[BiturboS4] RE: Ammonia smell safety feature

[dano]

At 3:30 PM -0500 on 11/6/02, <adamschwartz at rcn.com> wrote:
>  > On Nov 5, 2002 dano wrote:
>>  > Not to be argumentative, but when I took Organic Chemistry there was
>>  > a profound difference between the smell of alcohols and the smell of
>>  > ammonia.
>>
>>  My recollection is that the washer fluid that came brand-new in my car
>>  had an alcohol smell.  That was 3 years ago now, though, so it's
>>  possible I'm misremembering.
>>
>>  --Ian
>
>Ian,
>Mine was like that too. But I got my car used from a Honda dealer.
>Maybe its just the good stuff, and we are all used to the cheap
>stuff.. if you know what I mean.
>
>You arent misremembering....

Obviously the ammonia is a necessary part of the solution - double
entendre intended. It's also a fairly strong smell even in small
concentrations. When we can't smell it then I suspect the
concentration is quite low (though I've never actually measured it);
so it's probably not as effective as it could be.
I think the cheap stuff is mostly colored water anyway...