Driving home from work last night with the windows down I hit the washer spray and was smacked with that awful smell of rotten eggs, slightly burnt rotten eggs to be exact. A mile down the road I hit the spray again to confirm. I have never in my lifetime of vehicles had this smell.

When I got home I reluctantly smelled the reservoir. It stunk bad.

The last fluid I used was the orange rainx with an additional rainx booster additive. I have always used store bought fluid whether the cheapy blue or walmart deicer.

What the hell is happening in my washer fluid tank?

Hydrogen sulfide somehow …

You ever driven by a water purification plant? When the chemistry is off, it stinks just like you describe - it smells like a bad fart.

I would just operate it until it's drained then put fresh windshield washer fluid.

Drain from the bottom. Fill with vinegar and hot water. Let it sit and then run it through.

I've used that washer fluid for years and never experienced that. Although, I've never added their booster to it.

Dump it out or run it out, flush with a little water, run that out, and put in some RainX without booster.

quote:

Drain from the bottom.

If accessible without taking bodywork - sometimes fairly extensive, with lots of little screws and push pins - apart. Typically you can just pull the line off the bottom of the pump and the fluid will drain by gravity. That's if you don't break the pump or line.

Or siphon it out.

But me, I would just use it until empty and refill with fresh fluid, sans whatever that booster is.

Where I use to work, we got it by the barrel on occasion. We got a bad barrel once and it did stink. I drained it out the bottom and replaced it with some from a plastic bottle.

Somebody poured this into your reservoir:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71XtZusxRBL.jpg

Smells just like rotten eggs!

I would not want anything containing sulfur (if that is what the compound truly is) touching my car paint.

Keep in mind that the odor can be sensed if the substance (mercaptan) is in the parts per billion range in the fluid.

Looking at the rain-x site, conveniently there are no safety data sheets for the main product. The SDS for the additive shows only water, isopropanol, and ethanol. So, no source of sulfur there.

How does your battery look?

Battery sulfuric acid! Great thought! If a vented battery, and near the reservoir...

quote:

Originally posted by SR025:
How does your battery look?

The 3 yr old battery looks fine. Its clearly in the washer fluid. No smell under the hood unless open the fluid reservoir

I've had this happen probably yearly in Florida. My guess is that the alcohol content in the washer fluid is low, which allows the water to turn swampy.

I just run the washer fluid out of the tank for a few minutes until its empty, and then refill it with from a new bottle.