My low washer fluid light came on and was just wondering if there's a specific kind of washer fluid we need to use or if we can just use your typical stuff you can buy at the grocery store. Thanks.

 

A couple of months ago the low washer fluid level came up on my Range Rover sport, I had to take the Jag into the. Dealer the next Day anyway, so I went to the parts counter to buy some, they gave me two bottles of Gunk concentrate. You dilute it with water.

So I thought if that's what the Dealer uses all the time it must be OK.

Gunk Details

 

If you look at the MSDS sheet, the Gunk stuff is 40-50% methanol prior to dilution- which is identical to every other brand on the market.

I've never heard of any one fluid that performs better or worse or damages a car.

 

Rain X is what I use:

https://www.rainx.com/product/windsh.../#.V6n5xfkrKCg

 

The RainX stuff is not suitable for environments that go below freezing. It's 70%+ water.

This is a huge factor depending on where the OP is located.

 

Freezing? Whats that? SoCal boy here. LOL. They do have a formula for cold weather climates though.

 

OK. Your location shows 'the OC'- no idea where that is.

Up here, every gas station, car parts store and even supermarkets carries gallon containers of premixed year-round w/s/w fluid.

 

Most people living in Orange County, California don't want to openly admit to it.

 

LOL.

SWMBO guessed Obsessive Compulsive, but that's more of a state of mind and not one of the 48 contiguous.

 

Ditch the RainX .....There are far better products on the market now - try the Gtechniq Smart Surface Science | products - far superior

G1 and G4 ClearVision Screen Kit

 

If you are in a situation that requires you washing your windshield, your car is probably filthy which will require at minimum a rinse, if not a wash.

Use anything you want to increase your visibility enough to get home, then wash it off.

 

As noted above, it matters quite a bit if your fluid isn't rated for the temps it might be exposed to.

 

I prefer the kind that actually melts frost on my windshield. Unfortunately, if you live in a sizable metro area, the feds have determined that washer fluid that actually melts ice/frost is bad because it contains VOC's. Therefore, you can only buy the kind that works above 32F in these areas. I buy the good stuff which works to -20F when I travel in rural areas. Before I take a car in for service, I fill up the reservoir so the dealership can't put the 32F kind in.

I wonder how many people had died or have been injured because they were involved in traffic accidents due to frosted/iced windshields that could have been easily cleared with proper (-20F) windshield washer fluid. Certainly people shouldn't drive until their windshields are clear, but some don't when they are in a hurry. Besides, letting a car sit until it's warm enough to melt ice/frost on the windshield seems like it would put far more pollution in to the air than would come from the mostly sealed washer fluid system. I'm betting they didn't calculate that or deaths/injuries in to their analysis when they banned the good stuff from metro areas.

 

Up here where frosting/icing is a daily occurrence during the winter, we don't sit waiting for the engine to warm up or for the fluid to melt the ice.

We scrape the stuff off and get on our way.

We also know that even the best -40* fluid will make things worse if sprayed on anything less than fully warmed glass as the alcohol evaporates leaving water (ice) behind.

 

Here in Atlanta, the -20F fluid melts frost/ice quickly while the 32F fluid only makes the problem worse. BTW, I went fishing Salmon in British Columbia last week. Is was as cold there as it averages in Atlanta during January.