Problem with car windscreen washer

[GhostShip]

As I drove in to work this morning I washed my windscreen and was immediately hit with a foul smell of rotten eggs. I proceeded to carry on using the washer to try and get rid of the smell, but to no avail. As I sit here a few hours later, I still have the smell in my nostrils.

There's obviously an 'infection' in the washer reservoir, but I doubt it's something that would be covered under warranty. If I take it into the garage, they'll undoubtedly have to take the engine out and I'll end up with a bill for �£400.

Has anyone had this problem before? I guess I can empty the resevoir by using it all the way home (though the car behind me isn't going to be too chuffed), but what then? Things like bleach could do damage to the paintwork. Starsan, lol??

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[chewie]

I've never came across that but i did have something similar once in the car air con, for that you can get a "jelly" type air freshener that sits in the air con filter and helps clean the smell out thru the system. For the window washers i would add some spirit alcohol in winter to lower it's freezing point, maybe a drop of vodka added in it might kill of anything growing in there??

 

[terrym]

Why not try emptying it (pump it out), then filling it with clean water and pumping it out again.
Then fill with screen wash concentrate, and run that through it.
Concentrate contains a mixure of glycol and alcohols so that may kill any bugs.
Alternatively try dilute bleach, which will be insignificant compared to the concentrated brine solution you drive through every winter after the roads have been salted.

 

[Gunge]

The one on my Picasso stopped working the other week, after a period of unsatisfactory performance. I ruled out blocked jets / feed pipe so got underneath the car and whipped the pump off the reservoir. The gauze was choked with sludge and stank horrendous. And the pump was almost burned out. £12 on a new pump and a good cleaning sorted it out in 15 minutes.

 

[Graz]

Be careful: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/06June/Pages/Legionnaires-risk-from-wiper-water.aspx

This is why you should always add screenwash even in the summer. Fairy liquid is not good enough.