My Rav4 Washer Jets Keep Freezing

[benxt5]

It has the effect of stripped paint.

[old red]

not that strong a mixture

[bothwell_buyer]

Rats - my washer pipe has burst somewhere under the car for the rear screen! Must have been frozen then thawed and split.

[pjtynan]

Thank you for the suggestions, been to Lidle twice now but without luck so far - it certainly sells out fast. I have increased the concentration of the washer fluid but think I do need some 'heavier duty' screen wash. I have also spoken with the Toyota dealer I bought the car from. He did say it was a an annoying Toyota problem and the European cars have heated washer systems / jets (not much help for UK owners though) but has suggested taking out the black insulation panel that sits under the bonnet (sound proofing) to see if that allows more heat from the engine to warm the pipes.

Has anyone tried doing this?

I don't know whether this would help or not as the exposed pipe that runs up the left hand side of the bonnet is not frozen, it certainly seems to be just the jets themselves.

Once the car has been sat inside the garage for a while the washers’ work, so i know they are not blocked and the motor is working.

Hi, I had the same trouble last year driving to France and agree with above re: insulation on the bonnet. In my case the jets and pipe under the insulation were frozen but the pipe running down the side wqas not. This led me to think that the ice cold air going over the bonnet was causing only the pipes insulated from the heat of the engine to freeze. I am hoping to re-route mine before my next trip to France in January.

regards pjtynan

[GS John]

You can get screen wash from Halfords that quotes it being ok to -23 degrees C. £3.99 a litre, but needed up in the frozen north :o

[Jamesbelfast]

Vodka has a frezing point of around minus 27C (this can vary greatly according to brand)whereas meths is around minus 114C.:)

[jonjosar]

I,ve added neat screenwash to mine earlier during the week.It cost £4.50 for 5 litres at my local motorfactors. Made by "Motaquip".

The temp is -10 tonight and the screen washers still work. (I initially emptied the wash system before adding the wash additive)

[RAV4Len]

Picked my car up on Friday and drove about 80 miles with no problems and looked

forward to the 170 mile drive on Saturday.

Saturday morning comes and off we go. !Removed!, the washers are frozen/res empty :(

Pulled into a service station and filled the res up with some blue fluid with no rating on it......

Cleared the screen but still no fluid coming through. Could not even hear the pump with all

the noise around.

Stopped at another service area to investigate, clear the screen, only to be joined by another RAV4 owner with the same problem :)

After about 120 miles managed to get the new fluid through. SORTED! or so I thought......

This morning, same problem for about 120 miles......

Never had this problem when I used Halfords screen wash, so the fluid I bought must have been cr4p, and the previous owner must

also have used cheap stuff.

Would have thought Toyota would have picked it up on the pre delivery vehicle inspection though.....

Sorry about the long post, but this is my first Toyota and felt a bit let down.

Looks like I may have to carry out my first mod :)

All the best,

Len

[Mstock3]

The ultimate bodge to avoid frozen washer jets, fit heated washer jets which were fitted to some MK3 VW golfs, either control via a dash mounted switch or a domestic frost stat, mine work a treat, but wouldn't recommend them with Vodka!!! Mind you we,can't compete with low temperatures you have been seeing, we can only manage -7C down here in cider counrty

[Smiler AS]

I have temp' taken off the plastic insulated engine cover. Washers worked with me at -8 on way home.

They were freezing at -2 before.

Although its not a permanent solution and cant use them until engine warmed up, it is a temp' solution.

[RAV4Len]

How about heated jets that only get a feed when the pump is in use?

That should clear them after a few goes....

[pajjy]

I have temp' taken off the plastic insulated engine cover. Washers worked with me at -8 on way home.

They were freezing at -2 before.

Although its not a permanent solution and cant use them until engine warmed up, it is a temp' solution.

some years ago you could buy a kit that heated your screen wash bottle and pipes by wrapping the feed around your top hose to the rad.dont know how good the idea was .but in gives a clue what could be done.why all cars have not got heated jets,beats me.even my 19991 passat had them back then.

[Smiler AS]

Yeh I remember my old 1993 Cavalier Sri had them too, cracking idea.

[pajjy]

Yeh I remember my old 1993 Cavalier Sri had them too, cracking idea.

thinking more about it,i think they were called hot jets or something like that.

[crofter]

Had a home made washer heater of a similar nature in the early sixties,wrapped small bore soft copper pipe around the top hose,worked too except the jets used to "bleed" fluid when the engine warmed up!!

The old motoring magazines were full of DIY gadgets as there weren't that many mod cons on the mainstream motors then.

No we did not have oil lamps then :D :D

On a Renault Dauphin we wired a pipe along the exhaust in an attempt to feed a little warm air into car as it didn't have a heater.

Is the radiator blanking device like a roller blind which was operated by a string with bobbles on which was pulled or released inside to pull the "blind" up and down still around in modern guise??

[Plutus]

Another vote here for heater washer jets which my cars in the 80's had.

Used very concentrated lime green mix but still tricky journey down motorway stopping at every services to clean screen.

The person who designed the rear parcel shelf decided this.

[Sooty torques]

Nosing round the screenwash in my local Halfords yesterday I noticed that the ready-mixed stuff that filled most of the shelves and they are really pushing, will only protect down to -4... Some use that stuff then.

My whole windscreen wash reservoir was frozen solid so I poured hot water over it, pushed a soft flexible pipe down inside and syphoned the water out as it thawed. Refilled with neat concentrate and jobs a good 'un.

[RAV4Len]

Nosing round the screenwash in my local Halfords yesterday I noticed that the ready-mixed stuff that filled most of the shelves and they are really pushing, will only protect down to -4... Some use that stuff then.

My whole windscreen wash reservoir was frozen solid so I poured hot water over it, pushed a soft flexible pipe down inside and syphoned the water out as it thawed. Refilled with neat concentrate and jobs a good 'un.

I had 2 X 5 litre containers left in the car overnight. one bought from Halfords with no problems and

the other purchased from a service area that was frozen solid......

[xr650]

Had the same problem last winter with jet freeze on a trip down from Skye at new year.(big minus temps)it was localised to the end of the jets,5 mins at a service station for the engine bay heat to sort the pipework under the bonnet & a quick splash of de icer onto the jet got them working every time,but motorway speeds had them iced up again quite quickly,like the vodka idea but me thinks they need heated jets like ive seen on some VW cars in the past.

[xr650]

Picked my car up on Friday and drove about 80 miles with no problems and looked

forward to the 170 mile drive on Saturday.

Saturday morning comes and off we go. !Removed!, the washers are frozen/res empty :(

Pulled into a service station and filled the res up with some blue fluid with no rating on it......

Cleared the screen but still no fluid coming through. Could not even hear the pump with all

the noise around.

Stopped at another service area to investigate, clear the screen, only to be joined by another RAV4 owner with the same problem :)

After about 120 miles managed to get the new fluid through. SORTED! or so I thought......

This morning, same problem for about 120 miles......

Never had this problem when I used Halfords screen wash, so the fluid I bought must have been cr4p, and the previous owner must

also have used cheap stuff.

Would have thought Toyota would have picked it up on the pre delivery vehicle inspection though.....

Sorry about the long post, but this is my first Toyota and felt a bit let down.

Looks like I may have to carry out my first mod :)

All the best,

Len

[Plutus]

One thing I've noticed is that when I turn on the engine and let the car warm up whilst scraping the windows, with the hrw and the windscreen blower on, a small area around the each washer jet melts, so I assumed that they were heated but turns out they are not.

[xr650]

jumped into a frozen car at work tue (minus 10 ish ) noticed a huge pool of frozen water in the foot well.turns out it was a 5 litre bottle of pre mix ready to use screen fluid,it had fallen over & about half had spilled out, what was left in the container had mostly frozen????

[arthurpints]

My windscreen washers also stopped working frozen up, and I also purchased from halford pre mixed and yes it is only down to -4 which is a real con as driving along a motorway will often be below -4 in winter.

What is wrong with Halfords surely a minimum is -10 otherwise it is not fit for purpose (in winter)

[Sooty torques]

My windscreen washers also stopped working frozen up, and I also purchased from halford pre mixed and yes it is only down to -4 which is a real con as driving along a motorway will often be below -4 in winter.

What is wrong with Halfords surely a minimum is -10 otherwise it is not fit for purpose (in winter)

I suppose too many bean-counters and marketing-men assumed that the cold winters we (apparently) 'used' to have are just that - things of the past.

Halfords sell a neat concentrate and a double-concentrate but seems the stocks of this (at least in our local Hellfrauds) has rapdily disappeared as folks realise the pre-mix is not up to the job.

[Roadwrangler]

I've been using a Holts concentrated one which I get in 5 litre bottles, mixing approx 1:1 not had a problem yet, -9°c here this morning.

I'm more worried about the diesel going waxy if it gets much colder, I seem to recall a couple of litres of petrol in your tank and filled up with diesel helps prevent waxing?