Learned something new today.

[leccyflyer]

On the way to the slope today it started to drizzle, then my washer fluid ran out. I was just a few minutes from the services so pulled in, picked up a 5 litre plastic container from the metal rack marked Screenwash next to the doors and went in to pay.

"Just the screenwash please, no fuel" quoth I.

"You don't want to buy it like that -it's cheaper from the pump - the container is double the price! said the lady.

"That's a new one on me, thanks, I didn't know you could get it from a pump" - so I was instructed to put the 5 litre container back, do a circuit of the pumps to #11, fill up there and then come in to pay.

Arrived at the pump #11 - half the size of a petrol pump, with just an LCD display and a thin hose and a blue plastic smaller nozzle -otherwise just like a petrol pump. Opened the bonnet, put the nozzle in the screenwash filler and pressed the trigger. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So, traipse back in to the lady "It's not working" I said "Oh, it can be a bit awkward sometimes. you just to make sure it contacts the magnet in the filler - I'll show you". So back we both traipse and she gets the nozzle - I point to the screenwash filler "Does it go in there?" she says, looking puzzled. "Yes, that's the screenwasher filler" 

"This isn't screenwash, it's Ad-Blue" she replied 

Now I was more confused than her "What's AdBlue?"  Apparently, it's not screenwash, it's an exhaust additive to help with emissions control in modern diesels. I've certainly never heard of it.

Good job it didn't work, or I'd have had a washer bottle full of what is apparently distilled water and urea.

I point out where I'd got the Ad-Blue container from - the metal rack next to the door with Screenwash emblazoned on it in four inch high letters

" No, that's not screenwash, it's AdBlue -the screenwash is down there" Which it was, at floor level, with no sign, save the labels on the containers, next to the BBQ charcoal.

 

Like I said, I learned something today - apparently this is a thing now.

[Alex Ferguson 2]

You are saying they don't have a watering can with just water in it? You are saying you have to pay for water?

I only fill with clean water... and it works.... free....

If the windscreen is dirty I wash it with the free scrubber while filling with petrol.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Alex Ferguson 2

[leccyflyer]

I suppose since it's the summer I could have just used water, but up here in the frozen north I tend to use neat screenwash, in order to have functioning washers and I'd never buy a car without a heated front screen. With the lockdown it must be at least six months since I last filled the washer bottle. Winter tyres will be going on in a couple of months.

[Alex Ferguson 2]

Arrh, that explains it, forgotten there are places with really cold bits of the year. Yes, it does get as cold or colder further south of here.

[David Davis]

1 hour ago, Alex Ferguson 2 said:

Arrh, that explains it, forgotten there are places with really cold bits of the year. Yes, it does get as cold or colder further south of here.

Yes I remember working on the Australian National Railway in the Great Victoria Desert in the late Seventies. At this time of the year it was so cold that we were wearing sweaters and long trousers!

[Alex Ferguson 2]

In New Zealand I always tell visitors it never snows before 1 January and never after 31 December. We had 6" of snow down south one Boxing Day a few decades ago. Remember, Xmas is mid summer here.

 

This year when we were there, February, snow on the peaks while in Fiordland. Floods, yes while Germany was under water we had a couple of areas with flooding. Other times the sky will be reddish with smoke from Australia.

[Dale Bradly]

Ask your mechanic how many times he has dealt with people filling their gas tank with Adblue. It makes a particular mess of common rail diesel engines...