[NVETHIS]

I've been fighting with this damn warning light forever. I had months ago mistakenly used some of the orange rain x washer fluid to refill my empty resistor, but after reading the boards found it to cause problems and emptied it and got regular plane Jane blue fluid. Filled the reservoir with water / fluid combo and I was left unbothered by a warning light and tone.

Well my resistor emptied again, and I used same 1/2 water 1/2 blue fluid to refill it and the freaking light and warning won't go away. I have tried more water to dilute it, more fluid than water, it has been I the 20's and I found the whole reservoir frozen yesterday, telling me there wasn't enough washer fluid to keep it from freezing.

What's the or recreational mix? Is it the fluid? My understanding is there's a resistor in the resivoir that runs a current to determine if it's empty or not. Why the rain X fluids don't work because they don't conduct the current enough. That's what I read somewhere, I could be completely wrong. Is the sensor hard to replace? Can it be programed out? The headlight washers will not spray with the warning light on. This is annoying the crap out of me. Any help is appreciated.

-NVE

[BMW11]

I use the blue fluid all the time straight never use water and never had a sensor problem in all the cars I ever had including seven BMW's

[Billfitz]

This is a well documented problem. Research old threads, one or more of them should reveal a fix.

[STR8-6IX]

this happened to me before, it is a well known problem. I sort of just forgot about it and it went away. I got the light again recently, topped up and the warning went away again.

I think if you use up all the fluid until it empty and top up again, it may go away.

good luck

[tylerm5000]

Did you try cleaning the sensor? I had to do that on my Passat and it worked.

[Wires]

Not sure why you are diluting washer mix at 50%. You should be using it straight out of the bottle to ensure that it doesn't freeze.

It's possible that when the tank froze, whatever senses the level in the tank was damaged as well.

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Wires

Not sure why you are diluting washer mix at 50%. You should be using it straight out of the bottle to ensure that it doesn't freeze.

It's possible that when the tank froze, whatever senses the level in the tank was damaged as well.

you live in calgary so that is understandable, but I think if you live in a more mild climate 50/50 mix would never freeze.

[Wires]

He's from DC, and he's saying it's in the 20's, and that the reservoir froze. Beer freezes at 20...

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by Wires

He's from DC, and he's saying it's in the 20's, and that the reservoir froze. Beer freezes at 20...

I guess that's why you shouldn't put beer in the washer fluid reservoir.

[NVETHIS]

Thanks for the replies. The only reason I diluted it was because I read on this forum as a fix for the problem. It seems to happen at lower temperatures, and the 20 degree day was out of the blue that even shocked the weather men. Is the reservoir easy to get to / is the sensor easy to get to and clean? I have tried emptying the thing all the way and using different fluids. If it's not difficult to remove / replace I would do it if anyone can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

-NVE

[jbopa]

Same problem on my 2013 f30 328. Used rain x and it gummed up the sensor. I was able to get to the sensor on the bottle by just turning my wheel and getting to it. Behind front right wheel. Just tied the two contacts on the sensor together so it will never read low again. Not worth the $500 to replace the bottle/sensor at dealer. I’ll just fill it when it runs out

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by jbopa

I’ll just fill it when it runs out

We did that for at least thirty years before sensors came along, somehow we managed.