Suburban wiper fluid wont work

[02suburbanZ71]

As many of you know my wiper fluid froze. Well my front has been working since its been 50-60 out for 4 consecutive days. The front will squirt juice until it runs out then foam comes out, i think its because there is still some frozen ice in the tank. Now when i hit the button for the rear nothing will come out at all... Keep in mind the front works, when i hit the button it makes a loud whine noise from the front driver side but nothing. Im assuming the lines to the rear wiper are frozen solid but how can this be if the front works. Do the 2 lines share the same pump. Any help would be appreciated.

[newdude]

Two pumps one for the front one for the rear. Pretty crazy that they are still frozen though...Any breaks in any of the lines at all? I think the rear line runs down the drivers side of the frame rail.

[02suburbanZ71]

Two pumps one for the front one for the rear. Pretty crazy that they are still frozen though...Any breaks in any of the lines at all? I think the rear line runs down the drivers side of the frame rail.

I'll check the fuses. How do i trace this line. Does it go under the truck or over the headliner. Also where is the rear pump

[newdude]

I'll check the fuses. How do i trace this line. Does it go under the truck or over the headliner. Also where is the rear pump

 

Pumps are right next to each other front of the tank (read behind headlight down low towards bottom of tank area). The lines run next to each other in the fender or on the inside of the driver fender and then one goes to the cowl for front and the other goes down and runs along the frame to the rear under the cab.

[02suburbanZ71]

 

Pumps are right next to each other front of the tank (read behind headlight down low towards bottom of tank area). The lines run next to each other in the fender or on the inside of the driver fender and then one goes to the cowl for front and the other goes down and runs along the frame to the rear under the cab.

Thank you! I'll go check out the rear lines

[02suburbanZ71]

No leaks but the rear motor is working because it sounds very loud like its trying to work.

[Jsdirt]

You could try dumping some isopropyl alcohol in there to try and thaw it out. Probably wouldn't be good to leave that in there at a high concentration - will eat the impellers up, I would think. Get it thawed, run it all out of there, then refill with some winter washer fluid. Might take a while if the lines are still frozen though ...

[02suburbanZ71]

You could try dumping some isopropyl alcohol in there to try and thaw it out. Probably wouldn't be good to leave that in there at a high concentration - will eat the impellers up, I would think. Get it thawed, run it all out of there, then refill with some winter washer fluid. Might take a while if the lines are still frozen though ...

I'll try that but the lines are still frozen which is absolutely unbelievable

[Jsdirt]

Yeah they're probably insulated under the carpet from the warm front, sitting up against hundreds of pounds of cold steel - would take a few days of warm weather to get to them. Once that stuff freezes it seems to take forever to thaw.

 

I remember back in the day, we never had "winter" or "summer" washer fluid - was the same blue stuff for .69 cents a gallon. Never had it freeze on the windshield either. Life was so much simpler then ....

[02suburbanZ71]

Still frozen and it was 60 today. Off topic but i have a vette servo and increased line pressure and ever since i've had the servo it shifts so hard. But i hear a metal or loud clunk coming from the rear of the vehicle not very noticeable in the front unless the window is down but in the rear it is very obvious could the harshness of my shift be killing the rear ujoint? It sounds really bad doing it around town in between houses going into 2nd

[Jsdirt]

In that case it might not be frozen. It could be plugged with crap, or kinked, or ??? . Could remove the line and LIGHTLY blow compressed air through it, and see if it squirts out the nozzles.

 

Keep this scenario in mind as well: I had a '00 Jimmy that had no rear washer spray. Pump worked perfectly - could hear it running. Washer fluid was clean and not frozen. After running it for a bit checking for leaks, I noticed the fluid level was dropping in the tank ... but not a single drip anywhere! WTF?? So I yank up the rear cargo area carpet and find 3 gallons of washer fluid from the hard plastic line that just slipped out of a rubber connection. Fixed that, and 3 weeks later, the plastic line slipped out of a rubber connector in the lift gate!

 

Boy am I glad that POS is no more. I had the distinct pleasure yesterday of firing 20 rounds at what's left of it, out of a brandy new Glock 21 Gen 4 my buddy just picked up. Man that felt good!

[02suburbanZ71]

In that case it might not be frozen. It could be plugged with crap, or kinked, or ??? . Could remove the line and LIGHTLY blow compressed air through it, and see if it squirts out the nozzles.

 

Keep this scenario in mind as well: I had a '00 Jimmy that had no rear washer spray. Pump worked perfectly - could hear it running. Washer fluid was clean and not frozen. After running it for a bit checking for leaks, I noticed the fluid level was dropping in the tank ... but not a single drip anywhere! WTF?? So I yank up the rear cargo area carpet and find 3 gallons of washer fluid from the hard plastic line that just slipped out of a rubber connection. Fixed that, and 3 weeks later, the plastic line slipped out of a rubber connector in the lift gate!

 

Boy am I glad that POS is no more. I had the distinct pleasure yesterday of firing 20 rounds at what's left of it, out of a brandy new Glock 21 Gen 4 my buddy just picked up. Man that felt good!

Tomorrow i'll fiddle with it some more. Would it be a bad idea to fill the tank with hot water? Maybe that would help melt any frozen lines to the rear

[intheburbs]

You've got a 15-20 foot narrow tube filled with ice. Nothing you do with the reservoir is going to change or displace the water/ice in the tube. You're not going to get any sort of current/flow in a tube that small. Short of hitting the full length of the tube with a heat gun, you're going to have to let nature take its course. If it's garaged, park it outside in the sun.

[Jsdirt]

After a couple days above 50° that line should be completely thawed by now, especially if the tank is 100% thawed. I think something else is going on here IMO ...

[servantsalesmen]

It's not frozen. There's no way. Even a few hours at 60 will thaw that small of a line. you have a break in the line somewhere and as stated above, it is likely at a junction. My suburban did this right below the trunk once. I popped it back together and 80,000 miles later, it works like new.