Safe Speed Forums

When I was using one of the works cars, earlier this week, whoever used it last didn’t fill up the bottle. So the first time I used the washer, approaching Spaghetti Junction to go north, there was no way to clear my view and I had to drive a very long way with a filthy, (getting filthier by the mile), windscreen.

Am I supposed to pull onto the hard shoulder and do, well, I don’t know what actually? Calling the AA to bring me some water seemed rather silly.

I’m not proud to say it but I carried on looking through the least dirty part in overcast conditions until I got to the next services, which were a long way away unfortunately. Could I have been prosecuted for this I wonder?

I also had a possible brain-stormer: Rather than channel any rainwater away when it is raining, why haven’t manufacturers invented a simple means of funnelling it into the water bottle? It runs off the bonnet down a channel anyway so why not? You could fit a simple filter to stop the pump clogging and you would get quite a lot of water from off a bonnet making fill-ups, in this country at least, less frequent and enhance safety.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

It might freeze. But you could fill your bottle with a natural human by-product that is salty, warm and wet!

Funny enough, that thought did cross my mind. I think it currently stands as a £10 fine but better that than a dirty windscreen. It was also a very cold day so I might have had a bit of a struggle, if you know what I mean?


Agreed, but what better place to un-freeze in no time than above the engine. Also, the days that you tend to need the water aren't so much when it's freezing but when it's just icky like earlier this week.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I carry a three litre pop bottle in the boot, filled with boiled water.
It can be used for drinking in emergencies, washing hands, bathing wounds (!) and if the need arises, you can always chuck it in the washer bottle.
Most drivers with kids will have learned this trick!

I know it's a work vehicle, but whenever I change vehicles, I always take several essential items with me - map, sunglasses, chocolate/biscuit, and if there isn't one, a bottle of water!

I'm sure you would not get fined for stopping on the hard shoulder to refill the bottle, as driving with a dirty windscreen is more dangerous.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I think setting off without fluid, or enough for the journey would have been your original offence, continuing probably another one.

As far as I know "not having a clear view of the road at all times" is an offence under one of the Construction and Use regs. I don't think there's any defence when you run out during a journey, unfortunately. Chanelling rainwater off the bonnet gutters is not as easy as it sounds - at least when the car is moving, as it tends to get blown backwards. I agree it could work when stationary but it would just keep diluting the screenwash / antifreeze in your washer bottle on occasions when it wasn't empty.

I tend to use Ernest's trick but in this weather, I like to use those water bottles with a nozzle on the end rather than the screw top ones. When my screenwash freezes, I can pop the window down and squirt a bit on the screen whilst operating the wipers.

Car designers ae under pressure to reduce the weight to get into the next lower tax band. hence smaler washer bottles. I like your idea of rainwater harvesting. maybe a 1l concentrated bottle of washer fluid could be metered into the harvesting bottle. it would need a sensor built in to give 3 or so level data's to the pump and could adjust the strength to the ambiant tempitures. maximum weight could be reduced to 2kg.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Thanks guys. Good idea re keeping a separate bottle and things Ernest, although I expect you’re in a minority. I don’t know anyone else who does that but I intend to join you from now on for all the reasons you said.

It's never been a problem with my own cars because I'm meticulous about maintenance but I guess we have to expect these things to happen sometimes when sharing

I’m sure even if the washer mix was diluted the idea would still be very useful and anton has put more meat on the idea. I'm sure a simple regulator could divert any excess onto the road when the bottle is full too. Maybe I can sell it to Toyota and retire early

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

You can guarantee that some left wing, limp wristed, hand wringing do-gooder will decide it screws the environment in some way to simply dump washer fluid on the road just before you make the deal

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

I had this idea many years ago and thought of patenting it but when I went to the library and searched the patents, I found that Mercedes had a patent for just such an idea but I am not sure if they have actually used the idea or not. This was about ten years ago. It is still a good idea though and certainly would be very useful when you have a car with a very small resevoir bottle. If you cover hundreds of miles daily they can soon run dry.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

I actually had the same problem on the A31 near Ringwood, fortunatly I managed to get off the road and stop. The only thing I could clean the windscreen with was spit and tissues. Why does the washer bottle contain such much right at the bottom when you have no hope of getting rid of it? Why can't it store that at the top instead?

Also, how come everything on the car has a way to check its level except the washer fluid? On my little car it even has a (pretty rough) meter to show how much oil is in the engine, on the dashboard!
But washer fluid? Noo. Won't tell. At least you can see the whole (rather large) bottle in the land rover.


Yeah that would be terrible. I'm glad the washer jets only put the water on the windscreen.

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Andrew.

My old car has screenwash level light and it's one of the most useful things on the car! I don't know why they're not more commonly used - it's not that expensive a sensor! At the very least, they could mould the washer bottle so that the rear screen wash (or headlight wash if fitted) outlet was higher up than the screen wash pump. That way, you would (a) get some sort of advance warning because your rear screen wash would stop working first and (b) your remaining fluid would last longer for the windscreen because it wasn't being used on the headlights / rear screen. That wouldn't cost a penny extra per car!

Some cars, even made as long ago as 15years have the bottle so that the rear screen wash runs out first then you usually have a days worth of fluid left before the screen wash gives up. Very useful I find.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

My Land Rover does that! I found that out today.
I decided to flush the washer bottle out today in case there was any dirt at the bottom. Apparently there wasn't.
Then I found that it holds more than 5 litres...

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Andrew.

OH well, I guess that's another bright idea I won't bother trying to patent then!

Another idea I liked was a chap who cut one of the heater hozes and inserted a short copper pipe with a smaller coper tube soldered round it. He then cut the washer tube and fixed it so the washer tube went on the smaller copper pipe. he ended up with heater washer jets that shifted the road grease better.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

There used to be a commercial device like that. ISTR that you zip tied it to the top hose and routed the washer water through it to warm the washer water. Simple idea.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Absolutely correct, "Hot Wash" was the name and very simple it was as well. I installed in on an old Mk 3 Cortina estate and it worked very well on the front, not so hot on the back as the water was cold-ish by the time it got to the rear screen. I also exteded the hose onto the wipers themselves and with a few small nozzle ends had it directly onto the screen at the wipers. Pity you can't seem to get it nowadays.

Jm2pw

That's the one. I had one on my old Cavalier Estate. But I couldn't transfer it a Pogo 405. The problem was the lack of a sufifcient straight run of hose and I suspect that would be an increasing problem with the more crowded engine bays in modern cars. Worth a few DIY experiments.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I can relate an amusing tale of the Hot Wash.

A friend of mine had an Austin 1100 (I had one too). He had bought one of these Hot Wash kits; I believe it was one of the heater hoses he had to cut through to put the (what I later realised was) aluminium heat exchanger pipe in series with, with the washer pipe feeding a plastic bellows around the aluminum pipe. The installation was straightforward and it worked like a dream.

About six months later he phoned me up and said his car was overheating - but that there was a section on the radiator that was cold (despite there being plenty of water in the system). I prescribed a tablespoon of washing soda into the water which could stay in for quite a while before draining off the sludge and refilling with antyifreeze mix. Bad move - I had forgotten about this Hot Wash and the fact that the central tube was aluminium.

He drove to see me - about 120 miles. The car was caked symmetrically with washing soda-infested radiator coolant down both sides - the aerodynamics of the car were easy to see from this! Every time he revved the engine, a dose of this hot evil crap came out of the washer jets!

Cutting a long story short, fortunately we had an off cut of 1/2" central heating copper pipe to repair the cooling system. The aluminium pipe had been almost completely eaten through. I think the bellows never recovered and we went back to basics for the washer jets.