Check your windshield wiper fluid

Hello all --

Been away for a time, but thought I'd pop in to remind everyone to check your windshield wiper fluid levels. I know, I know -- a fairly obvious thing, but because we've been having so much crummy winter weather lately, I'd somehow used mine up to a dangerously low level without realizing it. And of course, when did it give out completely? When I was on the highway, going 65 mph.

Fortunately, at the exact moment I had ZERO visibility due to filthy brown frozen slush, the truck in front of me signaled right (I could somehow just make out his tail-lights in the murk) and I cautiously followed him up the ramp and into a big box parking lot. I scraped off the windshield the best I could and then drove a block to a gas station to fill up the completely dry fluid reservoir.


A very humbling experience that I hope to never repeat.

Welcome back, and thanks for the reminder. Like sunglasses in some parts of the world, windshield washer fluid is an essential safety item, even (under the wrong circumstances) in the "off" season.

Rain-X

I used to change my own wiper fluid regularly for years and years. I forgot one change, and I had the same harrowing situation you found yourself in - driving by instruments, which is a bad way to drive at freeway speeds. When I bought a new car with a lower carriage that's a pain to get under and change oil, I moved to paying the guys in the dealership to do it. (I'm certain this was a design change intended to prop up dealership mechanics everywhere, but given that Toyota hasn't gotten any other money from me except for routine maintenance I'm okay with that). Along with the $29 oil change comes lube and wiper fluid refill, plus a couple fluids I probably am not aware of. $29 provides a lot of peace of mind.

My wife and daughter go the dealership oil change route (and not the Jiffy Lube look alike service, for reasons outside the interests of this thread) for pretty much the same reason - everything gets refilled and checked.

Rainx does not work against snow, slush, gritt, salt, etc... I don't even think it works well against small droplet and/or slow speeds. Rain and highway speeds ok, but not much else in mine opinion.

I always fill mine wiperfluid, check mine other fluids and check air pressure every month.

A spare jug in winter could also be very useful.

I drive from place to place for a living. I buy a half-dozen jugs of blue juice when it goes on sale for a buck, and keep a full one in a box in the trunk. In the metro areas here, they spray a brown soybean compound on the road that turns into a thin white paste on the windshield (and everything else) when it gets airborne. Driving without blue juice on semi-slushy days is nearly impossible.

Great reminder Meadowlark! Thanks! And welcome back!

Checking the fluid at oil changes isn't nearly often enough (and I hope people realize that dealers don't put their expensive mechanics on the oil change duty, they hire the same entry level person the quick change places do). I check all fluids, tire pressure and lights monthly and have some spare of each in the vehicles. kids actually enjoy doing it, they walk around and tell me if all the lights are lit up (I do it in the evenings so I can see the reflection off of them to verify).

You beat me to it. An absolute necessity for winter driving in Utah with heavily salted roads. Seems like I was always stopping on I-80 to refill the reservoir.

I have been loving the orange stuff lately. http://www.rainx.com/Products/Windshield_Washer_Fluids/De-Icer_Bug_Remover.aspx

some years ago when the winter was really nasty,sleet,freezing rain more than show,i would put a bottle of gas line anti freeze in with the window wash.

Fill a one liter soda bottle--or even a 20 ounce bottle--with WW fluid and keep it in the trunk with the jumper cables and the other auto rescue supplies.

Keep your last set of winter wipers there as well. I have had ice start to tear the rubber off the blade. A little bit streaky from worn blades is better than nothing.

I've been amazed at how much washer fluid I've gone through since moving to CO (get caught in ski traffic on i70 on a bad weekend and you'll probably use a quart). Luckily I have a fairly big fluid tank, and remember to check it often enough. Biggest problem I usually have is the rear wiper will freeze and not make any contact with the glass.

As for carrying a spare wiper, that is one of the nice things about having 3 windshield wipers that are all the same length (FJ cruiser). Something happens to one, you still have 2, which will clear enough of the window to have a good view.

Make sure if you put non-drinkable fluids in a soda bottle, to mark is properly or even tape the cap.

If the problem with the rear wiper is ice build up on the blade support you might want to try the newer beam blade style wipers that don't have external support structures. If the problem is ice build up on the arm they won't help with that however.