Windshield Wiper Fluid Not Working

M

maveryc

Member
Hi,

I have a 2014 CX-5 Touring, and whenever it gets very cold (below around 10 degrees F), my windshield washer fluid does not work on either the front or rear windshields. Any idea why this could be? I've checked to make sure the nozzles on the front windshield are not blocked, and that doesn't fix the issue.

I currently have blue washer fluid provided by the dealership, but I will probably try a different brand once the current tank is empty.

Thanks!
 
runtohell121 said:
My assumption is that the fluid is frozen..
Click to expand...

That was my initial guess as well. However, sometimes the fluid will work when I first start driving, but will then stop after some time. Shouldn't the engine warm the fluid up and make it more likely to work after driving for a while?
 
Not likely, I believe the tank is out under the front right fender. Not much heat gets out there.
 
When I lived in Minnesota, I would occasionally buy some special low-temperature washer fluid. I think it was orange and cost at least twice as much as the regular blue stuff, but it didn't freeze. Well, maybe when it got to -29F many years and several cars ago... but then the gas line froze or something and I couldn't start the car anyway. (Had brought the battery indoors so it did at least crank.) You might give it a try if you can find it or something similar.
 
My wiper fluid froze one week after buying my cx-5. The first warm day I got everything out and put in Rainx 2 in 1 all season (orange). The next cold freeze it still froze since I didn't get all the old stuff out of all the lines. Now for the past couple of day the temperature in Ky has been 0-20 degrees and nothing is freezing! I had this happen to another car 5 years ago after taking it in for an oil change and the wiper fluid was frozen for 3 months since I lived in MI at the time. Hard to drive in a blizzard with no wiper fluid. Now I never let oil places put in the cheap stuff. The Rainx stuff is my favorite.
 
runtohell121 said:
My assumption is that the fluid is frozen..
Click to expand...

This. Our tank stays cold in the front of the bay, and has a hard time coming up to engine bay temps. Mine froze a couple weeks ago, and thawed once we got back over forty degrees. Shame on me for not running a -32F blend.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone! I will try replacing the fluid with a better quality type once this one thaws out.
 
Only humans care about wind chill. The wind has no impact on the liquid. If the fluid is rated to freeze at -20C, no matter how windy it is, the fluid will still freeze at -20C ambient temperature.
 
SayNoToPistons said:
Take into consideration of wind chill, not just ambient temp.
Click to expand...

A common misconception. (whistle)
Wind chill will effect a vehicle only in shortening the time time it takes for hoses or radiator to reach the ambient air temp. If the outside air is 32f and the wind chill is 20f, wind chill can't reduce the temp below the ambient 32f.
 
Windchill is a measured factor of heat loss. Granted one can argue using the first law of thermodynamics (conversation of energy). My post was directed towards the post where maveryc states "sometimes the fluid will work when I first start driving, but will then stop after some time." This is where "windchill" takes place as the car is in motion, where it cools ambient engine bay temperature, and especially the cowl at the end of the windshield where the fluid line and nozzle is. Sorry for the lack of clarification.

Reason why even methanol based washer fluid will freeze in the plastic tubes, nozzles, and windshield is due to the cold flash of which the methanol evaporates leaving only the water which it is diluted in.
 
Kelly_A said:
A common misconception. (whistle)
Wind chill will effect a vehicle only in shortening the time time it takes for hoses or radiator to reach the ambient air temp. If the outside air is 32f and the wind chill is 20f, wind chill can't reduce the temp below the ambient 32f.
Click to expand...

Basically correct. But sometimes water can freeze when the ambient is well above freezing due to evaporative cooling. This was quite a problem on certain motorcycles with carbs, they would ice up on humid days below 35 degrees (and sometimes even warmer). Some airplanes have the same issue.
 
Yep.. it can be 50degrrees ambient and you can have carburetor icing on an aircraft engine..
 
Lets make sure that folks that read this don't misunderstand windchill. This is the impact of having a wind pull heat from a surface at a faster rate than normal because more cold air is being passed by the surface. This is particularly a problem for exposed skin, which otherwise might last for, say, an hour before it freezes at 10 F, where as with a stiff breeze might freeze in 5 minutes. Cars are slow to cool down, so they are often much warmer than the air temp. Park the car outside, and under the hood it may be 10 F warmer than the surrounding air. Start driving and it will quickly drop towards air temp, especially, as pointed out, the windshield washer bottle is right out front. So, it may freeze after you start driving. However, windchill only brought the temp down to ambient, no lower.

Fluid freezing at the tips of a windshield washer nozzle is doing so because the fluid is evaporating at that point, which drops the temperature of the fluid. High wind speed does increase the evaporation rate, allowing it to freeze. This can drop the temperature below the ambient, but is not caused by windchill.

Carb icing is caused by two effects. The lower pressure in the carb throat reduces temperature, as does the evaporation of the fuel. This is based on air temp and humidity, wind speed is not a cause.
 
It's too cold for the fluid he is using...is the cause. I will let you aeronautical engineers get back to it now!
 
CXVille said:
Carb icing is caused by two effects. The lower pressure in the carb throat reduces temperature, as does the evaporation of the fuel. This is based on air temp and humidity, wind speed is not a cause.
Click to expand...

My point was that evaporative cooling is increased with air speed and such evaporative cooling can cause matter to be cooled below that of ambient. That's how a swamp cooler works and, in carb icing, the vaporization is a significant contributor to temperature drop. Of course "wind chill" is a artificial metric dealing with dry, exposed skin and does not contemplate evaporative cooling. Wet bulb temperature does measure evaporative cooling and the harder the wind blows the lower the wet bulb temperature will be. It is possible for fluids to freeze at ambient temperatures well above their normal freezing point due to wind-induced evaporative cooling.
 
Girl & The CX-5 said:
My wiper fluid froze one week after buying my cx-5. The first warm day I got everything out and put in Rainx 2 in 1 all season (orange). The next cold freeze it still froze since I didn't get all the old stuff out of all the lines. Now for the past couple of day the temperature in Ky has been 0-20 degrees and nothing is freezing! I had this happen to another car 5 years ago after taking it in for an oil change and the wiper fluid was frozen for 3 months since I lived in MI at the time. Hard to drive in a blizzard with no wiper fluid. Now I never let oil places put in the cheap stuff. The Rainx stuff is my favorite.
Click to expand...

I had essentially the same experience. The fluid that was delivered with the car was obviously not rated for low temperatures.

I have been using the washers liberally just to get rid of it, and have been replacing it with the orange RainX fluid (rated to -25*F). There's still a bit more of the old stuff in there but it has frozen less/less often as more of the RainX fluid has been added.
 
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