Last few days here have been pretty cold (down to -10c, which is VERY COLD here on the sub-tropical West Coast of Scotland) - if you are in the habit of running all the time with the wipers in automatic mode, switch them to off when you leave the car at night and are expecting an overnight frost. Leaving them on auto will cause the wipers to immediately activate as soon as you turn the key to position 2 in the ignition, putting a strain on the wiper motor and can rip the blade off the wiper after a few times. The automatic on wiper sensor detects the screen is dirty when it has frost/ice on it and tries to clear it, causing above damage. Before you start the engine just 2secs to check can save the expense of new baldes half way through the winter - switch the wipers to off and start up then set the ventilation/heating to Prog and the sceens will clear in a minute and your wipers will be defrosted! But don't expect the washer jets to thaw out so fast! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Last edited by Tim in Scotland on Mon Dec 14 2009 1:43pm. Edited 1 time in total

good point there Tim

I do the same, and fully melt the ice before wiping as ice is another way to ruin a set of wipers when they run over it

Yep Good Call, Tim.

As they are Auto wipers you would think there would be a set temp overide say at 0c, to prevent this. Not on Manual mode though.

Washers are heated, so a little patience is a virtue.

i, the nozzles are heated but not the lines carrying the fluid to them which freezes and stays frozen even though the nozzles have been thawed.................................... when will somebody think to heat the piping as well as the nozzles  2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Last edited by Tim in Scotland on Mon Dec 14 2009 2:09pm. Edited 1 time in total

simply brilliant stuff

I learn't that lesson last year

Didn't damage the blades but it did loosen the nuts on the washers which was the last thing I needed cos it was blizzarding and I had an hours drive to work. Drove slowly to LR who kindly adjusted and retightened the nuts so that they worked foc. TDV6 - gone
TDV8 - gone
Audi Q5 3.0 Tdi Sline wef 6/11/10

Just looked at the 5ltr container of Halfrauds Extra strength washer fluid I bought in the summer and it has a dilution table on it:-

1 Measure fluid to 20 of water - normal weather
1 measure fluid to 4 of water - 0- -15c
1 Measure fluid to 1 of water -15 to -40c
Neat - below -40c

Well I can tell you that the 1-4 mix will still freeze at -5c to -11c I don't like using it neat as there is the possiblity of paintwork damage from the ethyl-glycol/ antifreeze in the stuff 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Over here its sometimes a good idea to pull the wipers off the screen on hot summer days as they have been known to melt onto the screen in some cars...... Gone - 2008 Stornoway Grey RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2009 Buckingham Blue RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2010 Alaska White RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Gone - 2017 Chawton White RRS 5.0 V8 Supercharged
Current - 2010 Java Black RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Current- 2024 RRS P400 SE Dynamic

Nice Tip Tim - Mate of mine just damaged his on a VW.. 4 Week waiting list, as is happening to lots of people... 57 RRS | TDV8 HSE | Java Black | Black Interior | Side Steps | 20" Alloys
Bought in Januray 2010. Colour Coded Car with Forum Members Help.

CURRENT - 2004 Mercedes SL350 | Silver - Best Car I have ever had
GONE - Jaguar S-Type | Silver

A few (not that many) years ago when i was a teeneager starting my first job, a colleague had a Hillman Hunter, he had an add on heating system which i think involved running a small copper heating element along the screen washer pipes, and a think it also had a resevoire that was somehow heated by the engine. Dangerous in those days cos hot water on sub zero screen not a good idea, but with heated screens could work today purple people eater

There are no good days, just some days that are not as bad as others!


Gone RR 4.0 P38 Autobiography MY99 Red ( money pit)
Gone RRS MY06 2.7TDV6 HSE Rimini Red
Gone RRS MY10 3.0TDV6 HSE Bali Blue with lots of bits (never grew to love it)
Here Now - 3.6 TDV8 FFRR OVERFINCH Stornoway Grey - loving it x
My work car Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDci Zetec auto Estate in Silver

Unless you have recently arrived from Iran PPE, you give your age away - Hillman Hunters are still built in Iran! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Hillman Hunter - that makes you about 120! 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
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DO NOT CLICK HERE!

I did have a banana yellow Hillman Hunter company car, then got a Hillman (sorry rebranded Chrysler, or was it Talbot) Avenger, does that give my age away? purple people eater

There are no good days, just some days that are not as bad as others!


Gone RR 4.0 P38 Autobiography MY99 Red ( money pit)
Gone RRS MY06 2.7TDV6 HSE Rimini Red
Gone RRS MY10 3.0TDV6 HSE Bali Blue with lots of bits (never grew to love it)
Here Now - 3.6 TDV8 FFRR OVERFINCH Stornoway Grey - loving it x
My work car Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDci Zetec auto Estate in Silver

I seem to have to reset the auto wipersin mine every time I get back into the car. Know for a fact they wont come on after the key has been out of the ignition cos I sat there with the rain building up trying to figure out what was wrong but as soon as I twisted the collar from auto back one click and then forward again the wipers sprang into life from there!!! That mean theyre knackered or something they changed in the 09 models maybe? Current, M135i in Estoril Blue with more extras than the cast of Ben Hur.

535d m-sport Platinum grey and a few extras.... Gone

X5 3.0 sd in Space Grey, 20's, Dynamic Pack, Memory Pack, Media Pack, Tow Pack, Rear DVD, Panoramic Sunroof, Steps, 7 Seat Pack, Reversing Camera with moving lines, programmable park heat, etc etc etc - Gone

Range Rover Sport Santorini, privacy, dvd, towpack GONE!!!

purple people eater wrote:

I did have a banana yellow Hillman Hunter company car, then got a Hillman (sorry rebranded Chrysler, or was it Talbot) Avenger, does that give my age away?

I had a Hunter GT way back then and a work mate had an Avenger Tiger that was quite a tasty car back then

on topic... washers are still frozen here and have been for over a week now  Sons of dogs come hither and get flesh
Clan Cameron