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol works too... the water in the tank will dilute it... denatured alcohol will make an even stronger mix

[Triznox]

It'll eventually work. It's happened to me already this year. Got cold all of a sudden before I put the winter stuff in. I'm just surprised only -10 did it for you. Since you already added winter stuff it will be just the hoses and nozzles that are frozen. On the next warm day take it to a warm car wash, get the engine good and warm and it will come out eventually.

[ricohman]

Where I live even the -40 stuff freezes. Actualy it just turns to a thick half-frozen ooze that globs onto the hood and plugs the nozzles.

[W_L89]

trying taking your car somewhere indoors that's heated and let it defrost?