I buy 4 or 5 bottles of the VAG stuff and put half a litre in per fill regardless of the time of year. Neat its good up to -60 degrees and as yet never had an issue with it freezing.

It also smells alright and works out quite cheap at about 2 quid a fill up.

The only annoying thing about the lamp washers is that the 10 count starts again after each ignition cycle of if the lamos go off for a while and come back on again. Thats why it eats so much screenwash.

To those that dont know why they spray twice on the O3 its because they are two stage...the first shorter spray supposedly loosening dirt on the lamp, the second slightly longer spray supposedly actually cleaning said loosened muck.

Have to say I have noticed that having not cleaned my car for months (and is now filthy) the halogen lights keep working well wereas on cars of old without them it was noticeable as the car got dirtier that the lamps suffered too.

I guess therefore they must work reasonably well.

Also when driving slowly in windy conditions they have a tendancy to spray everywhere except the headlights (and normally end up soaking some poor pedestrian in the process).

Agreed,

certainly,

but nowhere near as good as it does on the RangeRover who got the full treatment earlier today when he tried to get close enough to read the small print on the bottom of my rear number plate.

Haha. He probably wasn't paying attention as the radar controlled cruise control kept him 'safe' and after all his car is on a never never business lease soon to to be replaced by the next newest model.

I find with a white car only the vag stuff works. Anything with a colourant dyes the car.

I use water.

I find with a white car only the vag stuff works. Anything with a colourant dyes the car.

I must admit I do get purple staining on the car from the Halfords one I use but it comes off fine when I wash the car.

As to using just water I'm sure I read somewhere this can also lead to the growth of nasty bugs etc in the tank?

Works just as good on convertibles

Ta muchly, best visit Scotland in one of our Skodas & leave the EOS at home! 

I find with a white car only the vag stuff works. Anything with a colourant dyes the car.

 

I'm pretty sure all screenwashes have dyes in them to prevent someone drinking it.....

 

I must admit I do get purple staining on the car from the Halfords one I use but it comes off fine when I wash the car.

As to using just water I'm sure I read somewhere this can also lead to the growth of nasty bugs etc in the tank?

 

Yep, would be quite easy to legionaires for stagnant water in screen wash that just water.

With screen wash added, it still stagnates if not used much. Our old Z3 had a bottle that was fully visible, only did 3000 miles/yr. I had to drain it out and flush every year to remove algie as it hardly got used.

With screen wash added, it still stagnates if not used much. Our old Z3 had a bottle that was fully visible, only did 3000 miles/yr. I had to drain it out and flush every year to remove algie as it hardly got used.

I'm guessing an extra strong mix with DI water could help with situations like this?

legionnaires that's the one, definitely not what you want in your washer bottle

If you are going to use meth in the screen wash please make sure it's the correct type as crystal meth is not recommended. 

Agreed but, HAVE YOU SEEN THE PERFORMANCE INCREASE ON CRYSTAL METH !!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure all screenwashes have dyes in them to prevent someone drinking it.....

 

 

Yep, would be quite easy to legionaires for stagnant water in screen wash that just water.

 

Not in the UK, only legionaires breads between 28 and 35 Deg. C I've lived here 48 years and have never known outside air temperature to stay that warm, good pub quote though.

Not in the UK, only legionaires breads between 28 and 35 Deg. C I've lived here 48 years and have never known outside air temperature to stay that warm, good pub quote though.

 

It ever gets up 28C in an engine bay?

The head light washer jets do look rather cool from the outside when activated. However they are largely impractical, helping drain the thimble-sized washer fluid reservoir almost as fast as the thimble-sized fuel tank runs dry. I have never had to fill a car with washer fluid so frequently. It's just another to go wrong or make me lift the lid every few weeks for a top up.

 

Whilst I am bit****g I must also mention the boot window and how quickly it attracts dirt (Estate/Combi). 5 minutes after washing the car I cannot see a thing out of the back. The glass must have been designed by Dyson. 

The rear window on my MKII estate was the same, and any other estate car I have had. Due to the airflow over the car all the crap collects on the rear screen on an estate.

 

And my glass has been machine polished and then sealed, so it isn't anything to do with the glass

My thought's were that it was the rear tints making the dirt look much worse. My previous estates (Impreza, Megane, 3-Series) didn't seem to suffer so badly, but estates are generally a bit worse than hatches and I did not have to be so conservative with washer fluid usage with them.

My headlight washers have recently started washing every time I was the windscreen, which is kind of annoying as I use cheap stuff and it leaves stains on the bonnet. Does anyone know how to adjust it - until recently it used to do about 1 in 10, the only thing I can think of is that I reset the sat nav/radio to factory settings in an attempt to solve the sat nav problem.

I'm pretty sure all screenwashes have dyes in them to prevent someone drinking it.....

Yep, would be quite easy to legionaires for stagnant water in screen wash that just water.

The vag stuff doesn't, if it does it's very minimal...

Engine bay is a perfect place for legionnaires to multiply (it's in all water anyway, just low levels.)

"best buy!" Pah!!!!

Lidl £5.99 for 5l does down to -60 undiluted, made in Germany, TUV approved and fine for fan jets. I have used it now for a few winters including 3 or 4 ago when it was -15 for two weeks running.

+1

 

Which reminds me, I need to go to Lidl

I must say another annoying feature is the position of the washer filler neck to the bonnet strut. Makes it a little bit awkward to fill.

Although Ihave unlimited screen wash included on the company fuel card I did the VCDS change described in another thread (setting the time interval to 2 seconds for activating head light washing). Since then it hasn't washed the headlights...

I wash the car once or twice per month. Should I wash the head lights more often?

Edited 19 January, 201511 yr by jthyssen

I use water.

As mentioned  by others, just water, particularly Adelaide water, will allow algae growth in the tank over a relatively short time.

I too just use water but we have a reverse osmosis filter for our drinking water that take 99% of everything out of the water so is like distilled water.

No algal growth as there are not enough nutrients and reduced deposits left on paintwork

The water tastes better, tea and espresso coffee taste better and no calcium build up in kettles/coffee makers.

 

Also provides another potable source for those emergency breakdowns in the 'bush'...theoretically

Edited 20 January, 201511 yr by Gerrycan

Although Ihave unlimited screen wash included on the company fuel card I did the VCDS change described in another thread (setting the time interval to 2 seconds for activating head light washing). Since then it hasn't washed the headlights...

I wash the car once or twice per month. Should I wash the head lights more often?

You should really, especially if you have xenons.

Washing the car, isn't that done from excess spray from the headlight wash [emoji596]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited 20 January, 201511 yr by Dempsek

I must say another annoying feature is the position of the washer filler neck to the bonnet strut. Makes it a little bit awkward to fill.

 

I use a cheap plastic funnel, have for years. Most cars we've had (me and SWMBO), the washer filler has been deliberately placed so the engine bay gets an unwanted splashing.

Although Ihave unlimited screen wash included on the company fuel card I did the VCDS change described in another thread (setting the time interval to 2 seconds for activating head light washing). Since then it hasn't washed the headlights...

I wash the car once or twice per month. Should I wash the head lights more often?

 

I have had a quick search for that thread, any chance you could point me in the right direction? Many thanks