mixing blue and yellow windshield squirter juice

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eljefino

eljefino

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We're enduring a crazy cold snap up here. The -20'F blue stuff (alcohol) is barely cutting it. Have half a reservoir remaining. It squirts okay but the alcohol content quickly evaporates in this dry air which makes the remaining water flash into ice on the windscreen.

Bought some supertech "yellow" that's good for another 5 or 10 degrees colder. Think it has some extra zip to it that's not alcohol-based. Resembles the yellow prestone de-icer type products.

If I mix the two can I expect a linear level of protection or does anyone think it won't work worth squat, and I should purge all blue before trying the stuff?
 
You can mix the two. Also you can use antifreeze. I keep my old antifreeze just for winter windshield juice. Works great! It is a sort of recycling. Ethylene glycol is biodegradable too.
 
I have both the blue and yellow supertech jugs here. The yellow one has methyl(methanol) alcohol in it.

Generally, most winter deice and windshield fluids contain methyl alcohol(cheaper than iso alc.). I have some bottles of Prestone windshield deicer/shield. It has methyl and propylene glycol.

I would say you could mix them without problems, might give you a couple more degrees worth of protection. I have personally dumped bottles of ISOheet into the fluid tank. It seems to boost the deicing abilities. I only do it if I am running out and need some fluid NOW though, as IST heet is too expensive to use all the time like that.
 
I'm not putting engine antifreeze in there, yuk.

Think/thought the yellow had some urea or something to give it punch.

Once one approaches 70% methanol, it either gets much more expnsive to distill or they won't do it for consumer product safety (eg fire) reasons... so I think.
 
I'd just mix it in there. I guess if that doesn't improve it, you won't know for sure how good the yellow stuff is until the blue is diluted by another fill though.

Isn't ethylene glycol hard on paint?
 
Anytime I had someone come in with engine coolant in their washer fluid the windshield was coated with sticky antifreeze and it was hard to see through. How did you get this to work for you?
 
I don't see any benefit from using engine coolant in the washer tank. I spilled some on a car I had years ago and the spot never came out. I have not used the blue stuff ever since I saw my reservoir frozen.
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I have had great results with Prestone's De Icer and also their Bug Wash in the summer.
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But don't be concerned about mixing the two of them (blue and yellow), as they are designed to do the same thing, just that the yellow is a better formula.
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Yellow and blue make green.
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I had problems even with straight Prestone w/s washer fluid up in the great North (Rochester, NY). Once it gets much below zero it freezes in the washer hoses, nozzles, etc., but for sure is better than the blue stuff.
 
Shaman wrote: "What percentage of antifreeze do you use GMorg?"

I use "used" 50/50 ethylene glycol based "green stuff" sometimes straight, sometimes with "blue washer fluid" and sometimes with rubbing alcohol (isopropanol). I have not tried OAT/DexCool nor have I tried the low-tox propylene glycol based stuff. I do not recommend antifreeze during the warm months. It leaves streaks that attract dust. In the winter, it works great and will melt/dissolve ice windshield ice quickly.

hk33ka1, As long as the wiper blades are in good shape, I have not had any visiblility issues.

RacerE7773 wrote: "I have had great results with Prestone's De Icer"

That product is actually what orginally gave me the idea. Prestone's De-icer is a mixture of methanol (as in the blue windshield juice), ethylene glycol (as in the old green antifreeze), and propylene glycol (as in low-tox or enviro antifreeze).

Prestone's de-icer MSDS:
http://win14.american.edu/safety/au/vault/000/000717.pdf


In comparison to de-icer, used antifreeze will have some unnecessary buffers and some dissolved metals.
 
Quote:

We're enduring a crazy cold snap up here. The -20'F blue stuff (alcohol) is barely cutting it. Have half a reservoir remaining. It squirts okay but the alcohol content quickly evaporates in this dry air which makes the remaining water flash into ice on the windscreen.

Bought some supertech "yellow" that's good for another 5 or 10 degrees colder. Think it has some extra zip to it that's not alcohol-based. Resembles the yellow prestone de-icer type products.

If I mix the two can I expect a linear level of protection or does anyone think it won't work worth squat, and I should purge all blue before trying the stuff?

Click to expand...


Where you and I live (north country), I always use the yellow Walmart winter stuff year-round. Just bought six jugs yesterday. That will last me the entire year for a few vehicles in my driveway.

If I were you, I would remove the blue and go all yellow.
 
I topped up my normal water with Prestone De-icer yellow (it claimed to repel road grime). Now I have a gooey greasy mess on my windshield.
banana.gif
 
Wheather it's the Prestone or the WalMart brand, I use the yellow windshield washer fluid in the winter time. It just freezes less.
 
We just had a cold rush too and I switched the household to Yellow from Blue, mixes fine.

On that note I like yellow more, defiantly better at 5*F, we'll be staying with it for the rest of the winter.

Cars I put it in:

94 Buick Century
98 Buick Park Ave
97 Ford Escort
04 Ford Focus
 
I mix these all the time.

I use water in the summer, switch over to the blue stuff in September or October and then finally the yellow, ultra-cold formula for the coldest months. In April, I begin using water again. I have also 'boosted' my tank with rubbing alcohol if I felt the mix in there was marginal.

Even when it is 'just' 0F degrees out, it is much better to have the -34F formula than the -20F stuff in your tank.

My theory is that when you spray this fluid on a windshield covered in heavy frost or light ice, it mixes with the melt and this dilutes the alcohol. The wipers spread this dilute across the windshield and the mix refreezes. What a mess.
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So, I think all the extra ability to melt helps.
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And no, I wouldn't use engine anti-freeze or the red RV stuff.
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