Heated washers

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D

Dave Liquorice

Guest
Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
washers!

Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



 
Dave Liquorice wrote:
> Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
> ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
> washers!
>
> Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
> the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
> frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
> 2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
> are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
> it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.
>

I use a 50% mixture of water/washer fluid mixture. It hasn't frozen on
me yet!

(Was around £2.50 for 5L UNdiluted from Makro). Watch out for that rip
off ready mixed stuff from Halfrauds and the like!

Cheers

Peter
 
On or around Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:14:17 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
>ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
>washers!
>
>Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
>the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
>frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
>2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
>are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
>it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.


Put much more washer stuff in 'em. about 50-50 stuff and water in cold
weather, and make sure it's "winter" screenwash.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee"
John Donne (1571? - 1631) Devotions, XVII
 
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:03:40 +0000, Austin Shackles wrote:

> Put much more washer stuff in 'em. about 50-50 stuff and water in
> cold weather, and make sure it's "winter" screenwash.


I've tried that in the past without much success in maintaining
functioning washers. -8C min last night and -3C now so not that keen
on going outside.

Another problem is that when the temp gets to 0C or there abouts the
wipers don't flex enough to touch the screen, old stiff rubber I
thought. New LR blades but still have the problem. B-( I suspect the
pivot at the arm base is gunged up or just simply stiff.

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



 

"Dave Liquorice" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:03:40 +0000, Austin Shackles wrote:
>
>> Put much more washer stuff in 'em. about 50-50 stuff and water in
>> cold weather, and make sure it's "winter" screenwash.

>
> I've tried that in the past without much success in maintaining
> functioning washers. -8C min last night and -3C now so not that keen
> on going outside.
>
> Another problem is that when the temp gets to 0C or there abouts the
> wipers don't flex enough to touch the screen, old stiff rubber I
> thought. New LR blades but still have the problem. B-( I suspect the
> pivot at the arm base is gunged up or just simply stiff.
>

I've found that this is often due to the blades freezing to the
bent-over bits they're supposed to slide through. The tiniest smear of
Vaseline on the parts that slide relative to each other as the blades
flex can be enough to prevent this from happening - presumably by
excluding water. Must try the same trick around the washer nozzles - I
suspect some of the "frozen washers" problems are caused by water or
snow freezing over them rather than the washer fluid itself. Keep the
Vaseline away from the edges of the blades and the screen, of course.


--
Kevin Poole
**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. [email protected])***
Car Transport by Tiltbed Trailer - based near Derby


 
....and Autolycus spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...


> "Dave Liquorice" <[email protected]> wrote
>> Another problem is that when the temp gets to 0C or there abouts the
>> wipers don't flex enough to touch the screen,


> I've found that this is often due to the blades freezing to the
> bent-over bits they're supposed to slide through. The tiniest smear
> of Vaseline on the parts that slide relative to each other as the


I've had this problem several times recently, and the only time I can
remember it happening on any car. The pivoty bits on the ends of the wiper
arms freeze, and the wiper blade retains the curve it took up at rest,
meaning that the blades only wipe the top and bottom bits of the sweep. The
only cure is to get out and give the wiper arms some serious gym work (bend
up, bend down ... and stop) to free up the pivoty joints. I wasted a whole
tin of de-icer the other day before I realised this.

--
Rich
==============================
Disco 300 Tdi auto
S2a 88" SW
Tiggrr (V8 trialler)


 
To get back to heated screen washing.....

There was a post on one of the LR web sites some time ago that
suggested extending the screen wash flexi pipe and winding it around
the heating pipes or the radiator inlet hose. This in effects heats
the water / fluid in the screen wash as it travels to your screen.
Obviously it wouldnt be hot from the start but it would overcome the
problem outlined in the original post.

I have been threatening to do it for ages but havent got around to it
yet so I can not vouch for its effectivness. It also occurs to me that
the RR has a heated headlight wash. Some owner may enlighten us as to
how that is achieved.

BTW I have just returned from Sweeden (brrrrrrrrrr) and they dont seem
to have any problem with screen wash. There they use it undiluted and
it dosent seem to freeze.

Happy New Year all

Hugh

 
Dave Liquorice wrote:
> Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
> ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
> washers!
>
> Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
> the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
> frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
> 2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
> are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
> it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.
>

Heated washer jets are (more probably were now) available for my RRC and
thus listed in the spares book as PRC6799 plus thermostat PRC6895

ISTR it being a fairly serious assault on the wallet for a feature that
is unbeatable when you need it, but not needed very often.

HTH

Richard

--
Real email address is RJSavage at BIGFOOT dot COM
 
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:14:13 -0000, "Richard Brookman"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I've had this problem several times recently, and the only time I can
>remember it happening on any car. The pivoty bits on the ends of the wiper
>arms freeze, and the wiper blade retains the curve it took up at rest,
>meaning that the blades only wipe the top and bottom bits of the sweep. The
>only cure is to get out and give the wiper arms some serious gym work (bend
>up, bend down ... and stop) to free up the pivoty joints. I wasted a whole
>tin of de-icer the other day before I realised this.


This has just started happening to both mine and my sisters cars today
too!. I've never seen it before.
It was annoying - finally got the washers defrosted and working and
then the wipers wouldnt wipe!

Either theyve changed what they make wiper blades out of so theyre
more prone to it or its just been colder than usual. I can't remember
the last time it was this cold for so long.

 
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:35:21 +0000, rjs wrote:

> Heated washer jets are (more probably were now) available for my RRC
> and thus listed in the spares book as PRC6799 plus thermostat
> PRC6895


Mr Beamends...

I've also had a google and found very little, which suggests to me
that heated jets don't solve the problem. Indeed I did nip out today
and poured in as much washer fluid as I had (only about a litre in a 6
litre reservior) and felt the pipework. It felt decidedly "crunchy", I
guess the whole lot freezes, so you'd need to heat all the pipe work
as well. It's cheaper and easier to up the concentration of washer
fluid...

I also gave the lower pivot a squirt of WD40 (I know but it was that
or PlusGas, at least WD40 has some lubricant in it...). Didn't seem to
make much difference to the speed at which the blade would hit the
windscreen though. I'll also bear in mind the little slidy bits and
iceing up, I did manipulate them and they didn't appear to be frozen
or stiff.

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



 
Dave Liquorice wrote:
> Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
> ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
> washers!
>
> Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
> the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
> frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
> 2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
> are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
> it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.
>

I've just been driving my 90 round the alps for a couple of weeks
snowboarding and it was down to at least -18 at times. I topped my
washer bottle up with undiluted winter screenwash after using most of
the existing mix on the way down from Rotterdam. I reckon mine must
have been 75% screenwash. After that it didn't freeze. Obviously its
worth checking your nozzles are clear of snow/ice before you set off
even if its undiluted.

Just wish I had headlamp, mirror and side windows washers too. It was
only when I'd driven inside an unlit avalanche shield that I realised
how filthy my lights had got!


Cheers

Ben
 

"Dave Liquorice" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
> ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
> washers!
>
> Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
> the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
> frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
> 2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
> are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
> it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.
>
> --
> Cheers [email protected]
> Dave. pam is missing e-mail
>
>

Funny I was just thinking back to my Mini Se7en club days there was an
attachment that fitted on the heater hose and routed the washer pipe through
a coil which sat in the coolant ensuring very hot screenwashers not seen it
for yonks along with Clearalex powder that was the dogs danglies used by the
works rally teams mixed with alcohol to prevent freezing cracking stuff
Derek


 
People Hi and Happy New Year to everybody,

a series of coils of the 6mm diameter flexible garden irrigation hose around
one of main engine to radiator hoses can do a fine job into heating the
washer fluid before it reaches the washer jets for the windscreen. It is
best to use the one feeding water from the engine to the radiator since
there is no thermostat there to limit the flow.

Alternatively you can wrap a series of coils around the exhaust downpipe but
you will have to use a copper tube and then heat resistant silicone hose in
order to take the feed from the washer bottle and the supply to the
windscreen washers.

Even though we do not have such a serious cold weather problem here in
Greece we use this system since hot water is MUCH more effective when
cleaning bugs and flies off the windscreen is required. It also tends work
much better into cleaning mud and dirty water.

--------------

Heated washer jets were fitted into several high specs RaRo Classic LSE
vehicles and they tend to appear on a regular basis on e-bay. Alternatively
try looking at a dismantler specialised on RaRos.

--------------

Fitting headlamp washers on a Defender is not that difficult also. You can
use the standard Discovery series 1 (1989 up to 1994 are a little different
from 1995 up to 1998 ones but they can both be adapted to fit by cutting
their face to the bumper or fitting a home made adapter so that they mate
with the Defender's flat bumper. You will also have to drill a hole on the
Defender's bumper. Apart from that you can either use a washer bottle from
a Range Rover Classic (again) or adapt the system so that it borrows its
water supply directly from the windscreen washers hose (using a T shaped
connector). Heated water is also more effective for the headlamp washers.

-------------

Another option (but more complicated and electricity dependent) is to fit a
heated coil around the water supply hose to the washers. Such electrically
heated "blankets" are available from any store selling electrical resistance
heating elements (for electric irons, heated mirrors etc) You can also use
the more easy to find 12V electric heaters for baby feeding bottles.

------------

Take care and Happy New Year
Pantelis Giamarellos
LAND ROVER CLUB OF GREECE


"Derek" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Dave Liquorice" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Does LR do heated washers for a DII? My motor has the "winter pack",
> > ie heated front screen, heated mirrors, heated seats, but not heated
> > washers!
> >
> > Having had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6 twice today to clean
> > the screen (with snow from the bonnet) of fine salt spray due to
> > frozen washers I'm looking for something to unfreeze 'em in less than
> > 2hrs that the heat from the engine seems to take. If LR don't do 'em
> > are there any suitable and effective aftermarket kits? I don't know if
> > it's just the jets freezing or the pipework as well.
> >
> > --
> > Cheers [email protected]
> > Dave. pam is missing e-mail
> >
> >

> Funny I was just thinking back to my Mini Se7en club days there was an
> attachment that fitted on the heater hose and routed the washer pipe

through
> a coil which sat in the coolant ensuring very hot screenwashers not seen

it
> for yonks along with Clearalex powder that was the dogs danglies used by

the
> works rally teams mixed with alcohol to prevent freezing cracking stuff
> Derek
>
>



 
On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:44:35 +0100, Vincenzoni Attilio, Esq. wrote:

> http://www.webasto-hotshot.com/index_us.php


Yeah, I found that but it won't help if the jets or pipe work either
side of the heater block are frozen...

Simpler and cheaper to make sure that the washer solution is of
suitable concentration to prevent freezing.

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



 
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