Pathetic Washers

[Stevearcade]

Alright guys,

The driver side washer puts out a pitiful stream of water and the rear window washer dribbles every time I put my foot down (like a weak bladdered excitable old man :lol: ). I wanna look into sorting this as it just bugs me and I'm hoping I can do it myself for dirt cheap.

Firstly the weak stream of water on the driver's side:

There's gunk on my washer bottle dip stick (previous owner not using washer bottle fluid <_< ) leading me to believe there's gunk stuck in the system somewhere affecting flow. Only thing is I'm not sure where the common culprit will likely be.

Secondly the dribble from the back windown:

I imagine a valve somewhere is giving up, but again, is there likely to be a typical culprit?

I know nothing about car screen wash systems, but have this. Don't really know where to start, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated as always.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[H Peasource]

First thing to say is that, apart from the screenwash reservoir, the front and rear systems are separate.

If your passenger side washer works OK then the blockage can only be somewhere between the point at which the pipes for the two front washers separate and the driver's side washer jet. The blockage is most likely to be where the passages are smallest, i.e. the jet itself and the t-piece where the pipes from both washer jets are joined to the feed from the pump. How succesful you're going to be depends on the amount of effort you put into it. If it were me I'd start by disconnecting the pipework from both jets, and blowing them through with compressed air to make sure they're clear. Then I'd fill the reservoir with a hot detergent solution and run this through the pump and pipework without re-connecting the jets. I'd do that as many times as needed until the water coming out of the pipes was clear and then run plain water through the system and finally re-connect the jets and fill the reservoir with screenwash.

For the back one have a very good look at the jet. I had exactly this problem and it turned out that the little ball had fallen out of the plastic housing - new jet time.

Alan

 

[Stevearcade]

Cheers Alan. I had a look after posting this. The pipework's annoyingly concealed and awkward to get to, definitely not a quick job to get at the T-Piece and jet itself. I could get a hand and reckon I could undo it, but not get enough working space to put it back together. So the trimming would need to come off. There goes me thinking it will be an easy fix. But by no means impossible.

Regards the back window, I guess I'll buy a new nozzle piece (I think they're about £30) and replace the unit. Although come to think of it, I might keep my eyes on breakers yards as my spoiler has been vandalised (cigarette burn). So maybe just replace the whole spoiler including the nozzle.

Thanks man.

 

[H Peasource]

As I said it really is down to how much effort you're willing to put into it!

Changing the rear washer jet is dead easy and took me about 5 minutes - it was just a matter of carefully prising the old one out and pressing the new one in. Do make sure that the missing ball is the cause though. A new washer jet cost me about a tenner from the dealers.

Alan