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Cardboard in washer bottle!

jdrrco

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Messages
1,695
Location
North Yorkshire
Car
Kia Stinger GTS & W202 C200
This sounds so daft, but any help would be appreciated.

This morning I topped up my washer bottle with concentrate. Too late for me to stop it, I suddenly noticed the cardboard disc from the concentrate bottle lid had fallen into the filler tube. I topped up the water to the brink in the vain hope that the cardboard disc might float to the top.

Is it likely to do any damage? Any ideas of how to retrieve it?
 
My guess is it might break down and possibly clog the pump or spray nozzles , thats IF the broken down cardboard gets past the strainer in the washer bottle.

If the bottle is easy to remove (unlikely on a Mercedes Benz !) take it apart and fish the lid out, otherwise leave it and hope it breaks down completely. At least if your washers stop working you will know what the fault is !

How about buying an identical bottle of concentrate removing the card disc and keeping it in a jar of washer fluid mix in your garage and observing how long it takes to break down, and into what .

Bear in mind that the disc is the seal to the 100% concentrate once the foil has been removed from the bottle. It is designed to stop the fluid from leaking out so there is a good chance it might not break down at all.
 
Wont break down if the other side of the disc is silver foil .But take the expansion tank off the car if your worried about it
I have this problem with oil containers,, and that seal you need to get off to put the oil in to the engine .It never comes off in one piece and those bits of silver foil can get in to the oil ways to block them up .
 
This sounds so daft, but any help would be appreciated.

This morning I topped up my washer bottle with concentrate. Too late for me to stop it, I suddenly noticed the cardboard disc from the concentrate bottle lid had fallen into the filler tube. I topped up the water to the brink in the vain hope that the cardboard disc might float to the top.

Is it likely to do any damage? Any ideas of how to retrieve it?
Last week I had to remove my washer pump and strainer bung as the washer had stopped working on my S205. At some point paper has made it into the bottle and decomposed and bunged up the washer filter. I tried flexi curtain wire and the garden hose to poke and flush the bottle clean with no success. MB have fitted a narrow swan neck filler to the washer bottle so it’s impossible to fish things out. I had to remove 2 nuts and 4 clips so I could peel back the wheel arch liner to access the bottle and pump. The pump just pushes into the bottle so easily removed. Pump was clean and despite a full wash bottle no water came out from the pump location. Using a flat blade I released the sealing grommet which also acts as a filter, water and decomposed water gushed out, success. Cleaned the filter, washed the bottle through with the garden hose, replaced the filter/bung and pushed pump back into place then with plain water tested the wiper. With all ok replace wheel arch lining. Job took about 30 mins. A bit cold wet and messy due to crud in the wheel arch but success and not cost except the new screen wash.

Still not clear how paper got into the bottle as I have had the car from new. May be one of the top ups at service was the source of the paper.
 
This morning I topped up my washer bottle with concentrate. Too late for me to stop it, I suddenly noticed the cardboard disc from the concentrate bottle lid had fallen into the filler tube. I topped up the water to the brink in the vain hope that the cardboard disc might float to the top.
 
As trickythemerc says put a hose down and give it a good flush out.

I do this every other year with my cars as the screen wash can get get bacteria in it.
One of my classics where I had forgot to do this, the screen wash turned almost into a jelly even though it looked ok. Had to flush it for some time before it was clear right through to the jets.
 
I do this every other year with my cars as the screen wash can get get bacteria in it.

I honestly don’t think this is necessary if you use a suitable screen wash at the correct dilution.

I have used Mercedes WinterFit exclusively at a 1:1 dilution, and never had any issues. :)
 
I honestly don’t think this is necessary if you use a suitable screen wash at the correct dilution.

I have used Mercedes WinterFit exclusively at a 1:1 dilution, and never had any issues. :)

Apparently it's the mixing of different screen washes which causes the problem. Many people - unlike your goodself ;) - buy whatever is on offer, or to hand when they need some. My Dad's car failed it's first MOT because the washers were not deemed powerful enough. The whole pickup point in the washer bottle was gunked up, and as mentioned above, it can be unpleasant gunk!
 
I must admit that despite years of motoring in numerous countries the first time I heard about the jelly/gunk in washer bottles was when i joined this forum.
I have been putting any old carp (and good stuff) and sometimes just plain water (not in UK) in my washer bottles -including about 9 company cars- and never had a problem.

Just luck I guess. ?? :dk:
 
You’ve had a few great suggestions. Have you tried any?
 
I have tried the serious suggestions made and none have worked, so sadly not so great.
 
I have tried the serious suggestions made and none have worked, so sadly not so great.
I believe over time the paper will breakdown and if the bottle is low on fluid it may clog the pump.
I had tried the bendy wire and flushing to no avail as neither the wire or hose would go very far into the filler. Many cars now have complex spouts and bottles prevention old school easy fixes. My rout was to go onto EBay to look for a washer bottle, from the pics I could see that normal top down process would not work. With some Goole help to find the location of the bottle I did the remove wheel arch lining. On the current C Class the bottle lives in the wheel arch behind the left front wheel on the previous W204 model it was in the front of the wheel behind the bumper.
If you go the empty from the bottom method maybe posting which model you have would help you with finding the place to look for the bottle and pump.
 
I must admit that despite years of motoring in numerous countries the first time I heard about the jelly/gunk in washer bottles was when i joined this forum.
I have been putting any old carp (and good stuff) and sometimes just plain water (not in UK) in my washer bottles -including about 9 company cars- and never had a problem.

Just luck I guess. ?? :dk:
Can’t say I’ve had any major problems either ; I have occasionally seen build up of crap in the bottle but always easy to put garden hose right to the bottom and leave running for a while to flush it out . But then few of my cars have hidden washer bottles , which are another retrograde idea , just like cars where you can’t swap a blown lamp without major dismantling - just the other week I had to remove the whole headlamp from her ladyship’s car , Ford Focus , requiring a torx driver , to replace a blown H7 . And my sisters Golf was the same with the battery tight behind the passenger side headlamp so that either the lamp unit or the battery had to come out - lack of joined up thinking at the design stage .
 
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