Pongy screenwash ...

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

Odd one this.

I've just come back from the annual thrash to N Wales, and the S2 went brilliantly. Really wonder what I could ever change it for *. Fantastic car to drive. Handling as balanced as ever, steering talking to you more than the radio and the wife put together (which is quite a lot when the speeds are increased!), huge boot ... all great ...

Small spot on the horizon was the screenwash. It rather smells as if something has started growing in there. Something pongy. There is a distinct aroma of rotten eggs when you fill up the screenwash bottle, and the stench when you wash the windscreen with it is quite unpleasant. How this happens when it is filled with a fairly strong mix of alcohol-based screenwash and water is beyond me, but that's another matter.

The obvious answer is to put something in it to kill the bugs, but what? I would be nervous of using bleach or similar as it would possibly damage the pipework and also a I don't know what a bleach-mix would do the paintwork when it was sprayed on the windscreen. Any suggestions? Miltons solution? Dettol? Something else?

Failing that, I could take the bottle all the way out to clean it ... how hard a job is this?


Oli.

* - OK. Last year I tried racing a melted-welly-boot Seat, which put up a damned good fight. And I thought hard about changing my S2 for a turbo. This year, it was a ... caravan [] ! On the lovely, lovely road across the Welsh mountains past Lake Bala. OK, it was being pulled by a V8 rangie, whose driver was going as if his trousers were on fire, and frankly I was awe-struck watching it top 85+ on a mountain road in the drizzle, but has anyone got a good turbo for sale? Or fancies swapping one for an S2? Preferably in Baltic with a Linen interior so that SWMBO may just about not notice ... and yes, I have read the thread about the N Ireland 250 for sale but that sounds a bit hard-core for me. If the right car comes up I may just be serious ...

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp
has anyone got a good turbo for sale? <smip> If the right car comes up I may just be serious ... [/size]

Wash your mouth out with soap and water!

Might also work for the screenwash bottle too []

 

[Pastry]

ive had diluted screenwash go mouldy too... bad news is you can get solid gunk growing in it so best to drain it completely then mix it stronger in future. wasnt on the 944 so i cant help re. removal.

 

[ChasR]

I had this problem on an Espace. I think it eventually went away by us putting a pressure washer down the bottle, and filling it with neat Double strength antifreeze.

 

[lawsi]

Try Milton Fluid or ask your local landlord for some ale pipe cleaning fluid

 

[James_G]

Oli

Good to hear you enjoyed the car in Wales. I've had the washer bottle out before and most of it can be done from the top, with just one lower bolt needing to be got from underneath. Something we can easily do on the upcoming garage day if you fancy and 20 minutes tops to extract it. Once it's out, I guess cleaning it with something suitably industrial should do the trick.

Cheers

James

 

[John Sims]

My washer bottle water smells like puke as well. All it has had in it, apart from water, was meths.

Good idea on the Milton tablets. I might give that a go later - not that I am that keen on the smell of them either. They remind me of babies [:'(] but it must be better than it is at the moment.

 

[zcacogp]

Miltons ... good suggestion. Will this be safe to use with the pump, tubing and nozzles? What about on the paintwork? I guess that if it is safe enough for a babies' bottom (or digestive tract) then it will be OK on car parts.

James, good suggestion. Sounds like an ideal Garage Day job. I was half-thinking about getting the collective knowledge together on a belt-changing session .. I wonder if I could do both?


Oli.

 

[xenon]

Bottle is easy to remove and swill it with bleach. Rinse it well, job done. I wouldn't be adverse to pumping bleach through the tubing either, as long as I had a bucket of water to throw over the car once pumped out.

 

[Super_Marv]

Water sterilizing tablets of some sort should do the trick.

Use VW windscreen washer fluid on the future - never have any problems with that and brings up the screen wonderfully clean.

 

[Flick]

I'd use Miltons while it's still not cold enough to freeze at night then use that wonderful apple fragranced screenwash Halfords sell to get rid of the Miltons smell (Miltons is a migraine trigger for me ,as is bleech)

 

[944Turbo]

The later bottle is different from the lux ones and much harder to get out - on a turbo anyway guess its the same bottle on an S2. Its also much harder to get to the headlamp washer motor.
Tony

 

[zcacogp]

Quick update ... I drained the bottle, washed it out with clean water and re-filled it with clean water with a miltons tablet dissolved in it. I'll run it like this for a while, before refilling with the usual screenwash mix. (I tend to use quite a lot of screenwash, so will be refilling it within the coming 3 weeks or so.)

(Draining it was done by flipping up the headlights, unplugging the headlight motor and relay - under the rubber cover, removing the lid of the screenwash bottle and pulling the lower pump upwards. This pulled it out of its hole and allowed the bottle to drain out of the hole. This was extremely smelly! The bottle is a very odd shape, and I couldn't work out how it would be removed - although from James's comments it's a bolt underneath, which I didn't have a look at.)


Smells good so far. Thanks for your help.


Oli.

 

[mr brightside]

Homebrew stores do sterilising products

 

[Super_Marv]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Quick update ... I drained the bottle, washed it out with clean water and re-filled it with clean water with a miltons tablet dissolved in it. I'll run it like this for a while, before refilling with the usual screenwash mix. (I tend to use quite a lot of screenwash, so will be refilling it within the coming 3 weeks or so.)

(Draining it was done by flipping up the headlights, unplugging the headlight motor and relay - under the rubber cover, removing the lid of the screenwash bottle and pulling the lower pump upwards. This pulled it out of its hole and allowed the bottle to drain out of the hole. This was extremely smelly! The bottle is a very odd shape, and I couldn't work out how it would be removed - although from James's comments it's a bolt underneath, which I didn't have a look at.)


Smells good so far. Thanks for your help.


Oli.

I never understand how people get through so much washer fluid. I barely top mine up between services. The reservoir is ridiculously massive on the 944/68 as well, IIRC.

 

[zcacogp]

Really? I regularly clean my windscreen and find the really large washer bottle on the 944 one of the (many) useful features. (Refilling the tiny 1L bottle on a Golf got tiresome when you did it more than once a week.)

Shows how folks differ, I guess! [&:]


Oli.

 

[Copperman05]

ORIGINAL: Super_Marv

I never understand how people get through so much washer fluid. I barely top mine up between services. The reservoir is ridiculously massive on the 944/68 as well, IIRC.

Your obviously not driving far or fast enough![]

Edd

 

[Super_Marv]

True - I'm probably not driving far enough in the 968 to use the windscreen washers very much.

Last year I did about 20K miles in my Golf and I think I only added 1L of washer fliud/water at that time. And that was using fast roads too.

I guess it's because it rains so much, I just use the rain to clean the screen, or the layer of dew on the windscreen in the morning to clean it.

 

[zcacogp]

Ah, I use the screenwash fairly liberally during rain as well, as it will cut through the layer of grease that seems to build up whenever it rains and causes aforementioned rain to smear ...


Oli.

 

[Flick]

Jesus that's a thought, I don't think I've used the screenwashers in the 5 months I've owned it! Having said that I've only used the wipers twice. Like Oli though with my daily driver I go through gallons of screenwash.