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So My Winshield Sprayers Froze This Morning?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by TooFolkGR, Dec 12, 2007.

  1. TooFolkGR

    TooFolkGR New Member

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    I've lived in Michigan my whole life and owned about 8 cars in ten years... this is actually the first time this has ever happened to me. I've had snow and ice get on them and block them of course. But last night there was no snow or ice, it was just cold. I get up this morning and the winshield sprayers don't work. I put de-icer in it a couple weeks ago and it was only about 27 degrees last night (cold but not super cold).

    At least I hope they're just frozen, maybe they're broke. I won't know until it warms up and see if they work again I guess.
     
    #1 TooFolkGR, Dec 12, 2007
  2. abq sfr

    abq sfr New Member

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    You should verify the de-icer you used was really de-icer. If you don't look close you can miss the deceptive labeling that might boldly state "Protects down to 32 degrees" which means it is just water.
     
    #2 abq sfr, Dec 12, 2007
  3. TooFolkGR

    TooFolkGR New Member

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    That is a good suggestion, so I checked at lunch. The stuff I have is Rain-X and it claims to be good up to -25 F so I should be OK there. It's probably just a fluke that it's never happened to me before. I checked at lunch and they are fine now.
     
    #3 TooFolkGR, Dec 12, 2007
  4. brick

    brick Active Member

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    I have been using de-icer for years and Rain-X makes the best stuff IMO. It could be that there was some water left in the line. Was the reservoir really empty when you put in the Rain-X? And had you used the washers enough since then to get it through the lines?
     
    #4 brick, Dec 12, 2007
  5. Mawcawfee

    Mawcawfee Prius-less (for now)

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    I have had this happen on plenty of "outside" vehicles over 20+ years. If your windshield washer fluid is not frozen (shouldn't be since I use the same Rain-X stuff), then you probably have ice on the outside of the nozzles. You can usually just wipe the ice off if it's thin enough or *carefully* chip off thicker ice with the edge of a plastic scraper. Every once in a while, I have had water (freezing rain, melting snow) work its way down into one or both nozzles and freeze. Some quick-fix options: (1) Pour a cup of hot tap water over each nozzle (might refreeze worse though), (2) Spray lock de-icer into the nozzle holes, (3) Run an extension cord outside and thaw the nozzles with a hair dryer (takes less than a minute on the hot setting).
     
    #5 Mawcawfee, Dec 13, 2007
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