Washer fluids

The other day when it was below freezing I went to use the washer but it must have been frozen since I never added any fluid since getting it...I take it from the factory they're just putting in some regular wash fluid that's not the -20 degree kind of stuff.
After I added some of the winter type washer fluid, it must have mixed with what's left and is OK now in the freezing weather.

Pretty sure Mr Clam has the answer. Mine always worked fine and it has been down to -28 so far this year, actually is -22 right now. Speaking of washer fluid, holy cow does this contain. Spec says 6L or over 6 quarts if you prefer. May not mean much to those down south but in snow/slush/salt country this is a big deal.

Reminds me of the time I had a Mazda B2000 pickup truck. My Brother bought the same model as me at the same time however he lives in NH, USA and I live in Montreal. We compared trucks one day when he came up to Montreal. Only difference we could find is his washer fluid tank was a puny little thing that could barely hold a quart whereas the Canadian version was huge in comparison and held around 4 quarts. Mine rusted out pretty quickly and his was still immaculate (no salt on the roads). Just goes to show how salt really affects the vehicle over the long run.

I've always treated the windshield on all our vehicles with Rain-X water repellent.

https://www.rainx.com/products/glass-water-repellents-cleaners/

When I saw that Rain-X made wiper fluid, I bought a jug, siphoned out the blue washer fluid and replaced it with Rain-X all season which is supposed to be good to 0-degrees.

https://www.rainx.com/products/windshield-washer-fluid/

When I needed to replace my wiper blades, guess what brand I bought

https://www.rainx.com/products/wiper-blades/

coolbob said:

I've always treated the windshield on all our vehicles with Rain-X water repellent.

https://www.rainx.com/products/glass-water-repellents-cleaners/

When I saw that Rain-X made wiper fluid, I bought a jug, siphoned out the blue washer fluid and replaced it with Rain-X all season which is supposed to be good to 0-degrees.

https://www.rainx.com/products/windshield-washer-fluid/

When I needed to replace my wiper blades, guess what brand I bought

https://www.rainx.com/products/wiper-blades/

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This is a great idea! Thanks so much. I've always had windshield issues, hopefully this helps. They're already added to my amazon cart.

Aquapel is actually a much better product than RainX and lasts for months not a month like RainX. I apply it in spring and just before winter. Aquapel is offered at most dealerships as treatment, never seen RainX, ever wonder why? As for the wipers, I did by a pair of RainX for the RL however the passenger side does not have enough flex in it on the outermost area and it wipes poorly at the lower right area of the windshield so I do not recommend them at least when it comes to the passenger side. Rain Repellent Glass Treatment - Aquapel Glass Treatment

Midnightsun said:

Reminds me of the time I had a Mazda B2000 pickup truck. My Brother bought the same model as me at the same time however he lives in NH, USA and I live in Montreal. We compared trucks one day when he came up to Montreal. Mine rusted out pretty quickly and his was still immaculate (no salt on the roads). Just goes to show how salt really affects the vehicle over the long run.

Click to expand...

No salt? In NH?!?

Midnightsun said:

Aquapel is actually a much better product than RainX and lasts for months not a month like RainX. I apply it in spring and just before winter. Aquapel is offered at most dealerships as treatment, never seen RainX, ever wonder why? As for the wipers, I did by a pair of RainX for the RL however the passenger side does not have enough flex in it on the outermost area and it wipes poorly at the lower right area of the windshield so I do not recommend them at least when it comes to the passenger side. Rain Repellent Glass Treatment - Aquapel Glass Treatment

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Have used Aquapel years ago but saw wipe new has a windshield glass treatment out also 2x longer than Rain X. However I treated my Acura and my nephews Focus with some Rain X glass treatment and put -20 degree Rain X washer fluid in each vehicle. I try to get a bottle or two when I go to Walmart. I remember it was hard to get a few years ago when we got a bunch of snowy weather. The freezing temp on the Rain X bottles were also deferent. I had posted about it a few years ago. What was getting shipped was not good enough for this area. We were extremely colder here with temps like 10 degrees.
I grab the stuff when I see it we got 10 weeks of winter weather to go here in DC area. Snowing today 50s next Tuesday.

Well, I woke up this morning in Cedar City, Utah and realized a major screw up. Drove from California and windshield fluid last topped up at an oil change. I am hoping my fluid container is not a block and not damaged. It was 5 degrees last night.

Every year when I make this trip, I have to empty the reservoir in warm weather and fill with the -20 fluid. Have had bad experiences when I didn't.

Driving today in temps under 32. We'll see ...

I think siphoning the original mix is in my future. Arkansas rarely gets into low teens or snow, so we are seldom prepared

Midnightsun said:

...Speaking of washer fluid, holy cow does this contain. Spec says 6L or over 6 quarts if you prefer. May not mean much to those down south but in snow/slush/salt country this is a big deal.

...

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That is great to hear! One of our complaints on the 2008 Accord was how small the washer fluid reservoir was, along with lack of memory seats, and lack of heated back on passenger side.

Sounds like Honda is listening, and slowly fixing these issues!

Midnightsun said:

Speaking of washer fluid, holy cow does this contain. Spec says 6L or over 6 quarts if you prefer. May not mean much to those down south but in snow/slush/salt country this is a big deal.

Click to expand...

I just siphoned mine out to refill it with Rain-X fluid and only about a gallon came out so I looked up the capacity in the owners manual to see how much was left in the tank snce I coundn't see it.

It was empty---it's another case of differing specs between US and Canadian models--the Canadian ones hold 6 liters and the US ones 4 (about a gallon)

At least a gallon is more than any other vehicle I've had.

And it siphoned out really easily and quickly--I did have to turn the hose around and around as I put it in to "snake" it thru the turns in the fill tube but it wasn't difficult at all.

Following up on my earlier post, I manage to make it through the Rocky Mountains without having to use the windshield fluid until things warmed up. At that point, I gradually used all the regular fluid (emptied the reservoir). Good news is that there was no damage to the reservoir, even though I'm pretty sure the fluid must have frozen when it was 0 degrees overnight.

Filled the reservoir in Denver with a gallon of -20 windshield fluid. I was not able to put the whole gallon in. There were a few cups left over.

OK, I'm going up to snow country tomorrow and night temps will be well below freezing. From what I've read from your posts, it sounds like the factory fluid is summer rated only. If that's true, I'm just going to run the reservoir empty and fill it with winter solution when I get up to the mountains. Any tips will be appreciated.