Help! Car emergency!

[Glutton4...]

I'm not a Mechanic, but I'm married to one, and Daughter of one. I'd leave it! As someone said before, it's a type of antifreeze anyway! The Garage may well leave it and tell you they've done it, and charge you anyway!

Sorry, I'm naturally sceptical!

[Nicos]

Well- come on lass...don't keep us in suspenders......

[Glutton4...]

Well- come on lass...don't keep us in suspenders......

No - they itch! It's the Lace you know!

[Jeanied]

Right - this is what I did.
I went out this morning on foot and bought some radiator coolant from the garage. No choice of the variety (my car handbook said only buy approved coolant but doesn't say what that is!)
Trudged home. Took the large syringe and sucked out as much of the old washer fluid mixed with coolant (a nice green colour) as I could. Found the bottle was in little compartments and I couldn't get to all of them.
A few moments of panic. Then destroyed a biro and used the tube to extend the nozzle of the syringe - taped on with gaffer tape. Then sucked out as much of the rest of the liquid as I could. Only a drop left in the bottom.
Then read the destructions on coolant bottle from garage. Eeeek - I need demineralised water to mix it with!!!
Then I remember I have something in the back of the cupboard. 5 litres of distilled water! Yay.
So, mixed up the coolant (I part blue stuff to 2 parts water) and topped up to the max level on my coolant bottle.
Then back to mix up some new washer fluid. (25% mix with ordinary water) Confusingly this new stuff is also blue (unlike the stuff I used last night which was yellow). Then couldn't get the cap off the bottle under the bonnet. Yuk - a lot of struggling and cold fingers I discovered I got a better grip with marigolds rubber gloves on. Finally wrenched the thing open, topped that one up.
Tidy up, get ready for work, evict cat from cupboard under the stairs. Scrape windshield and get in car. Off we go - all seems fine - now at work a bit shamefaced.
'Car trouble' I said.
Only thing is - my washers still don't work!!!

[T8Ter]

Sorted!
Hope things go well for you in work.

[Glutton4...]

Well done Jeanie! Pat yerself on the back, and have a well deserved cuppa. Your washers are probably frozen. Don't worry, they'll defrost again, round about May next year!

[womble]

Your wiper fluid won't work until the pipes that carry the fluid to the jets unfreeze.
This can happen when the car warms them up enough, usually when you have been driving it and then leave it for a while. The heat from the engine stays around the car better than when you are driving.
You then need to go out and use the jets until you smell the antifreeze mixture come through the jets, at the moment you still have pure water, or too low a mix of antifreeze mixture.

Then hopefully it should work from cold.

[Snadger]

Congratulations.............you have now just been promoted to the vines chief engineer! Well done!

[Jeanied]

Just to add a post script.
After topping up the washer bottle and making sure it had de-frosted the washers still didn't work. Panic that the squirter motor had broken.
Then I get sensible and look in the handbook - find that there is a fuse that runs the washer function front and rear. Fuse box under the bonnet.
Nip to the garage spares dept - nice guy gets a fuse, changes it for me, gives me two spares in case it happens again and didn't charge me a penny!
Result!!!

[Glutton4...]

Excellent news!

[binley100]

That's the way to do it

[lindyloo]

glad this got sorted. i have only just read this thread, so you have already sorted it out! but it made me remember that i did a similar thing, and put something ( i can't remember what liquid it was) into the antifreeze container, much as you have done. i managed to get most of it out, by twisting up a lint free cloth and dipping it in, soaking up as much as i could, and then squeezing it out, and redipping, til i got it all out. ( much less sophisticated than your syringe!) then, i took it to my garage, just to make sure it was ok, and they said that a new antifreeze container only cost a fiver anyway, so i might just as well have drained it, as others have said, and walked down to garage to get a new, uncontaminated container. ( but we are talking about a person who filled her oil through the dipstick!--that took forever!) i really hate getting my hands anywhere near a greasy engine, so i think my brain just switched off.