You could always try copper tubing (other hand moldable tubing) coiled around the exhaust. Most washer fluid systme route the rubber hosing through the fender and close to the hood hinge.
Stock fluid bottle --> route rubber hose outlet to engine bay --> copper tubbing coiled around close to firewall --> rubber hose secured to firewall --> into stock sytem around hood.
Pros:
Cheap
uses waste heat
No additional draw on electrical system
faster/hotter?
Cons:
Copper + salt
not “neat”
too hot…boiling…clogged deposits
Other options; single pass along rad, single pass along engine block, head, oil pan…
if you are just doing this for wiper fluid, why not run a small inline water/water heat exchanger and feed it with an engine coolant loop. its free waste heat and i imagine it would be much more effective than a small electric coil.
if it’s windshield washer fluid you want to warm up, you can try using the cars coolant system as a means of heating the fluid up. Via a small heat exchanger.
i had thought of using the coolant but my idea wa smore complicated. i was going to tap a coolant hose and run that line through a hole i would make at the bottom of the res. tank. seal it all up and tap that line back in. the hot tapped line would give off heat and it would be in the res tank. but it would suck if there was a leak.
where would you buy a small heat exchanger though?
i had thought of using the coolant but my idea wa smore complicated. i was going to tap a coolant hose and run that line through a hole i would make at the bottom of the res. tank. seal it all up and tap that line back in. the hot tapped line would give off heat and it would be in the res tank. but it would suck if there was a leak.
where would you buy a small heat exchanger though?
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get some copper tubing and turn it into a spiral… you want to create as much surface area that you can
P.S. buick had a great ad for this, it was a buick window with silver “lotto” type material on it you scratched it with a penny and underneath it said “wouldnt you like to never have to scrape your windows again”
right but my 94 honda civic winter beater is not a buick and did not come with buick parts…thus why im trying to make something similar.
If you use the RainX winter solution you would be fine…im not using water itself
Viper966. Do you think the cooper tubing from my exhaust would get hot enough to melt the rubber hoses its wrapped around.
If you want to avoid scraping off ice, 70* fluid isn’t going to do shit. You’ll run through the whole tank before getting through the ice. It would have to be ~120 like zwarbyt said.
Oh, and spraying 70* water on a frozen windshield will probably just make the ice thicker. Get much hotter and thermal expansion could crack your windshield.
