Stinky windscreen washer water

[Cardiff_Exile]

My car has egg smelling washers – 98’clk

At start of the summer I drained and cleaned out the reservoir and ran through some baby bottle sterilizer. All was well for a few months but the smell has come back. I use water and screen wash 50/50. The other cars don’t have these issues with the same mix but the reservoir tends to be in the wing. In the merc it's in the engine bay so I guess gets warm/cold/warm/cold so germs breed.

Any ideas on what to mix with screenwash to sort? I was thinking a dash of the baby sterilizer fluid but that may be too harsh for the paint.

[voicey]

Fill it with a bleech solution, leave for a while then drain.

[swansea v6]

Had the same thing with my FTO, I flushed the system with boiling water then a weak bleach solution and the smell didn't return.

[iPlod999]

Try smelling your screen wash before you put it in.

I has this a couple of years ago and wasted a afternoon draining out, washing and refilling.

The screen was itself had gone off.

[Cardiff_Exile]

just sniffed the bottle of blue stuff and its fine.

Can I just add something to the mixture rather than draning, purging and re filling?

would baby bottle fluid, say 50ml in around 5000ml of fluid, cause issues to paint and rubber seals etc?

I should add my car is not waxed and gets washed when it rains, it is just a daily hack

[MUDGUTZ]

I'm trying to give the info below a wide circulation, so I have copied and pasted it from one of my own posts. If you use a suitable solution, which need not cost much, bacteria don't have a chance to grow.

---

...This subject comes up every year. Every motoring website has a similar thread. I have seen lots of overpriced screen wash for sale everywhere from Halfords to Tesco & various filling stations.

The only ready-mixed screen wash that seems to be good value is the stuff from Lidl: If you can get it. Alternatively you can mix your own.

The information below will hopefully help those who are prepared to help themselves.

I have read over & over again that German screen wash products are very good, so that’s either the ready-mixed type in small bottles from Porsche or VAG or the concentrated type that has a vessel at the top to measure the required quantity. Two appear to be very good value:

Sonax Clear View

Einszett Kristallklar

BTW they both come in 250ml bottles; there is an error in the Einszett webpage.

Either product works out about 30 pence per litre when mixed with water which is fine for summer use.
When it comes to winter, all you have to do, when you mix up a load in your 5 litre container, is add some Ethanol / IPA / Isopropyl Alcohol / Isopropanol (Chemists will explain the difference, I’m pretty sure for the purpose of screen wash they are all fine). See below for suitable concentrations.

I got mine from eBay & it worked out about £2.50 per litre, so even at 40% concentration, when combined with Sonax Clear View or Einszett Kristall Klar it’s around £1.30 per Litre. That would be good down to -23 oC

10% Ethanol = Freezing point of -4 oC
20% Ethanol = Freezing point of -9 oC
30% Ethanol = Freezing point of -15 oC
40% Ethanol = Freezing point of -23 oC
50% Ethanol = Freezing point of -32 oC
60% Ethanol = Freezing point of -37 oC

I hope this info helps folk avoid paying excessive amounts for that blue water...

Original thread is here

[smartphone hater]

There may well be something wrong with my maths but that Sonex stuff is about £8 per bottle which gives you 25 litres. You can buy 25 litre concentrate for about £20 which if mixed at 10/1 is £20 for 250 litres, which is saving of £60 over the Sonex. Then add your Ethanol.

[MUDGUTZ]

smartphone hater said:

There may well be something wrong with my maths but that Sonex stuff is about £8 per bottle which gives you 25 litres. You can buy 25 litre concentrate for about £20 which if mixed at 10/1 is £20 for 250 litres, which is saving of £60 over the Sonex. Then add your Ethanol.

Your maths seems right but I guess it comes down to how much folk use. 250 litres is a lot of screen wash, however I would like to know which concentrate you would be using. I think we use around 3-4 litres per month in our household (3 cars) so even for us that 250 litres would last some time.

I'm all for folk taking a common sense approach to this.

[Yuxi]

My 93 500SL heats the washer fluid, it makes it smell after a while were the same fluid when used in my Peugeot stays fresh for ages. Maybe the Mercedes spec washer fluid can stay fresh with continued heating and cooling.

[Cardiff_Exile]

Thanks for all the replies - I've filled up with 50/50 holts screen wash and water with a dash of baby bottle fluid - will let you know how I get on.

[Martin F]

voicey said:

Fill it with a bleech solution, leave for a while then drain.

This works !

[theshrew]

Remove the washer bottle and put it in the dishwasher.

[Evoluzione]

Since I got over my OCD of smelling my washer fluid my life has been much better. Coming out and admitting I had a problem was the hardest part, but my support group and counsellor were very supportive.
It was a long and difficult journey, but I feel it was worth it in the end.

Now I've just got to stop sniffing my tyres and my oil.....

[MJG280]

Put a bottle of cheap vinegar in the water. It will clean the system and your windscreen.