Contaminated washer bottle - garage wanting an astounding amount to pay for the repair!

l.c.elliott

Apologies in advance for the long post but I'm so confused and outraged at this...


So I noticed this problem with my windscreen wipers in that they weren't working properly - something to do with the motor. So I dropped it into the evans halshaw garage and they did a diagnostic which I was told I would only have to pay for (£63) if there were charges that I had to pay that weren't covered by the car's warranty (it's only 4 years old). I knew that there was a problem with the washers as well, in that they weren't very very powerful - they did work, but instead of shooting liquid all the way to the top of the windscreen, they only shot it about a quarter of the way up, so I mentioned this to them. Anyway, turns out the wiper problem will be covered by warranty, but they said that an urgent repair needs to be done to replace the washer bottle, which they said was contaminated. I have only ever used normal screenwash in my car - I've never used anything else. He told me I should only be using screenwash approved of by Hyundai which seems super far fetched?!?! I've never been told to do that! He also said that I should never just 'top up' my screenwash, but that I should only put screenwash in when it's completely empty which could have caused the contamination - never been told that either! So they've quoted me - and wait for it - £172 to fix! Apparently £39 for the part and the remaining £133 for labour and VAT!! That is NOT including the £63 cost for the diagnostic (I only have to pay the diagnostic cost if I decided to take my vehicle elsewhere to be fixed). I challenged him on the labour cost and he said it's cos they need to take the bumper off to remove and replace it. BUT if I want to take my car elsewhere to be repaired, they won't release my car until I pay the £63! I called a local garage and asked about the price, to which he said he had never heard of that problem before, so he had no idea of the cost. He also said the bumper wouldn't need to be removed, that they could in fact just go behind the arch.


Can anyone tell me if this is a legit problem? Any advice on what I should do?

m0bov

Do you have fan jets? VAG had this issue, normal screen wash tends to go thick and clog the jets.

Just flush it with lots of warm water and run some warm water through the system. Then re fill with deionised water and screenwash for fan jets.

Does the manual state use only approved screen wash? Is it serviced by them?

AdrianC

£133 labour inc VAT is, what, an hour and half to two hours? Not exactly a ridiculous amount of time. Whether the bumper or wheel plus arch liner needs to come off, there's still going to be a fair amount of fannying about. The bumper may well be quicker, since it can be done with the car on the ground and not taking a ramp up. And that's assuming there's no need to remove the jets, which'll probably require the wipers and scuttle trim to be removed.


It does sound as if the screenwash problem is incompatible additives mixing and gelling. But the wiper motor and screenwash problems are very separate.

l.c.elliott

Thanks for the prompt reply.


- no idea what fan jets are (I'm a bit of a clueless female who knows only the bare minimum about motoring I'm afraid!)
- I'd happily try flushing the warm water through the system but I still have to pay the £63 to get my car back - unless there's a way I can get out of paying it? The deal was to do a diagnostic to see if the windscreen wiper issue was going to be covered under warranty or whether I had to pay for the repair of the wipers - they just did a vehicle health check anyway. And as the windscreen wiper issue WAS deemed to be a warranty issue, could I argue that I don't have to pay the £63, as it was an additional issue that was discovered from doing the diagnostic, and the original purpose of the diagnostic wasn't to investigate the washers?
- they service my vehicle yes
- Looked in the manual re. approved screen wash and all I found was this:


"If the washer does not work, check the washer fluid level. If the fluid level is not sufficient, you will need to add appropriate non-abrasive windscreen washer fluid to the washer reservoir."


So looked like no sign of me having to use Hyundai approved screenwash.

k6chris

AdrianC wrote: »

It does sound as if the screenwash problem is incompatible additives mixing and gelling. But the wiper motor and screenwash problems are very separate.

I have had this problem on my (BMW) Mini - the gelling is caused by combining different types of windscreen wash, and yes, it's really a thing! I fixed the problem by sticking a garden hose as far into the wash reservoir as I could and turning the tap on full. Lots of dark gunk came out. Then I removed the washing tubing from the nozzles and siphoned through some diluted bleach a couple of time. Then refilled with all new fluid. All good now.

DoaM

l.c.elliott wrote: »

- Looked in the manual re. approved screen wash and all I found was this:


"If the washer does not work, check the washer fluid level. If the fluid level is not sufficient, you will need to add appropriate non-abrasive windscreen washer fluid to the washer reservoir."

Is there a section in the manual that talks about approved fluids like engine oil? (The screen wash fluid specification/type might be mentioned there).

Bigphil1474

OP, get the motor fixed with them, and tell them you'll get the washer bottle sorted yourself. Then try the flushing out, and if that doesn't work, take it to your local garage to be fixed.

Gloomendoom

My wife's (used) car had this jelly washer fluid problem when she got it. I've never come across it before.

I just flushed out the (clear blue tinted) jelly yuk from the reservoir with water from a garden hose, then flushed the system through with warm water. Filled it up with fresh fluid and it's been fine since.

DoaM

How do you flush the system through? Just put warm water in the tank and then operate the washers until the tank is empty?

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

How do you flush the system through? Just put warm water in the tank and then operate the washers until the tank is empty?

Yep.

Although that runs the risk of getting clag from the tank into the jets. Probably better is to drain down the tank - the wash motor is usually a push-fit or bayonetted into the bottom of the tank, and reachable from behind the arch liner. Remove that, drain the tank, rinse it as best you can, then when it's as clean as possible, disconnect the pipe from the washers and squirt hot water through via the motor. Blow through the nozzles in reverse - the hole in is bigger than the hole out... If they're really clagged, then remove them and soak them in hot water before blowing through again (or replace them).


You can easily see how an hour and a half of labour passes...