rx400h low washer warning won't go off

[welland]

I've just refilled the washer bottle on my rx400h, but the low washer warning won't go off.  I've switched the car off and on a few times.  Locking it and unlocking it in between, but it makes no difference.  

Any ideas?  I'm thinking that the float may be stuck in the low position, but it's never done this before.  

I'm going on a long journey tomorrow to France, and don't want to be staring at the red warning triangle for the next few days.  

[welland]

I've just found a thread about a similar problem on an LS.  That was solved by tapping the sensor to unstick the stuck float.  

Is the sensor easy to find on the RX400h?

[welland]

Problem has gone away now.  

On the morning after my original post - the day of my departure- it was pouring with rain as I was preparing to leave.  But I still had a quick look under the car to see if I could see the level sensor or the bottle.  No chance.  And with the rain and Very limited time, i was almost resigned to suffering the problem during my 2k miles round trip to France.  

As a last resort, i tried 2 things:

1) banging the top of the washer bottle with the handle of a screwdriver to see if that might dislodge a stuck float.  It made no difference.  

2) tried adding more washer fluid.  When I first filled the bottle the day before, the bottle had a low fluid level, but was not empty.  I added over 4 litres and stopped when the bubbles were overflowing out of the filler neck.  When I tried again,  i was surprised that it took a further litre to bring the fluid level up to the neck of the bottle!  Now the low fluid warning has gone away.

So, it looks like the low level warning only resets when the bottle is truly full.  Does anybody else experience this?

[The-Acre]

1 hour ago, welland said:

Problem has gone away now.  

On the morning after my original post - the day of my departure- it was pouring with rain as I was preparing to leave.  But I still had a quick look under the car to see if I could see the level sensor or the bottle.  No chance.  And with the rain and Very limited time, i was almost resigned to suffering the problem during my 2k miles round trip to France.  

As a last resort, i tried 2 things:

1) banging the top of the washer bottle with the handle of a screwdriver to see if that might dislodge a stuck float.  It made no difference.  

2) tried adding more washer fluid.  When I first filled the bottle the day before, the bottle had a low fluid level, but was not empty.  I added over 4 litres and stopped when the bubbles were overflowing out of the filler neck.  When I tried again,  i was surprised that it took a further litre to bring the fluid level up to the neck of the bottle!  Now the low fluid warning has gone away.

So, it looks like the low level warning only resets when the bottle is truly full.  Does anybody else experience this?

Not familiar with that problem but it does sound like something became unstuck.  Glad it's sorted anyway.

[Herbie]

3 hours ago, welland said:

So, it looks like the low level warning only resets when the bottle is truly full.

That can't be right or once a litre had been used it would be coming on again.

[Barry14UK]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

That can't be right or once a litre had been used it would be coming on again.

Let's hope it doesn't!

[Passerby]

I would have added warm water (not boiling😂) to encourage some movement

[Texas]

Fingers crossed that nothing's actually broken, just a bit siezed up.

I think it may be a good idea to run the tank down low a few times and then ( as above) use hot ( not boiling!) water to fill so perhaps cleaning any moving parts that ain't (moving)

Also Don't be tempted to use say Fairy Liquid or any other type of 'kitchen' soap as it tends to congeal and clog up the built in filter that protects the pump/jet outlets.

 

[welland]

On 12/22/2019 at 11:33 PM, Herbie said:

That can't be right or once a litre had been used it would be coming on again.

Not necessarily, there could be some hysteresis programmed in to the warning light.  But, I  agree that it seems unlikely.  

Next time my light comes on, I'll try adding fluid in small doses and see what happens.  That could be a while, though, as the bottle is so huge!

If anyone else has opportunity to test this before me, I'd like to know how you get on.