Washer Fluid Jets in Winter
 

i am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this problem, this is the second winter that i've had with my 98 protege, and by winters i mean cold canadian winters.
Now, in summer time i pull the little wiper arm and it comes out right away. But now that it's winter, it take a few pulls for it to start coming out. it's a bit of a pain in the ass, is seems like it's empty at first, then u keep trying and trying and it comes. the bottle is full. And it's full of Winter Fluid, i have Prestone RainX Winter -40degrees.. is this something winter related, or is maybe my jets dying or the pump.. Any help would be appreiciated. Thnx

They're frozen.
Once you've cleared the snow and crap away just rub your finger and thumb together for several seconds and put your finger over the jet openings.
Then immediately pull the lever, or shortly thereafter, like less than 30 or so seconds we're talking here.
You Can try to hold the lever down but for me that resulted in recently buying a new washer pump at a cost of about 75$ CDN.

If they are frozen, which they likely are, have someone pour hot water over them while you pull the lever. This way they will unfreeze plus you will clear the water from the line so that it doesn't freeze again. We do it at least once every winter.

Since we are on the subject... What is a proper or good way to adjust the direction of the spray that coming out of the nozzles? My driver side is spraying almost right at the top of my windshield, and much of my view does not get cleaned out during snow or ice storms.

I've tried this before -- I used an NEEDLE and it was fine, i've also used it on trucks at work also.

Aiming the Nozzles. [Tip from Peter Rhyins] The nozzles are all adjustable. You need a pretty stiff piece of wire or a stout needle that fits into the jet to get them to move. I used a strand from a stainless steel wire brush I have. A very tiny needle will work but these are brittle and can break off too. You can drip a small amount of 3-in-1 oil onto the base to get the round mount to rotate.

Thanks, man. However, I find this so ironic that during a snow storm last night, one of my nozzle froze up (of course on the driver side). So, I stopped by a local Dunkin Donuts and got a got a cup of hot water. It took about half a cup, and BINGO, its spraying again, YAY!

Also another thing, i don't know if any of you have experienced the same thing.
But where my wipers are it tends to leak from time to time. If i use my washer fluid, sometimes there will be some dripping down my hood as if the washers.
I am not sure if the nozzles are leaking or what. Even sometimes in the summer time, i will notice that there is some leakage going on.
Any idea, anyone else getting the same thing?

I've had the same problem sometimes. I don't use my washer fluid much, but I have noticed that exess runs down the hood.

I think it comes from the spray not being fine enough, and the droplets that come out are too big and end up just dribbling out a little bit.

Yeah, it just really sucks when you've cleaned your car, and noticed that there is some drippage going down your clean hood..
Oh well....