Screen washer fluid bottle outlet clogged with small lumps of jelly.

Beano

Beano

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My windscreen washer jets on RHS and LHS were getting weaker and weaker, so after checking the jets, I took off the washer bottle and discovered the small screen on the outlet had become mostly clogged with small lumps of jelly.

Okay....it was cheapish washer fluid. I squirted out the bottle thoroughly, changed brands to a better fluid but now, although it has lasted a bit longer, and despite the bottle being 70% full, both jets are again very weak.

I just know that tomorrow when I take it apart again, that I will again find jelly lumps.

Could anyone please shed some light on this phenomenon ? I understand the first time, but why should the second lot do it too ?
 
Try tap water only?
Besides that, I claim that the detergent in wiper water stuffs your roof lid boot lid paint!
 
You’ve mixed up blinker fluid with washer fluid. Easy mistake.
 
Even a small bottle of Bars Bugs concentrate is inexpensive and will last you a few years. I don't recall any problems with it. Some washer fluids also attack the rubber parts in the washer bottle and make them swell. If the pump is one of those reversible versions with a shuttle valve in it, that can take only a small piece of dirt to become stuck.

Remember to check the local rules on safe disposal of the old blinker fluid.
(... and be sure to also check out his video on replacing the muffler bearing.)

 
Last edited:
Beano said:
My windscreen washer jets on RHS and LHS were getting weaker and weaker, so after checking the jets, I took off the washer bottle and discovered the small screen on the outlet had become mostly clogged with small lumps of jelly.

Okay....it was cheapish washer fluid. I squirted out the bottle thoroughly, changed brands to a better fluid but now, although it has lasted a bit longer, and despite the bottle being 70% full, both jets are again very weak.

I just know that tomorrow when I take it apart again, that I will again find jelly lumps.

Could anyone please shed some light on this phenomenon ? I understand the first time, but why should the second lot do it too ?
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If it's a French car your jets could possibly be blocked with frog-spawn. It happens..
 
Well, something in the washer bottle must be reacting with the additives. I have used both types of additive without a problem in my other make of car.
I took out the bottle again and same deal....a substance closely resembling slightly stringy snot which, although not much of it, clogged up the quite fine mesh inlet just prior to the pump.

I have decided to use tap water only, and apply Rainex to the windscreen monthly.

Isn't napalm made by adding soap to alcohol and something else ? It must be one of those odd chemical reactions which produce a small amount of gel. Dunno...I only did chemistry to grade 10.
 
I gave up using Bosch's fluid. Plain water is less problematic.
 
If you leave the windshield washing fluid long enough in the reservoir it will gel because the water in it evaporates. Nothing to do with brand.

Try this. Put some fluid in a glass and leave it out in the sun a bit. See what happens.

Use just water, preferably deionised. If you need to clean the windshield off something serious, you wouldn't use the wiper anyway, right?
 
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