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I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:01 am
by Captain Jack
As subject really. Was too dark to read the bottles and I managed to put in 0.5L of Magnatec's best into the windscreen washer. What can I do? Stick a load of Fairy liquid in to dissolve it?
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:36 am
by Welly
Syphon it out, then lots of cleaning/flushing with detergent. You don't want to be squirting oil on yer windscreen

Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:22 am
by DiscoPol
Im afraid i have nothing constructive for you on this but as your other half is also Polish................Ale z ciebie dupa
hot water and a good degreaser should shift most of it, remember hot water will work better on the tank but in this weather for gods sake dont squirt it on your screen, hot water onto a cold screen could well spell disaster.
good luck.
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:31 am
by mjb
Haha dumbass
Front of the wheelarch liner off, yank the pump and let it spill out, put the pump back, fill with fairy liquid in boiling water (try to fill it as fast as possible for maximum splashage), remove the pump without scalding yourself, repeat
Might also be worth unplugging the pump outlet to the jets and flushing the pump through with the boiling fairy after a couple of tank flushes
If you've used the washer after putting the oil in, pull the jets and pipework out of the bonnet and flush them through off the car
Don't use too strong a concentration of fairy if passing it through the pump either - it'll foam up and potentially damage the pump
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:38 am
by Welly
7403406 wrote:hot water onto a cold screen could well spell disaster
You know, every morning I fill a 7ltr gardening can with hot water at 58deg C and pour it straight over the Astra and the Volvo's glass with no probs at all even at -7deg C. Been doing this for years now and it's the quikest and most effecting de-icer (as long as you activate the wipers straight away).
carry on.....
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:03 am
by DiscoPol
I lost a screen on a works van a few years back and have been very wary ever since, each to their own and all that, but i will wait for the day i can say told you so
And out of interest how do you know the exact temp of 58?? do i detect somebody involved in the HVAC business, they are all about the temps, lol
must admit my muppet mistake was on a colder day than we usually get here and it wasnt far off a boiling kettle

Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:44 pm
by Welly
Yup I'm a HVAC engineer so I do weird things like taking the temp of the stored hot water in the house
Interestingly (or not) the incoming Mains Cold Water was 6.8 deg C yesterday - chilly! anyone with an electric shower will know what that means
I find that as soon as the hot water touches the large area of glass it instantly cools to around 15 deg's. I'd never use a kettle though.
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:56 pm
by Doggy
Knew someone who swore by using the garden hose to defrost the winders without risk of cracking.
One particularly cold morning his house phone rang, keeping him occupied long enough for his motah to turn into an iceberg on wheels....
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:00 pm
by mjb
Welly wrote:Interestingly (or not) the incoming Mains Cold Water was 6.8 deg C yesterday - chilly! anyone with an electric shower will know what that means
The shower in my new house is a mixer tap coming from an on-demand boiler. Currently I'm having to turn it to 100% hot and use just a trickle, presumably because the boiler can't heat the icy cold water quickly enough
As for de-icing windows, I use a 5 litre bottle of water, roughly room temperature (15~20c). Only problem is the area where your car was turns into an ice rink

Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:02 pm
by Welly
Well actually the only drawback of my water-can antics is the following skating rink of a driveway
Just seen mjb's post but hey ho....
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:17 pm
by Captain Jack
Welp, I put in loads of hot water in and some highly concentrated mix thing but nothing is coming out either at the windscreen or the headlamp washer end. In fact, I can't even hear the pump working so it's probably seized in oil. Will have to do mjb's method of flushing the tank and checking the pump when I get a chance (not before Friday

)
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:56 pm
by Welly
Maybe the pump's seized in Ice since you (presumably) ran it low of fluid recently? the oil should float on top.
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:59 pm
by Captain Jack
Welly wrote:Maybe the pump's seized in Ice since you (presumably) ran it low of fluid recently? the oil should float on top.
Ah, good point. It's snowing here right now, so I guess I won't get a working pump until it warms up at some point...
Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:37 pm
by mjb
Welly wrote:the oil should float on top.
Good point! Just shove a petrol-soaked rag and a match in to burn it off

Re: I put oil in windscreen washer bottle...idiot
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:40 pm
by Captain Jack
Or get a spoon and skim it off the top!