How to top up a Kia Picanto windscreen washer bottle
Kia’s Picanto is a much-loved small car that offers style and nippy performance. To top up the windscreen washer bottle, make sure you locate the correct container, situated at the front left-hand corner of the engine compartment. It is marked by a blue plastic cap.
Kia’s Picanto is one of the funkiest city cars you can buy for under R200 000, although if you opt for the top spec 1.2 models you’ll be looking at close to R230 000!
When Kia launched the latest Picanto version in the second half of 2017, it claimed this was the safest, strongest Picanto ever, with high-strength steel accounting for some 22 % of the body shell’s construction.
But for the safest version you need to opt for one of the more-expensive models that come with both ABS braking and two airbags. The entry-level 1.0 Start models don’t have ABS and only have one airbag.
The little car comes with a 1,0-litre 49 kW three-cylinder engine in the entry-level models, and with a 1,2-litre four-cylinder motor (developing 61 kW) in the more expensive models. Gearboxes are either 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic.
Topping up the windscreen washer bottle
One of the routine maintenance chores you can do for your little Picanto is to top up the windscreen washer bottle. You can do this without fear of invalidating the warranty, but just make sure you add the water to the correct fluid portal!
The correct location to add water to the windscreen washer bottle is located at the bottom left corner of the engine bay (viewed when facing the nose of the car). The bottle itself is not readily visible, just the cap and part of the bottle neck. The windscreen washer container is marked with a bright blue cap, with a water motif embossed on the plastic cap.
You can use ordinary tap water to top it up.
You can use ordinary water to top it up, although some owners and service centres prefer adding an alcohol solution to the water that makes the removal of bugs and other debris from the windscreen easier. But in our book, water works just fine!
You can top up the bottle to near the lid without any fear of over-filling it, as the washer system is not connected to any vital mechanical component of the car. The washer operates a spray of water onto the windscreen when you push a button on the wiper stalk.
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