I think you got a bum deal on your W/W antifreeze. Most of that stuff is unfreezable to about -45 celcius. Sorry I'm Canadian and don't know the farenheit. haha.

I'm a Canuck living in the States!! What is the chance you purchased "summer" windshield fluid? I know its still on the shelves in some stores. 5F is -15C and most winter windshield fluid usually goes a lot colder than that.
Another problem may be that you just topped off u reservoir with the winter fluid, which already had summer stuff in it, thus diluting it!! I just keep winter stuff in mine all year round.

My Mercedes has a windshield washer fluid heater so at least I don't have to worry about that. I have never seen any W/W fluid that could resist freezing down below 0 F anywhere.

Guess you have never lived in Northern canada,lol, 0F is only -17C, thats t shirt weather (sleeves optional) lol

Thanks everyone,
I'm pretty sure it was the winter stuff. I'm always careful to buy the winter stuff in late fall. Maybe someone at the factory was asleep on the job and mislabeled the stuff? Can you ever buy some sort of fluid warmer and could easily be connected to the car's electrical system? How about those coffee/mug warmers that you plug into the cigarette lighter? haha
I suppose I could sort of scoop out as much as I could reach and put new stuff in there, bought from a different store?
You don't realize how important windshield wiper fluid is until you need it and don't have it!

You do not have "winter stuff." the stuff you have is probably green. summer.You could probably top it off with
Isopropyl alcohol or methel hydrate. That will thaw out the
water in your reservoir, in time.

Thanks kalining,
No, its the winter stuff. Must be bad. I'll add some isopropyl. Thanks!

I have had this happen once too. In my case it was summer grade washer fluid that I had kept in my trunk. The brand name was "All Weather" so I figured that meant all weather. Looking closer at the frozen solid bottle it showed it was only good down to 10 deg F. Went and bought the same brand again, but winter grade, rated for down to -20 deg F. I was glad I had not used any of the other stuff in the resevoir or it would probably have froze and split open. So now as a habit I always check the temp rating before buying.

Thanks John.

Hey, you guys, you betcha by golly, it was -26F this morning in lovely Minot, ND and I accidently hit my washers when I was driving to work and it worked as always. My father had the same problem, he used a brand from Walmart in Albuquerque NM, exactly the same stuff we use up here because he had the bottle with him (he carries all that type of stuff with him...oil, power steering fluid, etc) but he came up here in November last year, hit some sub-zero stuff here and his tank froze solid, but our still worked.
Don't know what to say,maybe they have a different formula for the stuff that comes north.
Howdy Canadian neighbors.

All that you need to do is go purchase a small, cheap aquarium heater from your grocery store & drop it into the tank. Let it sit in there for a little bit & presto. Your tank & LINES are now thawed. Process typically takes about 15 minutes.

i work in a convenience store and the outside fluid reservoirs always freeze up or at best are slushy. we add isopropyl alcohol but are never sure just how much to put in. the tanks hold a full bottle of wwfluid (yes, we use the good stuff during the winter that is supposed to be good to -45).anybody got any suggestions on how much of the alcohol to use? thanks for your help!