Mercedes-Benz C-Class windscreen washer top-up

Keeping the Mercedes-Benz C-Class’s windscreen washer system topped up is easy, once you know where to locate the bottle. Here is our step-by-step guide on this easy DIY chore.

Stuart Johnston

15 Jun 2020 · 16:17Car Ownership

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The current generation of Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class has been with us since 2014. As the South African Mercedes plant in East London is one of the foremost suppliers of C-Class cars world-wide, local Merc fans were fortunate enough to get the new C-Class soon after it made its global debut, and it went on sale here in March 2014.

The C–Class remains one of Mercedes-Benz’s top sellers, despite the world-wide swing to SUVs in the luxury segment. Indeed, the C-Class enjoys an excellent market share in the premium-entry -sedan market, and it also retains a good re-sale value. The current C-Class, which carries the factory type code W205, is now some six years into its life-span. The W206 (the fifth C-Class generation) is due for launch in 20201.

Meanwhile, the C-Class remains a good buy. AutoTrader currently has over 1 400 New and Used Mercedes-Benz C-Class models listed for sale. Bear in mind that these range from the latest W05 series examples to the first-gen C-Class (W202) renditions which date back to 1994 in South Africa.

Topping up the windscreen washer bottle

Topping up the windscreen washer bottle on a W05 series Mercedes-Benz C-Class is one of the few DIY jobs you can do at home without impinging on the car’s maintenance plan agreement. Currently, the new C-Class comes with a 5-year/100 000 km maintenance plan. However, like adding air to your car’s tyres or fuel to the tank, the screen washer bottle requires no tools for replenishment. So warranty clauses are not an issue.

However, it is always worthwhile when adding any sort of fluid to a car’s operating system to check that you are adding the correct liquid to the correct container! With that in mind, we offer a handy step-by-step fluid-washer top-up guide.

Step-by-step screen washer bottle top-up

1. Open the bonnet via the lever in the foot well of the C-Class and identify the screen washer fluid container. When viewed from the front of the car, this will be on the far right-hand-side of the engine bay, located quite close the windscreen and firewall structure.

2. The windscreen washer bottle itself is not visible, but its cap is. This is a bright blue cap, and has the icon of a windscreen with water droplets embossed on the lid.

3. The cap can be simply flipped open by your index finger, using the tab that is part of the cap structure.

4. Fold the cap backwards. The cap is held in place by a retaining ring that prevents it from getting lost.

5. Fill up a 500 ml drinking bottle with tap water. Special screen washing fluids are available from spares outlets, but clean tap water works just about as well, and it is almost free!