My new fit is doing great in its first winter... but I cant see out the windshield! the wiper fluid it came with seems to be frozen. I put antifreeze wiper fluid in on top, but it is still not working. Has anyone had, and solved this problem?

 

If it's coming out liquid but freezing when it hits the window, turning the defroster on to warm the glass helps. (Even anti-freeze washer fluid does freeze like that on very cold days.)

If it's not coming out, it's frozen in the tubing. If you wait long enough the heat from the engine and car will thaw the tubing and the washer will squirt again. It helps a lot if you can keep the car in an enclosed garage when it's not being used.

Depending on how much fluid was in the reservoir when you added the winter fluid, it may simply be a matter of squirting enough to get the unmixed fluid out of the tubes. If you couldn't put much winter fluid in, though, you might have to wait until its nearly empty and refill with the good stuff before it gets much better.

Sometimes, at least on other cars, I've had a little bit of ice or snow collect on the squirter nozzles and cause problems, making a dribble or less rather than a squirt. Blowing on them a few times generally clears them out. It's worth checking.

 

I had the same problem last week with my 2012 Fit. It was frozen until after the engine had warmed up. I use a 100% antifreeze windshield wash. Never had this happen before.

 

The only difference between summer and winter windshield solvent is that the winter version is made with a percentage of alcohol to prevent freezing. You will pay about the same total price overall by using summer solvent all year long, but adding 8 ounces of denatured alcohol to a new fill of the reservoir. The alcohol also dissolves more oil and road grime from the windshield, but does not hurt the wax on the body paint.

 

If you have access to a hair dryer you should melt the fluid and add some antifreeze fluid. You might have to do this several times until you have enough in there so it won't freeze.

 

I had this issue driving up north. I solved it SLOWLY by using fluid once warmed, then slowly adding antifreez cleaner as I drained the tank. I also had to pop off the rubber hose and pour antifreez cleaner down it and also stuck a wire inside the tank and swirled it around to get it all mixed up.

If it is reallly bad, get a metal rod, heat it up, and put it in the tank to deice everything

 

It is good to see someone up near me.

 

If the reservoir is full and is frozen solid it could take a while to get it thawed waiting on the engine heat to do the work.

I have never even seen the drain plug for the reservoir but based on the location...it could be a real problem.


The above solutions will take some time to replace the old summer fluid with the new winter fluid.


I would find a friend with a heated garage and leave it over night. Find a way to drain it in the morning.


A friend of mine went to a parking garage and left the car there overnight until it melted. Then he added some denatured alcohol <as mentioned above> and that solved his problem. Cost him 20 bucks.


I never bother to use the summer stuff.