I was looking at the window sticker from my car today and it said:

Heated Mirrors and Washer Jets.........Included

I went searching thru the Owners Manual PDF File and can find nothing on either heating or washer jets. I suppose it would have to be freezing to see if the heating functioned automatically but washer jets should have a button somewhere that squirts water - Yes?

Anybody out there got a clue as to what is meant by this and/or how to work it?

 

Appears you're tying to make it more complicated than it is.

It's exactly what it says it is. Your side view mirrors and the lines that run to your windshield washer jets are electrically heated to keep them from freezing.

And you do know how to operate the w/s washers, right ?

 

If your headlights are on, the washers should spray. Very annoying if you're not expecting it. The mirrors are likely heated year round, something you can test on cooler days. At least that's how my older BMW's were.

 

We have, and have had, the same on our vehicles with cold weather package. There is no on/off switch that I am aware of.

If it works the same as on our previous vehicles, there's a little heating element that keeps either the windshield washer fluid tank warm or, more likely, the little spray jets warm the fluid. Concept is that the fluid will be warmed or warm enough to flow and spray during cold weather. Design problem we've found in our Mercedes was that, if it was really cold out (like minus 20s), the feeder tube between the tank and the spray jet nozzle was thin and not heated, so the fluid froze and plugged up (see note below).

Had this happen to us on a maiden trip as we traveled from Salmon ID through Jackpot NV and Idaho Falls ID in minus 20s weather. Became a visibility hazard and we had to pull over to clear the windshield of smeared road grunge. It finally warmed up enough once we got to Reno NV to melt the fluid in the line and all was well again.

Note: We're pretty sure this happened because Mercedes put warmer rated washer fluid in the car...work was done in GA. Haven't had this problem ever since because we normally use fluid rated to a minimum of -20 degrees (rather than the standard zero to +15 degree fluid) in our cars and the little heating elements keep the snow and ice from accumulating on the mirrors and allows the fluid to flow.

 

I'm thinking you read that as washer jets for the mirrors? Not for the mirrors, heated regular windshield washers in addition to the heat mirrors.

 

That's exactly what I thought. It sounded like there should be washer jets for the mirrors. Sometimes no mater how smart you think you are - you do something really stupid!

Guilty!