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Technical What I think of the windscreen washers on the 500

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Technical What I think of the windscreen washers on the 500

Guys what do you think of just putting cheap vodka and mixing it with water. Isnt that what antifreeze fluid basically is? (isnt that what they do in siberia with their lada 'tanks'?)
 
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306maxi said:
easily sorted with pliers :) I wouldn't worry too much. Mine has done 2 winters since the "fix" :)
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Fair point - but it's not really about fixing it yourself. When you've spent upwards of £10K on a car you don't expect to have to resort to a pair of pliers. Plus there will be loads of owners out there who are unable or unwilling to do this. With many cars coming out of warranty it is something that Fiat should have sorted by now! Rant over.:mad:
 
ahmett said:
Guys what do you think of just putting cheap vodka and mixing it with water. Isnt that what antifreeze fluid basically is? (isnt that what they do in siberia with their lada 'tanks'?)
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No such thing as cheap Vodka in the UK! Just don't try it the other way round - substituting anti-freeze for cheap Vodka!
 
stu0710 said:
No such thing as cheap Vodka in the UK! Just don't try it the other way round - substituting anti-freeze for cheap Vodka!
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Quite - leave that to the austrian wine industry:

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_diethylene_glycol_wine_scandal"]1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg/220px-Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/b/b2/Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg/220px-Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg[/ame].
 
stu0710 said:
No such thing as cheap Vodka in the UK! Just don't try it the other way round - substituting anti-freeze for cheap Vodka!
Click to expand...

Quite - leave that to the Austrian wine industry:

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_diethylene_glycol_wine_scandal"]1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg/220px-Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/b/b2/Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg/220px-Edelfaule_Weintrauben.jpg[/ame].
 
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stu0710 said:
Fair point - but it's not really about fixing it yourself. When you've spent upwards of £10K on a car you don't expect to have to resort to a pair of pliers. Plus there will be loads of owners out there who are unable or unwilling to do this. With many cars coming out of warranty it is something that Fiat should have sorted by now! Rant over.:mad:
Click to expand...

I hear what you're saying and that was why I posted that thread, but in all seriousness, when I went to the dealer, all he did was get the little barrel and squeeze the end with pliers till it was more of an interference fit than before and that was it.
 
My washer jets popped out last winter, I wrapped a tiny bit of PTFE tape round them and slid them back in and they've been fine since, touch wood! The rear jet is a pain though, even with winter screen wash in it can freeze, then a pipe pops off under the bonnet. I just don't use the rear washer when it's really cold!
 
Just had one of my washers pop out this week. We haven't had a frost yet, so it nothing to do with the jet freezing (in my case), just poor design. I've tried pushing it back but around 5 seconds of washer blast and it blows out again.

As has been said before, it's a pity that Fiat have not bothered to find a fix for this in all the years they have been making the 500. You'd have thought that all the warranty work must be costing them money?
 
The washer jets on my EK9 were poor, in that it was just a single stream of washer fluid which wasn't very effective. I swapped them over with Honda Jazz washer jets, which is a mist/spray and it was much better. I actually considered getting a set for the 500, I'm pretty sure they would fit.
 
Edinburgh to London yesterday, around 4C one of the washer insert popped. The dealer is too far to visit, will the ptfe work, I presume its applied at the last section before pushing in !!
 
It's crazy how many people this has happened to on the forum! Must be up there with the mighty breather pipe as well...still, I suppose it is only a "minor" thing as opposed to a major technical fault (albeit very annoying for those who are unlucky enough for it to happen).

So far we have been lucky with ours, although the rear washer does seem to be forcing out the screenwash at a very high pressure and making it very foamy. I thought originally it might be to do with the concentration of screenwash/water, but the front ones are fine.

Has this happened to anyone else at all?
 
Modified washer jets released a couple of months ago to resolve this issue, not sure of new part number at the mo sorry. although have to say after all these years about time.
 
Super Uwe said:
So far we have been lucky with ours, although the rear washer does seem to be forcing out the screenwash at a very high pressure and making it very foamy. I thought originally it might be to do with the concentration of screenwash/water, but the front ones are fine.

Has this happened to anyone else at all?
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Foam would be due to restrcition or a kink, check for restriction in the rear jets..

Off topic..
Speaking about Jets saw a RR Jet engine being hauled on M6 yesterday what a sight, its a shame our manufacturing industry is almost dead with so little going on, what a contrast to traveling in Germany..
 
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grimwau said:
I found that squeezing the "interference fit" section of the jet in the jaws of some pliers left ridges on the plastic and have held mine in place since last year.
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That's what my dealer did and they've stayed put for about 2 years now :)
 
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