Heated windshield washer fluid anyone?
 

So while vegetating in front of the TV I see the new commercial for the Buick Lucerne, a truly ugly car in every possible way. However, it does have one redeeming feature; heated washer fluid. Now this is different from the heated washer nozzles on my Jetta that only work to keep the nozzle unfrozen, this actually heats the fluid to a steamy level so it doesn't freeze on the windshield I assume. So this is where I get a brainstorm. On my Mercedes I take thin copper tubing and splice it into the ww line and wrap it around the upper radiator hose several times and then wrap the coils with exhaust wrap(fiberglass) to keep the heat in. after the fluid leaves the homemade heat exchanger it should be close to 180 deg. F. :D I don't see a downside yet. Unlike the Buick's electric heater this will be from engine heat which is at a minimum before you warm the engine but other than that, what do you think?



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Have it
 

My 300D 2.5 turbo has heated windshield wiper fluid. It looked like they tapped into the cooling line and ran a alum rod into the plastic holding tank. Never had a problem works like a charm. My wife's 300E is the same.
Rob

My 560 has an electric heating coil mounted through the top of the washer resevoir, plus heated nozzles.

http://www.buyhotshot.com/default.asp

You need it early in the morning when your window is frozen, not on a sunny day when your 5 miles down the road. I would suggest a commercial unit such as the one linked above.

This is a great idea, but members need to remember that it would only work up (down?) to a certain point......it'd be interesting to find out what temp would be the limit?

I might still try it out, as it would be good for frosty days here, but not neccessarily -40 days with a wind chill/butt pucker factor of -50 whatever. :D

My sister's 300SD has wires leading to the nozzles. Are these for heated nozzles? Are they heated all the time? Any idea if they can be retrofit to a W123?

-Tad

I think they are heated only when the climate control is switched to heating mode. Mine and my dad's SD have them too.

I must say though, I really don't have issues with that much, I just start the car, scrape/brush the windows off quick, and drive away. The regular washer fluid (cold) and defrost air work plenty good. Worked fine for me last night, and it was 6F out when I was driving home at 1am. SD's ('82 onward) also have heated wiper decks, so the wipers are warm and work well (once the coolant is hot anyways). It also melts all the snow out of that area where the wipers reside when not used, very handy.

Buick is REAL high tech...
 

[QUOTE=Diesel 924]So while vegetating in front of the TV I see the new commercial for the Buick Lucerne, a truly ugly car in every possible way. However, it does have one redeeming feature; heated washer fluid. Now this is different from the heated washer nozzles on my Jetta that only work to keep the nozzle unfrozen, this actually heats the fluid to a steamy level so it doesn't freeze on the windshield I assume. So this is where I get a brainstorm. On my Mercedes I take thin copper tubing and splice it into the ww line and wrap it around the upper radiator hose several times and then wrap the coils with exhaust wrap(fiberglass) to keep the heat in. after the fluid leaves the homemade heat exchanger it should be close to 180 deg. F. :D I don't see a downside yet. Unlike the Buick's electric heater this will be from engine heat which is at a minimum before you warm the engine but other than that, what do you think?

Mercedes has had this feature standard in some models for at least the past 20 years... its like Lexus advertising an electric rear window shade which Mercedes has had as an option for at least 10 years... Must be off-patent? Gotta love these guys for trying!

Wow what an orignal idea MB has been only doing that for oh 30 years.:D


My W126's have heated nozzels, windsheilds, and outside mirrors. Most also have heated washer fluid.


GM really needs something better to brag about, like the death of the pushrod V6.:rolleyes:

OK, I went to the hardware store and got 3 feet of 1/4" tubing and a bunch of tubing to go from the pump and from the check valve on the hood. It's amazing how little 3 feet of copper tubing looks like when it's wrapped around the upper radiator hose. Anyway, I'm going to try it, measure the temp of the fluid when the engine is at full operating temp and if it's not hot enough, I'll get a longer section of tubing. :)

Take the time you would normally be sitting inside your car freezing to death waiting for it to warm up to scrape the windshield free of crap :)

...and leave the car running while you do it haha...give it a chance to warm up.

I guess around here it is not terribly often that we have freezing rain on the windshields but not the roads...thus starting with cold WW fluid and driving around with a warm car with warm fluid would do nothing heh.

It looks cumbersome
 

It really looks cumbersome to me and I expect that the effiency factor is way down. It looks like a poor way to transfer heat! But time will tell and you might be happy.

cracked windshield????????
 

As the laws of physics may have escaped me, how does this work without cracking windshields? Is the water around 15-20c or is it warmer. I have broken(cracked) windshields by pouring hot water on them.

The Buick and Cadillacs heat the fluid from 140 *F to 160*F. I have wondered this myself but apparently they work fine.

My '91 300TE 4matic had it, a coil in the washer reservior tapped into the engine cooling system. Couple that with the heat exchanger that cooled the fuel on its way back to the tank (via a/c system), a testament to Engineering not having to listen to anyone in those days.

The windshield isn't going to crack, there isn't enough thermal mass to affect the windshield temperature. It might help melt ice, in my TE there was a fair amount of tubing between the pump/tank and the nozzles though, I suspect it was more for the headlamp washers.

- Jeff Miller
190DT