[solar]

Recently I damaged the long black trim strip on the top of the driver’s door, officially the “front door sash moulding”. To remove it is a challenge as the manual very unhelpfully and amusingly says:

“Remove with a suitable tool ..…… do not use an unsuitable tool.” But the accompanying picture is unclear as to what the tool to use is and 3 different spatula like tools are shown to remove the trims in that area.

I thought it was stuck on with double sided tape as it mentions this so tried heat but that did not work. Instead a blunt flat bladed screwdriver worked to prise it off. But it is easy to bend it. It’s basically clipped all along, except at the very ends, at the top and bottom with its curled over edges. Although there is “double” sided tape behind it I found this was only stuck on one side so I reused it despite what the manual says. Just added dab of evostick at each end to be sure.

Anyway the reason for posting this is that I found the top of the door quite rusty under this trim and the adjacent door rubber weather strip (worst at the rear corner where there are a lot of seams) and so thought it worth mentioning this in case you are the sort that worries about rust. Not that it’s anywhere near rotting the door right through. Waxoil is easy to apply to suppress more rusting. Car is 7 years old and is always outside. You could just try removing the rubber and not the trim as it’s a lot quicker (one self-tapper and pull the rubber off the door) but not all the rust is likely to show. If none seen under the rubber it may be that there is none is under the trim either.

I have not yet checked the other 3 doors.

PS Also had a lot of trouble for long time with the front washer jets. Every appearance was that one jet was clogged at the right angle bend in it. But funny things happened with flow rates when the jet were removed that made me suspect the Y junction instead or even the other jet. Blowing through the jet with air and water in both directions and poking it with wire and even drills (it’s got large bore holes in it) failed to clear the blockage. In the end I took thin electrical wire, stripped 5mm off the end and jumbled up the strands. Rotating those into the bend caught the fibrous debris on the strands which could then be pulled out. AOK now.

 

[niggle]

Check the actual reservoir, it may have gunk in it, in which case you need to clean that out or further blockages are pretty much guaranteed.

 

[Aragorn]

Gunk in washer bottle is usually caused by running insufficient concentrations of screenwash. The Alcohol in the screenwash keeps all the growth at bay.

Most stuff you buy at the supermarket etc is already far too dilute and needs to be used neat, or at most 50:50.

If you buy a quality stuff (Quantum brand from TPS is my preference) you can run 1:5 in summer and 50:50 in winter.

 

[niggle]

I have been trying to find a decent screen wash for years, does the Quantum shift insects etc. as well as the OEM stuff did?

 

[solar]

Gunk in the bottle is not the issue on this I think. It was fibrous stuff in the jet. But my Qashqai is definitely affected by gunk and I need to take out the bottle, which won’t be easy, and clean in it out.

I had been using screenwash in winter and dilute washing up detergent in summer. I read somewhere that this causes a congealed mess and so have stopped doing this. I also note that squeezing detergent into the bottle followed by water often led to the detergent not mixing so the pump had to pump near neat detergent through the jets.

One problem with commercial screenwash is that it’s not always clear how much anti-icing fluid is in it. It easy to accidentally buy some that has no real antifreeze properties. Also has too much dye and my Leaf's reservoir's "dipstick" is unusable due to staining by red dye.

As I live where is rarely gets below -1C I usually well dilute the winter screenwash. Is that a bad idea? Is there a product that can be added to the diluted fluid to add back some cleaning properties? I was adding detergent to try to do this but now realise that is a mistake.

 

[Aragorn]

Good screenwash will run down to -30 or so when used neat, and usually -15-20ish when diluted 50:50.

The crap from the supermarket is often rated to -5 or so neat, its already super diluted and really you shouldnt dilute it further even in summer.

I'm sure other brands will also work just fine, but like i say just make sure its got a decent concentration. Annoyingly even the Quantum stuff has been made worse recently. I need to order more as i've run out, but i've heard the newer stuff doesnt go as cold even when neat.