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windshield washer fluid light won't turn off

reb0957

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When it went off it was low. Now that is full it won;t turn off. I never noticed before but is there a float I should see that is just hung up or something that needs to go to the dealer?
 

Rlaf75

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Dont know why the light wont go out but there's a sensor at the bottom of the reservoir. I've heard, via the forums that certain types of washer fluid such as the rain-x type can cause the sensor not to function properly. I dont know how accurate that is because I use it and havent had any problems yet. Or the sensor itself could be bad
 

MidnightExpre$$

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All this truck has ever seen is RainX

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My 2014 had that problem. After the third sensor, the dealer said Ram stated that it was a known problem due to Rain-X. Also that they would no longer cover the repair if I continued to use that product. Now that was 7-8 years ago. I'm sure that they have changed the sensor design since then.
 

MidnightExpre$$

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ah nope? ah nope what?
Nope, the sensor did not change? Or nope, that is not what happened to my truck? Or nope, the dealer didn't tell me that? Or nope, I didn't have the problem again after just using the blue stuff in my truck instead of Rain-X?
 

OldMarine

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you could do what we did in the 70's when any kind of warning light came on.....just put a piece of electrical tape over the warning lamp.:cool:
 

habu987

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Did you check the blinker fluid reservoir? It's a known defect that the status of the blinker fluid reservoir can trigger the washer fluid light.
 

reb0957

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Y'all got jokes! It is kind of aggravating when a $55k+ truck has the most trivial things breaking under 50k miles.

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blind prophet

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i run rain x in mine without issue, but the wifes durango cannot use it. anything other than plain blue will cause her washer fluid light to be on.
 

hellmans

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ah nope sensor didnt change and rain x over time causes failures
 

Jimmy07

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All this truck has ever seen is RainX

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Regardless of anybody else’s success stories with rain x, that is most likely the issue. Pull the sensor out from the bottom of the reservoir next time you go empty, and clean the film buildup off of the sensor with warm dish soap water, and reinstall. If you like the rain x, I wouldn’t stop using it, but you might have to do this from time to time.
 

Draconicus Mechanicus

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So, I ran into this issue yesterday/today. I usually just grab whatever washer fluid and throw in some of the Rain-X concentrate with it. Yesterday I put in a bottle of the Rain-X All season stuff, and had this issue with the light staying on. I syphoned a bit of the fluid out and put in some water and the light went out. Besides the sensor getting filmed up, any other known problems with Rain-X I should look out for? I'm probably just going to switch over to something else and just apply a hydrophobic coating to the glass with my regular interior and side window cleanings.
 

Aseras

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Use Aquapel. It's semi-permanent. Do it once a year or so. RainX kinda sucks for streaking and haziness. Aquapel just needs you to really really clean the glass good and then apply it when it's cool, not mid day hot. After that it'll beat rainx and lasts practically forever. I don't even need wipers 99% of the time.
 

sogviamask

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Kinda funny that this is a verified thing. I did put some rain X concentrate fluid additive whatever because I do like how RainX works. But then I ran into this always on issue. I'm a industrial technician so I troubleshot this suspecting that the isulating (dielectric) properties of rainX (potentially, is what I thought, not confirmed) effed with the low level sensor (just another thing to go wrong IMO). So I did what some of you did here, and siphoned it out, put fresh fluid in (cheap bug wash from WalMart) and it cleared. I did what most of us techs do, and puffed my chest out to myself and said "yes". Not like it was some sort of tremendous fix though.

So I've stayed away from the rainX because of that.

I just put more fresh bug juice in, and now have it again.

So I looked up WTF may be going on on the Google machine here, and found out I wasn't alone.

This time, because you can fill it with a whole bottle and some room to spare, because of alloting for thermal expansion of the liquid during hot engine compartment, I put some typical 91% iso alchohol into it, and a single grain of kosher salt to give it some conductivity. Somebody mentioned that this was a capacitive sensor somewhere? I don't believe so, because it has two electrodes (fork looking), which I would think is looking for conductivity of the liquid, so my explanation here is an attempt to improve the conductivity.

But as some of you say it "coats" the electrodes, I just may have to pull the sensor, clean it, and reinstall.

I think the moral of the story here for us is to use a spray on version of Rain X from time to time and then ditch the additive.
 

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