Stinky wiper fluid

[jamesbilluk]

Hi all,

I've recently noticed a smell of rotten eggs occasionally when I start the car, I thought it was the cabin filter, I went to clean the windscreen today using the washer jets, the small got much worse. Having a sniff in the washer bottle confirmed it, very odd smell!

What's the best way to clean this out?

[Rozzers]

We had a memo about this years ago when a driver caught legionaires disease. If you can get it out, wash it out with bleach, rinse then put in the dishwasher.

If you can’t, pull a hose off, pump it all out, use only neat winter screen wash for two full cycles, the alcohol will kill it off.

One of the reasons you should always have screen wash

[TarquinMX5]

It depends on the car and how good access is. Without wishing to state the obvious, you need to empty the screenwash container, flush it through and then use, and stick to, one (decent) brand of fluid.

Options include physically removing the container, remove outlet pipe and letting it drain, running pump to empty (may or may not be a good idea depending how full container is ), syphon it out.

It's probably been caused by differing washer fluids being mixed and possibly left for quite a while; coincidentally I was talking to somebody today whose car had been parked up due to covid, just put back on road, washer system not working as the pipes were full of congealed 'gel', believed caused by mixing screen washes. Whatever people say, there are significant differences in the chemicals used in differing brands and they don't always mix well.

[nismo48]

Stick some Jeyes Fluid in and that will definitely smell loads better..

[jamesbilluk]

Thanks all I'll see if the washer fluid container can be removed, there's quite a bit of plastic in the engine bay! Hopefully I'll be able to remove some of it to get at it..

I think it must be lack of use of the jets recently! / the hot weather..

I'll make sure to get a decent brand of fluid to put in there as well.

[jamesbilluk]

nismo48 said:

Stick some Jeyes Fluid in and that will definitely smell loads better..

Got to smell better than it does at the moment, my daughter said it smelt like bum bubbles!

[Draxindustries1]

If you can't get the screen wash bottle out, pump all the remaining water out and give the bottle a good 200ml or so of bleach , leave that to sit for a while then fill it half full of hot water. Disconnect the pipe from the washer jets and aim the pipe into a good size container. Use the washers as normal to pump this out then refill a couple of times with water to rinse the bottle out..

[Garett]

The windscreen washer pump recently failed on my Volvo V70. It is hidden behind the bumper but wasn't too difficult to access via the n/s wheel well. The plastic gauze/filter was gummed up with slime and gel which I think had overheated the pump and caused it to fail.

[texaxile]

Could try a couple of Steradent tabs in there as well as some bleach to try and clear the pong.

[jamesbilluk]

Draxindustries1 said:

If you can't get the screen wash bottle out, pump all the remaining water out and give the bottle a good 200ml or so of bleach , leave that to sit for a while then fill it half full of hot water. Disconnect the pipe from the washer jets and aim the pipe into a good size container. Use the washers as normal to pump this out then refill a couple of times with water to rinse the bottle out..

Thank you, will give that ago if I can't get the bottle out.

[jamesbilluk]

texaxile said:

Could try a couple of Steradent tabs in there as well as some bleach to try and clear the pong.

Good plan that, should hopefully help with the smell!

[littleredrooster]

I think we do this every year on PH.

Empty the bottle, refill with Milton fluid (for baby’s bottles), leave 24 hours & drain. Refill with *proper* washer fluid, not washing-up liquid. Smell gone.

Job done.

[finlo]

Just run a hosepipe in it for a while unless you're constrained by a hosepipe ban!

[vikingaero]

I've disconnected the outlet pipe to the washers and cleaned the tank with a low pressure jet wash. Then I brimmed it with Dettol and left it overnight, disconnected to drain and refilled it with screenwash.

[Polly Grigora]

Rozzers said:

We had a memo about this years ago when a driver caught legionaires disease. If you can get it out, wash it out with bleach, rinse then put in the dishwasher.

If you can’t, pull a hose off, pump it all out, use only neat winter screen wash for two full cycles, the alcohol will kill it off.

One of the reasons you should always have screen wash

This

You don't want to be catching Legionnaires' disease

Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of Legionella bacteria,[3] quite often Legionella pneumophila. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pains, and headaches.[2] Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur.[1] This often begins 2–10 days after exposure.[2]

Above from Wiki

Hoping that your washer jets are accurate, I mean to say, imagine if the jets were out and you jetted a walker with a fatal disease