A Guide to Installing a HotShot Hot Water Windshield Washer on Your Car, Truck, or SUV

Are you tired of having to scrape your windshield free of ice and snow? Are you tired of having to use deicer aerosols that can damage your cars finish? Are you tired of having to wait for your car's engine to warm up so the defroster starts to work and frees up the frozen in place wiper blades? Are you tired of a windshield washer that does not work because the nozzles are blocked with ice? Then you need to install a HotShot windshield washer system. The Microheat's HotShot MH-34 SA will take, depending on your mechanical ability, approximately 30 minutes to install on almost any motor vehicle. The HotShot is available from Sigma Automotive for $165 and comes with everything needed to install it.

The HotShot comes with everything you will need to install it except for a few simple tools that you probably already have on hand. You will need a flathead screwdriver, a 10-millimeter nut driver, a pair of wire strippers/crimpers, a drill with a Philips head bit or a Philips head screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a pair of side cutters, and a flashlight or work light. In addition, while you are waiting for your HotShot installation kit to arrive you may want to download the installation manual as a Pdf MH-34 SA here. If you run into a problem during the installation, you can go to the online help site or call 1-248-488-1000 between the hours of 9AM and 8PM, Monday-Friday, Eastern Time and between 10AM and 4PM on Saturdays.

Before you start the actual installation, you need to take an inventory of what came with the MH-34 SA to make sure everything is present and accounted for. Actually, it is a good idea to do this with any kit you receive before starting assembly work. Along with the actual MH-34 SA, which is the size of a cordless telephone, you should have received in the box a control switch assembly, a wiring harness, a mounting bracket, a red power cable with an inline 60-amp fuse, a black grounding cable, a length of rubber tubing approximately 40 inches long, 8 cable ties, 7 self-tapping screws, an external water filter, a 2-pin connector housing for the switch assembly, 2 battery nuts, 2 lock washers, a one-way check valve, 2 clamps, some alcohol pads, some self-adhesive Velcro, and a complete installation manual.

The installation manual that you have downloaded as well as the one that comes with the kit gives systematic directions for installing the MH-34 SA so I will not duplicate them here. The manual also covers troubleshooting in detail, so I will not go into troubleshooting the MH-34 SA here either. Nevertheless, there are a few things that I do want to cover here because the manual mentions them but does not explain the reasons in enough detail.

First, you need to prime the system before operating the MH-34 SA. You prime the system by operating your windshield washer as you normally would. Priming the system is very important because if you energize the HotShot while its reservoir is empty it is possible to burn out the heating element.

Second, under no circumstance operate the HotShot without the 60 Amp fuse in the circuit. A short to ground in the MH-34 SA would be as if a dead short across the battery allowing the full current of the battery to flow through the wire and that could easily lead to an engine compartment fire.

Third, never operate the HotShot unless the engine is running, the high current that the hotShot requires to operate can easily leave you with a dead battery.

Fourth, although the MH-34 SA does not heat the water to a high enough temperature to burn the skin, do not get your face close to the operating system because windshield washer fluid can damage tour eyes.

The manual also covers how to use the system both in its fully automatic mode as well as in its standby mode so I will not cover that here either.

Happy motoring.