The left one barely makes it onto the windshield. The right one doesn’t make it at all. As you can imagine this is a distressing state of affairs + wastes a lot of fluid.
Are they clogged? Do I have to take the whole car in to get serviced to clean it out? How much does that cost? Can I do it myself?
If a needle won’t fit, try the stiff metal bristle from a steel brush. These are in the paint department of hardware stores, and loose bristles are often in the bottom of the bins.
No no no, no toothpick. At least be very careful. I used a toothpick once and the end broke off in the orfice, swelled up, and was a real bitch to finally get out. A needle is better.
Sorry for the yelling, ccwaterback, but it was a real bitch.
Peace,
mangeorge
No offense, cc, but toothpicks work fine until they get wet and break off in the “washer pod.” We have owned two Dodge vehicles; both seemed to be expert at trapping the pointy wooden tips.
After my negative experiences, I have found the tip of a paper clip usually works very well to dislodge the gunk, plus grants enough leverage to re-align the stream.
Tried a paperclip, was too fat to fit in there. And I wasn’t going to try toothpicks, i don’t think I could find a toothpick in my house. Tomorrow morning I will try a needle.
What you need is stiff wire. In the hardware store, you can find spools of solid steel picture hanging wire (not the braided stuff) that should be thin enough to get in there, and strong enough to not break or bend too bad.
Work the wire back and forth a few times, then test the jets. Chances are good that you’ll misalign them, if they don’t spray where you want, stick the wire in, and adjust the nozzle by moving the wire around.
You can also use something like this welding tip cleaner it’s got a bunch of high quality stainless steel wires in different sizes so you can pick one that fits in easily, and should be under $10.
Wire, toothpicks… eh. Compressed air will kick its ass everytime. You can get one of those CO2 bottles used for cleaning electronics. It works well for this very situation.
Agreed. My dad has a professional air compressor at his auto body shop and a semi-pro unit at home, neither of them have enough juice on their own to clear out whatever crap seems to always get jammed in my washer nozzles.
Maybe I just wind up with particularly nasty stuff clogging the system, but I don’t seem to get any success without using a wire.