Frozen washer jets

[crankedup]

colin_p said:

Wills2 said:

But it's still a VW....

With washers that work when it gets cold.

Yes the BMW indie was left struggling when I told him our skoda bargain banger had screen washers which worked just fine, not frozen solid like our bmw car.

[crankedup]

mcg_ said:

A telephone conversation AND a face to face complaint about them topping up your washer fluid

Jesus are you retired with nothing better to do or something?

Personally I only want water in my washer bottle.

Paid for service which has been skimped on, more people should complain about issues and then just maybe garages would get the message imo.

Yes I am retired btw

[Sticks.]

crankedup said:

It’s something that I will check out for the next service, we have a main BMW garage in town so it’s not going to be inconvenient to use them. Just a price and service quality check needed.

They may collect/deliver too. Mine does for my 04 Z4, even for a MoT.

Do you have headlight washers? If these freeze they can fail and it's a faff.

Nick

[Discombobulate]

mcg_ said:

A telephone conversation AND a face to face complaint about them topping up your washer fluid

Jesus are you retired with nothing better to do or something?

Personally I only want water in my washer bottle.

+1 Much ado about nowt.
Jeez, I am glad I don’t have deal with customers like this - and that I still have a job.

[to3m]

REALIST123 said:

to3m said:

Water freezes at sub-zero temperatures, and there's a risk of damage from this process since solid water takes up more space than liquid water. If somebody refilled my car's washer reservoir with water alone then I'd certainly moan if I noticed, especially at this time of year.

No st Sherlock? Water freezes at sub-zero temperatures? Who’d ‘a’ thought?

Just making sure we're all on the same page here! There was somebody wanting only water in their screenwash bottle just one post above mine, so I wondered whether perhaps water's properties around the 0°C mark are less widely known than I'd assumed.

[Mr Tidy]

Wills2 said:

That's why I don't use indies, much lauded on PH but I used one for years on an old sl320 and they ripped me off and cut corners and I decided that it wasn't worth it.

Your local BMW dealer wouldn't have done that in my experience.

No, your local BMW dealer would have charged you 15 minutes labour and 2 litres of "BMW" screen-wash even if it only needed a dribble!

My BMW Indy (who is ex-Sytner) would have told me it needed topping up and asked if I wanted him to do it - every BMW I've had has a warning light for low washer fluid level, and heated washer jets (but they still freeze)!

[SebringMan]

Wills2 said:

That's why I don't use indies, much lauded on PH but I used one for years on an old sl320 and they ripped me off and cut corners and I decided that it wasn't worth it.

Your local BMW dealer wouldn't have done that in my experience.

crankedup said:

^^^^
Yes this is my point, the BMW indie filled the washer bottle, I suspect with plain water. Penny pinching misers, why would a garage do that for such little profit on the issue. I was more concerned that the nozzles and/or water hoses would crack. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I am taking the car back on Monday to follow up my telephone conversation with a face to face complaint.

Every penny counts with these guys. After all, all it takes is for someone to say "that garage topped my water up for free!

As for BMW they'd also have billed you heavily for it.

[crankedup]

As you were everybody, tbh I was really very angry at the time and now I have calmed down I have partially emptied the washer bottle and added some decent washer fluid.
My annoyance was if the nozzles had split after being frozen, they haven’t.

[msej449]

Hi. You're aware of the notorious 'Don't mix BMW and non-BMW screen wash concentrate?' debate? Certain models like the 1 and 2 Series and some 5 seems very sensitive to 'gunking' of the screenwash system if you don't consistently use the same product.

I mention this because if you do now take your car to a BMW dealer for servicing, they'll use concentrate from their huge 25L down-to-minus-60?C containers. And if this gunks because you've used non-BMW they are likely to point to the section in your manual where there are big warning triangles ??telling you explicitly not to mix.

Cue a long chain of posts from people saying this is a BMW conspiracy and not to be believed / Read your manual, it's really clear, only yourself to blame / I've never had it happen / Well I have, and it's a pain / BMW only cost you an extra £12 a year more than Halford once you dilute to the same protection level / etc. Without getting into that, just make sure you consistently use the same concentrate and if you do have it serviced by a dealer, tell them not to top-up.

Another piece of advice I hadn't seen before, on the BMW concentrate bottle - Mix your water and concentrate before you add it to the reservoir, otherwise it may not mix.

Edited by msej449 on Monday 26th February 15:23

[Wills2]

Mr Tidy said:

Wills2 said:

That's why I don't use indies, much lauded on PH but I used one for years on an old sl320 and they ripped me off and cut corners and I decided that it wasn't worth it.

Your local BMW dealer wouldn't have done that in my experience.

No, your local BMW dealer would have charged you 15 minutes labour and 2 litres of "BMW" screen-wash even if it only needed a dribble!

My BMW Indy (who is ex-Sytner) would have told me it needed topping up and asked if I wanted him to do it - every BMW I've had has a warning light for low washer fluid level, and heated washer jets (but they still freeze)!

MIne wouldn't as they don't charge for it, they do a great job give me a first class service are friendly and often go above and beyond, but ETTO.

[crankedup]

msej449 said:

Hi. You're aware of the notorious 'Don't mix BMW and non-BMW screen wash concentrate?' debate? Certain models like the 1 and 2 Series and some 5 seems very sensitive to 'gunking' of the screenwash system if you don't consistently use the same product.

I mention this because if you do now take your car to a BMW dealer for servicing, they'll use concentrate from their huge 25L down-to-minus-60?C containers. And if this gunks because you've used non-BMW they are likely to point to the section in your manual where there are big warning triangles ??telling you explicitly not to mix.

Cue a long chain of posts from people saying this is a BMW conspiracy and not to be believed / Read your manual, it's really clear, only yourself to blame / I've never had it happen / Well I have, and it's a pain / BMW only cost you an extra £12 a year more than Halford once you dilute to the same protection level / etc. Without getting into that, just make sure you consistently use the same concentrate and if you do have it serviced by a dealer, tell them not to top-up.

Another piece of advice I hadn't seen before, on the BMW concentrate bottle - Mix your water and concentrate before you add it to the reservoir, otherwise it may not mix.

Edited by msej449 on Monday 26th February 15:23

Thanks yup aware of this issue, the stuff my indie used most definitely isn’t BMW fluid. Read my manual and it doesn’t mention the need to use Bmw anti freeze anywhere in the book. Perhaps it’s because my car is an older model year 2010.

In my fifty years of car owing I have never had such a stupid problem with windscreen washer fluid, What a pia this all is.

[Mr Tidy]

msej449 said:

Hi. You're aware of the notorious 'Don't mix BMW and non-BMW screen wash concentrate?' debate? Certain models like the 1 and 2 Series and some 5 seems very sensitive to 'gunking' of the screenwash system if you don't consistently use the same product.

I mention this because if you do now take your car to a BMW dealer for servicing, they'll use concentrate from their huge 25L down-to-minus-60?C containers. And if this gunks because you've used non-BMW they are likely to point to the section in your manual where there are big warning triangles ??telling you explicitly not to mix.

Cue a long chain of posts from people saying this is a BMW conspiracy and not to be believed / Read your manual, it's really clear, only yourself to blame / I've never had it happen / Well I have, and it's a pain / BMW only cost you an extra £12 a year more than Halford once you dilute to the same protection level / etc. Without getting into that, just make sure you consistently use the same concentrate and if you do have it serviced by a dealer, tell them not to top-up.

Another piece of advice I hadn't seen before, on the BMW concentrate bottle - Mix your water and concentrate before you add it to the reservoir, otherwise it may not mix.

Edited by msej449 on Monday 26th February 15:23

Oh yes, I've removed the reservoirs on an E46 and E86 so I could flush them out, remove the pump(s) to clean the filter(s) and refit everything with fresh fluid.

But I've just read the Owner Handbook for my 2006 E91 and it doesn't seem to even mention any standard for screen-wash.

Still having flushed everything I've only used "Prestone" fluid from Tescos and it works fine - I just wouldn't put anything else in them.