Heated windscreen washers

[Disco Matt]

My windscreen washers have now frozen on two occasions while driving - I can understand it overnight but not with a hot engine next to them! Does anyone know a simple (and ideally cheap) way to add heated washers to a 300 TDI Disco? I would rather electrically-powered heating than anything involving modifying the cooling system (as I have seen on other sites).

[hobbit]

Get some washer tubing, and coil round a heater feed pipe a few times, and plumb into the washer system, with plenty of de-icer in the bottle this would work

[mentalmoshio sophs V8i]

windscreens can crack with very hot water on them just a quick safety think thing .

paddock do a heated windscreen like on the newer cars

[Disco Matt]

Thanks - I'm not looking for boiling water (just a few degrees over freezing will do) so I doubt cracking will be a problem!

[hobbit]

Yes very hot water and very cold glass dont mix, but this method of  washer heating will not cause the screen to crack, as the temp of the washers goes up with the engine temp

You would normally have the heaters inside blowing like hell to warm you up too so the glass will be heated accordingly

[mobi]

some of the mondeo's have heated washers

[Wolfie_]

Range rover Vogues (maybe other models too) have electric heated jet on them!!

[Landynuts]

My wife old Xantia had a Citroen winter pack that included heated washer jets (they worked with the heated rear screen), you could try and find some from a scrappy or see if a dealer does then as spares.

[Disco Matt]

I've found a few spares on ebay - will have to see what will fit. I was wondering about some sort of heating element wrapped around the hose as an alternative (maybe an adapted heated rear window kit if they still exist)?

[mobi]

which part is freezing the jets or the pipes?
normally the jets freeze first.

[stageonesimmo]

It'll be the jets freezing first - wind chill factor and all that, heating the water in the pipes by wrapping it around the heater pipe for a good few turns will help, but it wont over-come the problem of the jets freezing - I know through experience as I've tried this before - the only way to cure it once and for all is to fit heated jets............

[peasey]

hobbit you are a very cleaver man!! what a great idea,why i never thought of that i dont know

[Disco Matt]

It'll be the jets freezing first - wind chill factor and all that, heating the water in the pipes by wrapping it around the heater pipe for a good few turns will help, but it wont over-come the problem of the jets freezing - I know through experience as I've tried this before - the only way to cure it once and for all is to fit heated jets............

I guessed that might be the case - I'd rather the setup was electrical rather than relying on engine heat as it takes a good 15mins for my engine to get up to running temperature at this time of year. I'll keep looking - I can't believe LR didn't offer this as an option on the Disco 1 for colder climates (or alternatively that nobody makes a kit).

[hobbit]

I remember back in Germany in the early eighties, they had a metal pipe with a plastic sleeve moulded round it and a nozzle on each end, only a few marks, you sliced the heater pipe and fitted this in between

I had a new Datsun Cherry then, it worked great, even in their -10 and below temps we had regularly, but the pipe system works just as well, you just need a couple of connectors to splice the tube into the system, loads of washer anti freeze in the bottle helps with the wind chill freezing, still not a hundred percent though

I found having a washing up liquid bottle of neat washer anti freeze in the cab handy so I could reach round and squirt it onto the windscreen as a last resort

[Landynuts]

What about this. RANGE ROVER HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER JET FITTING

[Disco Matt]

Yep, I found those but is the nozzle on a Disco the same as that on a Rangie? I thought the Range Rover had them on the bonnet rather than tucked under the trailing edge of the bonnet?

[Disco Matt]

Looking at the Range Rover part and the jets on mine, I suspect they might well be identical. Only snag is I don't really know, and shelling out £12 for parts that won't fit doesn't grab me. Can anyone confirm whether they are identical or not?

[muddyjames]

Here is my trick and I have done it every winter since I bought my first car 8 years ago.

I drain all the water out of the system then buy windscreen washer fluid and dont dilute it as much as it says too. The stuff from co-op already made that you just pour in is ok to -5 it says on the bottle and so far touch wood my 2 cars havent frozen up yet. It also means that it wont freeze on the screen too if you havent got the car warm enough to have the screen toastie warm.

Only costs about £2 I think. Bargain :D

[DonH]

Get some washer tubing, and coil round a heater feed pipe a few times, and plumb into the washer system, with plenty of de-icer in the bottle this would work

I have had this mod for about 4 years now however in the summer the screen wash cooks a bit and you end up spending a lot of time checking the temP guage and checking the coolant level because the smells are similar!

[Disco Matt]

I think I might well go for the heated jets from a Range Rover - only snag is I have no idea of how big they are. Could someone put a ruler over theirs and let me know? The Disco jets don't appear to be sloped like the Rangie ones but that shouldn't be a problem, just so long as I can aim them to hit the windscreen!

Information on what fuse they need and how it's wired would be helpful too - will I be ok to just patch them into the heated rear window circuit or do I need to wire them from scratch?

[mike142sl]

I'm sure LR do these but all I can find is the Ford ones (part number 6747267 X 2, £6.35 each from Ford)



You could adapt these if needed. Most people tend to wire them through the rear window heater relay so that they are only on when the rear window heater is on, but you could put them through the ignition if you want as they don't get very hot.