Following on from Steve’s article on “Storing your Aston Martin” I have just been preparing Aston2209 (my DB9) for the winter and as we enter this period those of us who live in parts of the World where the temperature will surely drop below freezing its time to check all our Aston fluids are fit for purpose.

This article concerns the windscreen (windshield) washing system something that is often forgotten until we try to use it and find its frozen solid. What needs to be done, if like Aston 2209 you have a Summer formula wash installed, is that this has to be removed and a low temperature wash water installed.

[Editors Note:  I’d like to thank Mike Potts (@aston2209) for contributing his time and knowledge in writing this article – Thanks Mike!]

There is nothing that I have found in my manual (987 pages) that talks about draining the system and nothing that I can find about even removing the reservoir or pump. I’m not saying there is nothing to be found anywhere, just that there is nothing in my manual. Of course, you could simply run the washers until the reservoir is empty but considering that the capacity is 6.9 liters (USA 7.3 quarts) that could possibly damage/burnout the pump motor.

What we do know from previous articles and videos posted on Aston 1936 is that the reservoir is located behind the inner wheel arch liner on the RHS irrespective of whether you drive a LHD or a RHD DB9, at least on the earlier year models. Steve has done videos showing removal and replacement of this arch liner and for sure if you follow these you will get access to the reservoir. I however decided that I should be able to siphon the fluid out of the reservoir via the filler cap.

On investigation what sounds simple has a few obstacles; firstly as soon as you look inside the filler cap there is an almost 90° bend; secondly the flexible hose down to the reservoir is corrugated externally and internally which stops a tube being inserted easily; last of all the hose, low down, is routed around other pipes and some wiring. To siphon the screen wash out you firstly have to remove the plastic filler header. The filler header is held in place by 2 nuts (8mm socket) and once these are removed it is then easy to unscrew the flexible pipe that feeds down to the reservoir.

The flexible pipe is exactly that and it can be easily fed behind other pipes and wiring with the objective of arriving at a straight pipe route down to the reservoir. By getting the hose straight the internal corrugations no longer hinder the path of a siphon hose down into the reservoir.

Now you have a choice you can siphon out the fluid into a suitable container using the tried and tested method of sucking the fluid up the tube and then quickly putting the end into the collection container. ABSOLUTELY NOT RECOMMENDED – Health and Safety disclaimer!!! We suggest the use of a siphon pump as shown here (or similar) and in the accompanying video.

The price as you can see is for nothing but my kit didn’t have any of the fittings and a tube was missing !!! ….. in fairness to the supplier they refunded the money and didn’t want the siphon back, hence the need for me to tape the smaller black tube into the red tube …..you will see in the video. The pump works really well and within 5 mins the reservoir was empty.

[Update – You can find the pump under various names on Amazon, all for about the same price.   In the US it can be had for about $10 with Free Prime shipping – here is the link]

In summary, its relatively easy to siphon off the washer bottle contents once you remove the filler header and straighten out the corrugated tube. Please use a siphon pump rather than your mouth because it doesn’t taste that good and its definitely not good for your health.

A short video accompanies this explanation so you can see what I did, the whole exercise took no more than 30 mins in total so it’s a quick and easy job.

Mike (Aston 2209)