new-ish MINI owner here (250 miles on our '06 DS/W MCSa) and i've washed the car a few times and keep having to "clean up" the drips around the front washer jets and the base of the rear wiper...

i'm starting to believe the threads that say there is some stronger than normal WW fluid from the factory...

to flush out the fluid, can i just stick a hose in the reservoir and overfill until it is all water?

do i risk anything flushing this fluid out into the engine compartment, with some possibly splashing onto the body panels?

question even sounds silly to me when i read it back... but i have to ask anyway?

thanks!!

sbp

 

yup that's Cosmoline left over from the shipping process, best you can do is to just stay on top of what comes out, and if it starts staining the clear coat take it to the dealer and complain.

The irony here is that the Cosmoline helps protect our cars from ocean salt, but the VDC power wash sometimes doesn't get it all out of the washer jets, wipers, under the chrome strips, etc., so it ends up being a nuisance. 05's really had problems with this because of the redesigned rear window washer. At 13,000 miles I still get the cosmodrip just above my MINI badge in the rear. Bug and Tar remover (very lightly) can help too.

So while harmless in general, it's still an annoyance and can stain if one is not vigilant.

You can flush the fluids but it may not get it all out, and would be a waste. Good luck Jimbo

 

This is what I did. I used a small hose and siphoned the nasty stuff out. (Use a siphon bulb to get the flow started or other non human powered suction device)
Replaced with regular water and then cleared the lines by running the pumps for aprox 2 mins. Repeated the procedure 3 times then rinsed everything off and waxed, last refill was with normal blue washer fluid.

No issues since. BTW the original stuff had a very strong vapor that I couldnt quite figure out. If thats what Cosmoline smells like, Yuck....