Windshield Washers bad

[ditzpro]

My X is 3 months old and the washers really suck ..I didn't notice it too much in the summer (I got the car in September )
However now in the bad weather (Michigan) the blade only exudes a small amount of water and sometimes only the lower half ..The result is more smearing than washing ..Why so stingy with the water ? I have checked for blockage but everything seems O.K.

 

[ditzpro]

Update :: I took it in to the CS on an unrelated matter and they said washers were normal ..WOW ...I have had many cars and none were even close to this bad ,,

 

[evp]

Agreed. And at speed, the right side washer doesn't get any water on the bottom half of the blade, so it leaves a big messy spot right in the center. It's related to wind speed - when stopped, it does a lot better. I had fantasies during a trip of redesigning the spigots to fix this problem. Except that I'm totally unqualified to do so. Any mechanical engineers in the audience?

 

[hareleyman]

Agreed. And at speed, the right side washer doesn't get any water on the bottom half of the blade, so it leaves a big messy spot right in the center. It's related to wind speed - when stopped, it does a lot better. I had fantasies during a trip of redesigning the spigots to fix this problem. Except that I'm totally unqualified to do so. Any mechanical engineers in the audience?

Having the same issues, however did not test the speed theory. Have only had my X for one week now, in very wintery weather in Vancouver, BC. Thought they just needed to be adjusted, on my list when I go into see Service next week.

 

[trmmcd]

Travelling at 70mph, the bottom half of the wipers seemed to get almost no fluid - leaving a miserable vision impacting smear across the bottom of the wiper path.

 

[Pwdr Extreme]

It truly is a poorly designed system, once I receive my car, I am going to purchase regular nozzles from Ram (the one on my pickup works fantastic) and mount them on the hood. They really don't look that bad and with how poor the Tesla washers work, I'll gladly take function over looks in this case.

 

[outie]

Tesla loves to reinvent the wheel, except they invented a poorer wheel. Maybe the new wheel gets better with OTA updates!

 

[EV-lutioin]

Hmm, my washer system seems to work quite well, the perforations provide an even and steady stream of fluid right where I need it, rather than spraying it up in the air and covering the entire car and the all the cars behind me. Try adding a little isopropyl alcohol to your washer fluid to prevent freezing and clogging. In California the auto shop washer fluid is legislated to be environmentally friendly, but does not work very well.

 

[Pwdr Extreme]

The driver's side of the car I'm driving leaves the bottom 1/3 of the driver's side window dirty. I also have to use 4-5 times the amount of washer fluid I normally do in other vehicles to even get it to clean that much.

 

[crash1977mtl]

Just came back from a long trip have the exact same issue. Going over 60mph/100km/hr the wipes do not clean the lower half of the drivers window and barely any fluid comes out.

When I stopped at a gas station to clean the window low and behold after a few attempts it cleaned the window .. but still left some streaks lower down.

My wife took a video of it in action and we're going to show it to the SC and see what they say .. it was extremely dangerous to not be able to clean the window effectively

 

[animorph]

Some new owners have had kinked washer lines, fixed by the SvC. If very little fluid is coming out, that would be a good possibility. Look for other threads on this subject.

 

[TJtv]

The driver's side of the car I'm driving leaves the bottom 1/3 of the driver's side window dirty. I also have to use 4-5 times the amount of washer fluid I normally do in other vehicles to even get it to clean that much.

This. I have the exact same thing, the wipers fail to clean the line of sight that the driver uses. The absolute worst spot to miss cleaning. And really it's worse that just not cleaning, it actually makes it a bit dirtier as it wipes across several times with little/no fluid!

 

[EV-lutioin]

What I don't understand is why my MX windshield is so smeary in the rain? Every time I turn on the wipers, I get blurry smears making driving in rain difficult. I replaced my windshield wipers ($60), but the result was the same. I can't recall this happening in any other car, except when the wipers were old and brittle. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[ElDudinero]

Same here even with Glycol-added subzero Washing fluid. Called my Teslatechie who immediately fixed an appointment.
They are aware of this problem: In cold conditions it seems as if sometimes the lower half of the drivers wiper is getting no fluid.
My SC told me they would examine it and change them immediatley if there was any issue.

 

[NormP]

I had the no-water-lower-half-drivers'-side and booked an appointment, and the next day the wipers started working normally. Didn't expect that to be a downloadable fix (joke). Seemed to be working on-and-off for a while, now it's pretty stable. Maybe some small blockage from assembly time?

The only design issue I see is that it only pumps fluid on the upstroke, which doesn't give much time to wet the lower driver's side. Might be better if the pump ran on the downstroke as well, laying fluid all across the window with a few moments for it to soak into the grime before wiping it up.

 

[Solarman004]

What I don't understand is why my MX windshield is so smeary in the rain? Every time I turn on the wipers, I get blurry smears making driving in rain difficult. I replaced my windshield wipers ($60), but the result was the same. I can't recall this happening in any other car, except when the wipers were old and brittle. Has anyone else had this problem?

There is some film on these windshields from the factory. I tried different glass cleaners and RainX with no success.
Then I read in another thread on this same subject the recommendation to 1. Clean windshield, 2. Clay bar the windshield, 3. Clean again with glass cleaner, 4. Apply very thin coat of paste wax.
This worked out very well for me.

 

[Zaphod]

Seems like fairly common connection to the people complaining about the wipers are in cold climates. I suspect from the factory they probably use nothing more than blue colored water. Ok, probably not true, but I'm sure its not good quality stuff that is most likely freezing up in the lines or blade itself.

 

[EV-lutioin]

There is some film on these windshields from the factory. I tried different glass cleaners and RainX with no success.
Then I read in another thread on this same subject the recommendation to 1. Clean windshield, 2. Clay bar the windshield, 3. Clean again with glass cleaner, 4. Apply very thin coat of paste wax.
This worked out very well for me.

Thanks for the info. What kind/brand of clay bar did you use?

 

[Solarman004]

Thanks for the info. What kind/brand of clay bar did you use?

Simoniz "Clay Magic" from Amazon.
I used the same clay bar when I first got the car to clean the full body paint before applying cQuartz paint protection.
By the way, for clay lube when doing the paint, I used a little dish soap in water. It worked great. I did the same on the glass, but would recommend against it. The soap water was difficult to clean off the glass. I recommend using plain (preferably demineralized or distilled) water. Whatever that coating is on the windshield, it's a son-of-gun to remove.

 

[Solarman004]

Thanks for the info. What kind/brand of clay bar did you use?

Also, I think any glass cleaner of choice would work. We only use homemade natural cleaners to protect our kids' lungs.
I used 50/50 white vinegar and water which worked well. I also tried vodka/water. I remember starting to clean, but I don't remember finishing...