i tell you i could have pulled my hair out (if i had any!)

my screen washer's packed up yesterday even though i could hear the pump working, no water was coming through the jet's? .. i knew the water bottle was full (just filled it on friday) so seen as ive had a problem before with the pump i thought i'd look in to the problem more, today i took off the O/S front wheel, took off the mud flap then removed the plastic inner splash gaurd to get to the bottle and pump i then removed the pump and it's fillter to which all was clean? .. so i then flushed through more water via the filler hole, i then got my wife to pull on the lever to operate the pump and checked it was pumping (which i knew it was .. but double checking) i then put the pump and fillter back on to the bottle, filled the bottle again and tried the washer's ...  nothing!!!! then i noticed something?, water was spraying up between the wing and bonnet shut?, opened the bonnet to find that all it was, was a join in the hose had came apart   .. pushed them back together and "Hey Presto" i have water now spraying on to my windscreen again.

i could have saved myself about an hour and a half of doing all the above if i'd have noticed the joint first not to mention lying about in the damp while i'm loaded with the cold

so if anyone else comes across the same fault "check the join in the hose, just next to the pollen fillter box on the drivers side" .. it might save you some time?  

i've had that too, i thought the washer bottle pipe might have been cracked which is surprisingly awkward to get out apparently, turned out that the pipe had come off the washer nozzle and was soaking the underbonnet felt, an easy fix thank goodness

I had bother with my went pipe on my E39.  the vent pipe goes up in the inner wing over the wheel arch, but the outlet of the vent pipe was lower than the filler cap level.  So when you filled the tank to the brim it would slowly drain out about 2 inches or so and I would get wet feet as the screen wash would then run out of the inner wing just behind the temp sensor just in front of the O/S/F wheel.

I went to move the vent pipe but it still dribbled out.  I think the longest job with the E39 washer bottle is removing the eleventymillion plastic nuts and clips that hold the wheel arch liner in place!

So how come you never spotted that then Ian?  You must be loosing it bigman!  Glad you got it sorted.  Easy fixes are a real bonus.

Andrew

Andrew Rolland wrote: So how come you never spotted that then Ian?  You must be loosing it bigman!  Glad you got it sorted.  Easy fixes are a real bonus. Andrew

think it was more a case of "O-aye thet'll be the fillter clogged up again" and i never thought of looking for any other fault   .. at least it gave me something to do, and get out from doing any house work  

Yeah been there before, had bits all stripped out as they failed last time only to find that it was something else. Usually followed by lots of sweary words.

Or alternatively putting the wrong side of brake pads on the front and having to strip them all back out to do the otherside!! Ahem!!

Have a good one.

Andrew

B7TMW wrote: Mine used to freeze

mine froze completely the other morning, even though I had a 50/50 mix in them  I had to pull over on the M5 hard shoulder to spray the screen clean with de-icer! Which then ran out So I stopped at the service station on the M42 to buy more concentrate for the washers - and a new spray de-icer.

I'll be ok now - the de-icer works down to -48 deg C

B7TMW wrote: Mine used to freeze and blow the pipes off the jets just under the bonnet. The sound deadening fely would be soaking. I tie wrapped mine in the end with small straps. Poor design I think.

i think this is what happened with the pipe on my car, the more i think about it  i think it might have been a clever design feature? if the jetts are frozen and the pump get's back presure due to the water being pumped through with no escape to spray through it might cause the pump to break? so as the water presure builds in the pipe it forces open the joint?