D&S 5000 not cleaning on one presoak!!

[dogwasher]

I have newer DS 5000 units and I was hoping to hear from other owners on how there DS unit cleans the cars on the single pass, one presoak wash.
Without getting into details yet I can tell you everything is set up as good as it can get IE: soap quality, titrate, pressures, ect..
The cars were cleaning decent with the winter salt but now the summer road grime is hear and the cars are not acceptable at all.
Also does anyone else have trouble with soap streaking down from the mirrors when the dryers blow down the cars. This leaves a streak that is hard to remove.
Any input from other DS owners would be great.

Thanks

 

[soapy]

Try increasing your dwell time first and see if that helps. Make sure the water temp is still hot enough. Many companies offer different presoaks for different areas and times of the year. You may need to try some different soaps. IN the winter you might have been cleaning magnesium chloride and now that it has warmed up you need to target more oily substances like road film. See if your chemical supplier has different options. Conditions change through the year and so does what you are trying to get off of the cars. I think everyone gets mirror drip off from cars. Even large tunnel washes fight this. Good tunnels use a air blow gun to get the water out from the mirrors and do it by hand.

 

[Baywash]

Ditto on what soapy says. I use two stage presoak/wash and I switch the two at different times of year. When I get my first complaint, I know it is time to look at tweaking the soap. I have a Regular 5000 and a super 5000 and they both clean very well if the proper soap is applyed. When they soap is wrong, no touchless automatic will clean. Also check water softness, temperature, and pressure. Dwell time is important as well. Cheers

 

[dogwasher]

On the Dwell time theres not much I can do on the single pass.
Do you have any tips on that?
What kind of soap are you using?

Thanks

 

[dogwasher]

Ditto on what soapy says. I use two stage presoak/wash and I switch the two at different times of year. When I get my first complaint, I know it is time to look at tweaking the soap. I have a Regular 5000 and a super 5000 and they both clean very well if the proper soap is applyed. When they soap is wrong, no touchless automatic will clean. Also check water softness, temperature, and pressure. Dwell time is important as well. Cheers

What do you mean by 2 stage presoak, Are you talking about the high and low PH pre soak? That wash is ok and it cost the costomer more money Im talking about the single pass presoak. The DS first rolls to the front of the car and then back to the rear of the car and them does the power blast(rinse). Not much time for pre soak on that selection.

 

[MEP001]

On the D&S 5000 there is a single dwell setting for all wash levels. After you enter the code and select Custom wash, right-arrow once to Next Screen and press +. Press right-arrow until you see Dwell times, make sure Short and Medium are off, Long is on. Right-arrow until you see Return to Main and press +.

Depending on the age of your machine, it will either save the custom wash setup, or each time it's powered down it defaults to the presets and the last custom setup is lost, even going to the setup menu clears all your previous settings.

 

[Baywash]

I use Warsaw soap. I forgot you were asking about single pass (cheap wash). If a customer complains about quality, the first thing I ask them is which wash level did they selected. If they say the Lowest wash, I say that wash is basically designed for dusty cars. If the car was dirty, they should have gotten the top wash in which we guarantee and they would be elegiable for rewash. I do not have much sympathy for complainers who are cheap. Some cars just will not get clean with single pass.

 

[Greg Pack]

You are using high ph for your single pass, right?

 

[dogwasher]

I use Warsaw soap. I forgot you were asking about single pass (cheap wash). If a customer complains about quality, the first thing I ask them is which wash level did they selected. If they say the Lowest wash, I say that wash is basically designed for dusty cars. If the car was dirty, they should have gotten the top wash in which we guarantee and they would be elegiable for rewash. I do not have much sympathy for complainers who are cheap. Some cars just will not get clean with single pass.

I understand what your saying but the problem is the returning customers used to get there cars clean with the old automatics ($5 wash) (had a longer dwell time). And now there entering my new DS 5000 one presoak high PH ($6 wash) and there cars are not as clean as they should be. I hope they come back. Its hard to change there ways so I have to be careful. They should at least have there cars presentable for the $6 dollar wash. I havn't seen any cars come in with a little dust. Anyway here is a update I just changed the panels from the standard dwell to the long dwell, the book said it adds two seconds. not sure what will happen. sound like two more seconds the ganty will be sitting at the base unloading wasted soap all over the floor

 

[dogwasher]

You are using high ph for your single pass, right?

Yes High PH

 

[pitzerwm]

You might consider dropping the cheap wash, charge more and only offer the better wash. The cheap people can go down the street, which they wouyld do anyhow, and be bad mouthing you also.

 

[RykoPro]

We have converted almost all of the two step washes we supply chemicals to a
single High PH solution. Now instead of two chems we just put on the same chem
twice and it works better whether its a Ryko or a Vector! I know of at least one
long time forum member who has tried many chemical suppliers that now uses this
configuration on his two step machines. They just came out with a new product
that is designed to work with hard water.
See below:
It should be used at sites:
1.) that do not have water softeners or have non-functional water softeners
2.)where water softeners cannot continuously deliver soft water due to demand
3.)that use RO water with presoak, and have RO systems that convert to city
water when demand exceeds RO water production.

In addition, if hard water is present, it will also keep the chemical injectors
from clogging due to hard water precipitation (i.e. ?chalking?).

Thanks,
Mark