How to clean the screen washing system

avantra

Is there a product or anything home brewed that can flush the windscreen washing system, i.e you put it in the washer bottle and run it in the system to flush it from gunk/fungi?

(and I don't mean the screen wash liquid I already have (the blue stuff)).

Hammyman

If you are using Screenwash you shouldn't really be getting it. You are probably best taking off the pipes and blowing them through and dumping them in a bucket of bleach overnight.

knightstyle

Caravan shops sell a sterilizer for water systems. Milton???

laurence_p

i know some cars have a little filter where the pump slots in . you can take it out and clean it.

s_b

i just stick a hose pipe in and the flotsam usually cones out unless really bad

poppasmurf_bewdley

You haven't been using washing up liquid in it, have you? That's the usual cause.

richard734

Or the wrong mix of washer fluid to water - that gunks them up really quickly!
It is normally teh motor or teh jets that get blocked. Clear the jets with a pin or needle, and flush the water bottle with a hose as already suggested - then just use plain water, flush through a bottles worth via the jets. I dont use any of the washer fluids, excapt a very small amount of Antifreeze coming up to teh Snow and Ice season.

Lum

Just using plain water in the screenwash is a bad idea.

That bottle sits in the engine bay and gets nice and warm, it's a wonderful breeding ground for bacteria, then when you clean your windscreen some of it gets sucked in through the air intake and blown into the cabin.

Legionella (which causes legionaries disease) is the most common one.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10293519