Hi all, I actually have a 2001 XJ8 but am looking to you guys for a little bit of research.
Basically I'm not happy with the way my XJ8's windscreen washers work. For those who don't know the washer jet is on the wiper arm rather than having a pair mounted in front of the windscreen. I don't like this set up as the jet is prone to freezing (as I found out recently) and it is generally silly . Having recently looked at a X300 in a car park I noticed the washer jets are mounted ahead of the glass, and I'm thinking of retro fitting my jets to the X300 location.
What I'd like to know is: How do you rate the performance of your 300's washers and how are they in the cold icy weather i.e. below 4C?
If they do freeze do they thaw out and work normally once the engine is warm?

*During the recent "Big Freeze" I had pure screen wash in my tank which is said to not freeze, but it did! My friend's fiesta had only normal water in and once the engine was warm it functioned perfectly and his jets are on the bonnet! .*

Thanks Guys!

 

Heh heh....I know of at least guy who converted his X300 to the X308 type washers ! Anyhow....

I'd say the X300 washers are unremarkable. They do the job as intended and I've never found them to be insufficient in any way. Nor have I ever thought "Wow, these are the best windshiled washers I've ever used!"

How's that for a non-answer ? :-)

Never had a freeze-up problem, personally, even during a week long 24/7 deep freeze a couple years ago. <shrug>

Cheers
DD

 

I think my XJR washers are heated. Easy to find out. Remove the plastic grille below the widscreen and see if you have wires and plugs to fit onto the heated screen washers. If you dont have the heated versions, try to source them from Jaguar or a breakers.

 

Hope not to have that problem (cold icy weather) If so, think I'll ring up my friend with a Fiesta and see if he'll carry me 'round til the wx clears! :-)

more seriously, only problem with frozen washers I ever had was when they were encased by an ice storm in total, along with the wipers. Bigger issue then was actually getting into the car, but that wasn't my X300.

I'll say the X300 (w single wiper) is the best I've ever driven for visibility in the rain, but the characteristics that support that statement are identical on the 308, I think. Aerodynamics and the single, large, centered wiper. But I've experienced some fairly significant rains with the X300 wipers on intermittent that would have me on "high" in any other car I've driven, just to be able to see out. Washers? Pretty much as Doug said..."Meh...they spray the windscreen, and not over the roof and on to the car behind me, so it's good."

Don't suppose there's any chance you had water in the lines from summer running, that hadn't yet been expelled from the tubes/nozzles since the pure windscreen anti-freeze fill-up?

 

This is my first winter with my x300 and the external temp guage read 9 F one morning and they didn't freeze. The only thing i don't like about the x300 sprayers are they shoot to high and it's hard to clean the lower postions of the window when you have salt on it. Especially at higher speeds.

 

Living in Florida, I don't have the freezing problem, but I will say that I'm not a big fan of the X300 jets. I find that they spray too high, missing some of the windshield near the base of the wiper. I recently put on a new RainX Repel blade (it's pretty great), and it blocks one of the jets from spraying until the blade moves out of the way.

 

Thanks For your feedback, its really appreciated. I'm familiar with the type of jets the X300 has and the direction in which the water is sprayed can be adjusted with a pin for those who don't know. I think I will Retro fit these to my car and thanks to Straight6 for the heads up about heated ones being available.
Thanks Again For Your Help!

 

I wondered if you could adjust them. I didn't want to jam something in the hole and mess up the sprayer.

 

I think I'll adjust mine a bit today. I had never thought of adjusting them.