H6 window washer problem

[Al]

I rarely drive my wife's Subaru. I had to drive it to a funeral hundreds
of miles away; she would join me later when our son was available to
travel.

I refilled the washer fluid container and went happily on my way. All
was fine until I need to clear the windshield of accumulating road salt
spray. AND the damn thing wouldn't spray. It worked fine for her the day
before.

I pulled the stalk to mist, I tried it with wipers on and wipers off. No
Joy! The rear wiper worked fine. So it wasn't frozen. I had to carry a
cup of water with me and clear the windshield at rest stops.

When we returned from the funeral a few days later, I set out to
investigate. I still couldn't get it to work. Finally I found a button
on the end of the stalk; I pushed it and it worked! Damn!

Now the instructions on the washer/wiper stalk say to pull to mist. But,
it doesn't work. Only pushing the button in the end of the stalk works.

I asked my wife what she did to make the washer worked. She said that
she pushed and pulled everything until it worked and settled on that.

Now, is my unit defective, or is this a Subaru blunder?

I know, I know....read the manual. But why should I when the writing on
the stalk says, pull to mist?

Al

 

[Alan]

I rarely drive my wife's Subaru. I had to drive it to a funeral hundreds
of miles away; she would join me later when our son was available to
travel.

I refilled the washer fluid container and went happily on my way. All
was fine until I need to clear the windshield of accumulating road salt
spray. AND the damn thing wouldn't spray. It worked fine for her the day
before.

I pulled the stalk to mist, I tried it with wipers on and wipers off. No
Joy! The rear wiper worked fine. So it wasn't frozen. I had to carry a
cup of water with me and clear the windshield at rest stops.

When we returned from the funeral a few days later, I set out to
investigate. I still couldn't get it to work. Finally I found a button
on the end of the stalk; I pushed it and it worked! Damn!

Now the instructions on the washer/wiper stalk say to pull to mist. But,
it doesn't work. Only pushing the button in the end of the stalk works.

I asked my wife what she did to make the washer worked. She said that
she pushed and pulled everything until it worked and settled on that.

Now, is my unit defective, or is this a Subaru blunder?

I know, I know....read the manual. But why should I when the writing on
the stalk says, pull to mist?

Al

Because you don't understand what "mist" means."Mist" means it is misty
outside, so you don't need the wipers on- you just need to trigger them to
sweep once manually to get the mist off. What you want to do is "wash". Now,
to make the car turn left, you turn the top of the steering wheel to the
left.

 

[Al]

Because you don't understand what "mist" means."Mist" means it is misty
outside, so you don't need the wipers on- you just need to trigger them to
sweep once manually to get the mist off. What you want to do is "wash". Now,
to make the car turn left, you turn the top of the steering wheel to the
left.

Hmmm, now I do feel stupid. But....if the window is misty now, it will
be misty again, so why not just put it on intermittent?

Al

PS: And wasn't "Misty" a Clint Eastwood movie ? ;-)

 

[Alan]

Hmmm, now I do feel stupid. But....if the window is misty now, it will
be misty again, so why not just put it on intermittent?

Al

Ah, yes- that's because the intermittent speeds were set by someone who has
never driven a car in mist. The slowest speed is not slow enough. The MCE
(Mist Control Engineering) division at Subaru apparently doesn't talk to the
VWS (Variable Wiper Speed) divsion. My Toyota was like that, too.

PS: And wasn't "Misty" a Clint Eastwood movie ? ;-)

No, it was "Play Misty For Me", ultimately a reference to the song "Misty",
written by Erroll Garner, and performed by Johnny Mathis and countless
others. I like the Ray Stevens version. Can't even make a joke around here
without getting corrected, eh?

 

[Al]

Ah, yes- that's because the intermittent speeds were set by someone who has
never driven a car in mist. The slowest speed is not slow enough. The MCE
(Mist Control Engineering) division at Subaru apparently doesn't talk to the
VWS (Variable Wiper Speed) divsion. My Toyota was like that, too.


No, it was "Play Misty For Me", ultimately a reference to the song "Misty",
written by Erroll Garner, and performed by Johnny Mathis and countless
others. I like the Ray Stevens version. Can't even make a joke around here
without getting corrected, eh?

Grrrr......

;-)

Al