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Being tight, is there any way I can make homemade screen wash? I had an uncle who used water with meths added but not sure this would be any cheaper.
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Realistically, theres no cheaper alternative, as the proper stuff is only about a quid a litre.
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I just shove a blob of Fairy liquid in.
Job done.
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I used fairy liquid once, and a few months after there was a disgusting smell everytime I used the windscreen washer..don't know what caused that but after several months of suffering the smell (dead rat maybe?) I use water only.
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I've used washing up liquid since I got a car and in Dad's since I was able to open the bonnet.
Must vary on car to car because I do read on here sometimes that it gunges up. But on my car (previously Dad's) since new, has only ever seen washing up liquid in it and never a drop of screewash.
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washing up liquid contains salt, not generally thought the best thing to spray your car with.
If you are really so tight you can't afford to clean the windscreen then sell the car and walk or ride a bike.
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Adam I've also mainly used washing up lquid in the past, still don't know what that smell was !
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It's not that I can't afford screewash, it's that I can't be bothered to buy it.
I find it nigh on impossible to believe that the tiniest dab of Fairy liquid dilluted in an entire screenwash reservoir can contain so much salt so as to damage the paintwork. Despite being squirted at the windscreen.
If I were to wash my car now, I can guarantee you, after a 10 minute drive, it would pick up more salt than an entire bottle of washing up liquid.
The very fact that my car still looks the same as the day it was bought having had these harmful salts blasted at it for 6 years would seem to back my story up.
P.S. - I can't stand the smell of screewash ;-)
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Apart from a detergent to help clean the screen, a more important ingredient in winter is antifreeze, which is isopropanol in the commercial stuff. It should be possible to bulk-buy that somewhere, and add a bit of Fairy (not dishwasher detergent) if you feel the need.
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My wife also says that she can't stand the smell of screenwash !
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Being tight, is there any way I can make homemade screen wash? I had an uncle who used water with meths added but not sure this would be any cheaper.
I'm afraid it's your online Chemist here again.
To be pedantic, there are probably hundreds of Surface Active Agents i.e. 'Surfactants' that can be employed in thousands of applications.
The one/s contained in washing up liquids are NOT designed for use with automotive windscreen cleaning/degreasing purposes. Their use would probably cause the wiper 'rubbers' to deteriorate prematurely and continued use will probably damage, to some extents other materials in and around your windscreen.
I cannot fathom out your attitude to not being bothered or prepared to buy material that has been properly formulated to carry out its designated task. I realise that all these materials are sold with a large profit margin built in but so what! Why don't you use spent frying oil in your engines and see what that will do for its longevity.
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Washing up liquid contains a cocktail of things which make it undesirable as a screenwash additive or for washing the car.
Salt - Aids corrosion of bare metal
Surfactants - Wetting agent will help water capilliary behind seals and could penetrate poor paint finishes taking the salt with it.
Formaldehyde - Perishes rubber
Sodium Laury Sulphate - Makes it 'thick' and feel slick - Made from animal fat that will biodegrade and cause offensive odour.
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If you really do want to make your own, try...
Propanol or ethanol (not methanol), dishwasher rinse aid (a few drops), brita filtered water.
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I suppose it might have a minimal impact on the windscreen wiper rubbers, but they´re not exactly going to last the lifetime of the car anyway, are they? Can´t see it doing anything any harm, as the concentration is so low.
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You can buy a 5-litre can of concentrate for £2-3 at a trade factor - why bother making your own?
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Wipers are degraded after one winter, Toast after two, so thats no problem.
I use washing up liquid in summer, Halfords pink stuff in winter.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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If the smell of screenwash gets to you (as it does with Mrs Citroenian) Halfords do some with Apple and other less Buncefield smells about them. Worth the extra few p imho
Lee -- Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?
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I think VAG fluid is lemon scented.
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If you ever do a shopping trip to France, you can pick up all kinds of different screenwash 'fragrances'. The peach one can be a bit sickly!
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Hehe, we like the Total Lava Glace from France, it's sort of like cinamon and cardamon maybe with cloves too.
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i dont even put fairy liquid in sales cars because of the salt,i ruined a classic that i had by using this penny pinching idea.
--
\"a little man in a big world/\"
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VAG fluids - the one I've got (VAG branded but supplied by Skoda at a service) is very effective but does have the strong chemically smell.
Perhaps the Seat one is Paella scented, Volkswagen one is lemon, the Audi one rose-scented, the Bentley Chanel No.5 and the Lamborghini one Brut for men... :-)
Lee -- Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?
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Well said oldgit.
i run the vehicles using screenwash in the winter and water only /very week screenwash in the summer. in summer months you are ony clearing away dust as oposed to traficfilm/salt deposit found in the winter coupled with the need to avoid the solution frezing.
using washing up liquid and water without theantifreze component could land you with a cracked screenwash tank if the cold were severe enough.
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Try adding methelated spirits - cuts through the muck and wont freeze ( in suitable mix )
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"Wipers are degraded after one winter, Toast after two, so thats no problem." ..... but you want the rubber in the washer system particularly the pump to last longer than 24 months.
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WHY?-why bother over a couple of quid(half a gallon of fuel)
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For years I used both proper windscreen washer stuff and fairy liquid with no bad effects I could detect. I kept my cars till they dropped.
I kept a tiny bottle of fairy liquid to use almost neat on my windscreen. Why? Because I parked very close to the runway at Heathrow and I suspect more than the usual crud found its way onto the windscreen. Fairy was a lot more effective than the standard products.
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Try getting your car serviced by a main dealer - it'd only cost £5 or so for a top-up :-)
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The screenwash thread has got me thinking. The same old story is being peddled about the salt in washing up liquid damaging a car - its bodywork, its wipers, etc.
Has any body got any real evidence of this "damage"?
I've been washing cars since about 1965 when I had a car wash round - washing for parents' friends, neighbours and the like. Since 1970 I've had, ....let me think... oh, I don't know 20-25 cars. I have often washed MIL's and always those belonging to SWMBO.
I've always used washing up liquid. The longest we kept one car, a red XR3i, was for 13 years. No rot, no new rubber bits, the black plastic/rubber spoiler wasn't even faded.It only got new wipers every now and then.
Never any damage.
Even so, the persistent views on this site have niggled me and eventually persuaded me to try the top-notch shampoos, but I don't see they're worth the trouble. Maybe the car stays shinier for a couple of days - maybe not.
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The washing up liquid idea isn't a good one as it doesn't realy work very well, but just gives a lot of foam if you use too much.
My recommendation would be to try and find SONAX screen wash. It comes in a bottle with a little measuring beaker on top, as it is supre concentrated. It is orange in coluor and smells quite nice. You used to be able to get it from Eurocarparts, and it is the same stuff they use in Porsche dealers, with a Porsch label on it and no-doubt costing 3 x what the SONAX stuff costs.
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I use Halfords own brand at 10% concentration. I make the mixture up in a 5 litre clear plastic bottle, but even though I keep it sealed and in the dark algae still grows in it. I thought algae needed light to grow, and I certainly didn't expect it to grow in screenwash solution. I shudder to think wonder what it's doing to my screenwash tubes and nozzles!
--
L\'escargot.
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>>I shudder to think wonder what it's doing to my screenwash tubes and nozzles!
>>
And mine!
I have been minding my daughters car for a year. It gets a regular warm up run but the washers are rarely used so the fluid is probably a year old.
A got a great reaction about the stinking washers from the MoT testers. I will have to explore a flush out of the bottle when we get out of this cold snap.
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Algae grows in marine diesel tanks, Halfords pink is probably a garden of eden,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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A drop of washing up liquid in 5 litres of screenwash greatly improves removal of oil etc deposited in roadspray. Frankly if I added the same quantity of Saxa the solution would be far too weak to significantly accelerate corrosion.
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