This may save Mondy owners some grief. If your screenwashers stop working, it's probably because the pump is clogged up with slime lurking in the bottom of the screenwash reservoir. Don't attempt to dismantle, which involves unfastening the wheelarch liner and undertray. Simply take a bamboo stick or similar and give the screenwash a stir. Keep the stick in the car in case it happens during a long trip. I learned this after being quoted £35 last February to have the screenwasher pump filter cleaned, then last summer being told they'd done it for nothing during a £40 oil change.
HJ
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£35????????? what!
Am I in the wrong business or something?
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My problem with my old model Mondeo estate was that the washer feed line to the rear washer continually froze, even with large amounts of screenwash. The result was, when using the pump, the line split and soaked the roof lining above the offside passenger seat.
A couple of independent garages confirmed that this was a recurring problem. Ford, of course, denied it. I gave up using the washer in frosty weather.
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I had the problem of a broken pipe to rear screen with my old Mk1 Mondeo estate, so did a colleague. The kids in the back seat thought that getting a shower via the roof was a hoot! It hasn't happened in 4 years with my Mk2 Mondeo estate, but this may simply be as a result of global warming - or could it be those geniuses at Ford? I doubt the latter !
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Actually getting rid of this gunk is part of my spring and autumn clean routines after being caught in a similar way though not with a Mundeo.
I bung a hosepipe into the washer bottle and run the hose till all the gunk has been washed out. Have to take care that no sensitive electrics get wet.
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Almost all pipes to rear washers that are routed between the roof lining and the tin-top will freeze up in sub-zero temperatures. Peugeot solved this on the 205 by adding a second reservoir for the bidet in the side of the boot. But manufacturer cost accountants don't like this sort of thing.
HJ
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Prefer your method, Stuart to HJ's, which risks the disturbed particles blocking the jets.
If you are going to stir it up I'd suggest syphoning the contents out before hosing it out and refilling. Hopefully most of the gunk will come out through the syphon.
BTW has anyone else spotted the latest posers' fashion accessory, illuminated washer jets on the bonnet. I jest not!
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Brian
Not so daft if the heat from the bulb keeps the jet from freezing.
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stuff satnav and cupholders;- why can't we have a sensibile solution to this problem?
surely not insurmountable? 10amp circuit off the battery with 2mm cable with a small-ish heating element in the bottle attached via a hole in the filler cap? timer to stop you draining your battery?
(a 12V kettle gets warm after around five minutes run off the fag lighter. I, too, have enjoyed a potnoodle in an airport carpark)
any scandianvian types out there? what do you do over there (apart from having heated garages?)
rg
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Tried adding some pipe, and coiling it around a convenient cooling liquid hose?
Just a thought ...
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rg bhaji wrote:
>
> any scandianvian types out there? what do you do over there
> (apart from having heated garages?)
>
> rg
Rob,
The simple answer is that in the frozen north we just bung in more additive.
I think the cold climate strength of the premix is actually stronger in terms of the "anti-freeze" ingredient which is usually propan-2-ol aka iso-propyl alchohol.
Actually I just buy a winchester of the stuff from the chemists and use the car stuff at normal strength and add in a few % of the alcohol. Its not cheap, about £20 IIRC but its significantly cheaper than buying loads of bottles of additive which are mainly water anyway. Plus the last winchester I bought was about 3 years ago so 7/8 quid a year for unfrozen washers is a bargain.
There is somehow a method you can estimate the freezing point acc to % alcohol so you know how much to put in but I forget. I use that well known method guessimetric.
Hope that helps someone.
S
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Don't know how you could enjoy a pot noodle in OR out of an airport carpark to be quite frank...however, I couldn't agree more with the idea of a heated bottle. Thing is, how much would you pay for it...? Would cost the earth to build ..... at least that's what Ford would tell you...!!
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Darcy: Ooohh you are clever. I never thought of that excuse.
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Have you tried altering the brand of screenwash that you use? You may find that it is the 'cheap' brands that tend to turn into sludge over a period of time.
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The other problem with Mondeo screenwashers is that the pipes can kink alongside the bonnet hinge. This can lead the pump to blow the pipe off at its end. Presumably the same can happen with other models. The crazy thing is, this is the only problem I've had with the car, which is why I haven't got it gone.
HJ
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I noticed a pool of green liquid under our Mondeo and immediately thought of all sorts of horror scenarios.
I then realised it was the colour of the screenwash and learned that to access the container entails, as you said, removal of this and that and some of the other.
Still leaking gently. " Let it develop" as a mechanic once told me.
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Honest John wrote: re washer reservoir
>
> > Don't attempt to dismantle, which involves unfastening the
> wheelarch liner and undertray.
What sort of crazy product development is it that puts a component bound to give trouble sooner or later inside the wheelarch (same in the Xantia). In our 10 year old BX it's in the engine bay and can be off and in the house for cleaning, replacement of pump etc in seconds with just a few turns of a bolt.
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Simon,
First a Xantia and now a ten year old BX, top man.
David
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>>What sort of crazy product development is it that puts a component bound to give trouble sooner or later inside the wheelarch.
On my old Laguna the expansion tank for the radiator was over on the bulkhead next to the brake servo. On top of the radiator was the power steering reservoir. Guess what happened the first time I tried to top up the radiator.
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I understand that you have to remove a complete Vectra engine to change the clutch. A bit radical, I think...
Maybe I am still in the era of the Vauxhall Viva HC with it's "walk in engine bay" and inner wing bench seat for the engineer (or even better, the Triumph Herald), but are most cars like this today?
rg
old git
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