Windshield Washer Nozzle Angle Too Low?

[Quantos]

Hi guys,

This is something that's been bugging me for a while. The angle of the washer fluid seems too low on my car. Now, simple aerodynamics would tell me that at higher speeds the fluids is basically pushed down against the windshield and doesn't hit the top of the windshield, but I find it abusive on my car. At highway speeds, there's basically no fluid reaching the top of the window at all, which remains dry and dirty. On the other hand, if I'm not at highway speeds, the angle is quite fine, which means that if I were to adjust the angle somehow, I would shoot fluid over my car when not at highway speeds

Anybody got a tip?

[Sponsor]

[oshoguno]

Good question! I have the same feeling. When driving (at almost any normal speed, highway or city) the spray pattern only goes halfway up my window. I find myself needing the spray most when I am driving so I end up either wasting fluid by continuously spraying till the top gets cleaned or I time my sprays to the sweep of the wiper. When stopped or slow the spray is sufficient to get the whole window but that is not when I use it, yet I don't want it spraying my roof then either just to get it right while I am driving.

[Some Guy From NY]

This is not normal. When I drive highway speeds 65+mph, it still sprays the entire windshield without issue.

[doublej]

Should be able to adjust the nozzle. Put a pin in the hole and change the angle.

[cuke2u]

Hi, you can't do that with the 'mist' nozzles on a mk3 focus.

[cobie56]

Originally Posted by cuke2u

Hi, you can't do that with the 'mist' nozzles on a mk3 focus.

i liked the older style nozzles that were not mounted on the hood.... they were metal and extended from under the hood (usually on GM models) and could be bent slightly to aim them better... It was also a cleaner look so that on light coloured cars the black nozzles didn't stick out like sore thumbs.

[cuke2u]

Hi, aren't they the ones that would freeze up at the tips though? I would have thought that even with heaters in them when going along the water in the tips would go solid..

[cobie56]

Originally Posted by cuke2u

Hi, aren't they the ones that would freeze up at the tips though? I would have thought that even with heaters in them when going along the water in the tips would go solid..

perhaps, but i never had them freeze so long as one did not use only water in them but used a windshield screen washer fluid which freezes well below zero

[CDNFocusFan]

I too find that at highway speeds the top 20% of the windshield gets little to no juice, I might ask the dealer to look on my next visit if I remember.