Front washer odd behaviour

Odd one
Out driving today and the front windscreen washers, although working were very poor on the drivers side, as in not shooting out as powerfully as the passenger side.

After a while, the pump stopped pumping screen wash and no noise from the pump. 5 or so minutes later, I pressed the stick and the pump started working again, albeit with a low pressure on the drivers side but good pressure on the passenger side. Shortly after, again the pump stopped pumping.

Once home I replicated the same scenario. Would work for a short while then stop etc.

Is this likely to be faulty pump or a relay issue. I'm hoping it's a relay issue as I'm driving back to the UK later today and don't really have time to source a new pump and fit it.

mousemat said:

Odd one
Out driving today and the front windscreen washers, although working were very poor on the drivers side, as in not shooting out as powerfully as the passenger side.

After a while, the pump stopped pumping screen wash and no noise from the pump. 5 or so minutes later, I pressed the stick and the pump started working again, albeit with a low pressure on the drivers side but good pressure on the passenger side. Shortly after, again the pump stopped pumping.

Once home I replicated the same scenario. Would work for a short while then stop etc.

Is this likely to be faulty pump or a relay issue. I'm hoping it's a relay issue as I'm driving back to the UK later today and don't really have time to source a new pump and fit it.

Click to expand...

Hello
I had a similar problem it was junky mush in the water bottle then I suppose it got into the pump and pipes. I pulled the pipes off the jet nozzles under the bonnet sprayers for front windscreen then put a hose pipe into the water bottle just let the hosepipe run slowly and operated the wash wipe system on the car to help clear it out and put a tiny needle into the water jet where it sprays your windscreen to make sure that they were clear put pipes back on filled screen wash PERFECT NOW
hope that this helps

If one side is working, I would say the pump is OK as the two washer jets normally have a common supply line, so the jets may be blocked. Pump may be shutting down due to overload protection assuming you are talking about an L322.

Play life. Thanks for the tip. I've removed the pipe from the jets on the bonnet and it flows through the pipe no issue but then stops again for a few minutes and starts again. There's a filter in the top of the washer bottle that does seem to come out. If it did then I could probably siphon it out and flush it all with clean water.

Datatek it's a P38. All very odd. Yes the pump is certainly seems to be working albeit on a very stop start basis.

mousemat said:

Play life. Thanks for the tip. I've removed the pipe from the jets on the bonnet and it flows through the pipe no issue but then stops again for a few minutes and starts again. There's a filter in the top of the washer bottle that does seem to come out. If it did then I could probably siphon it out and flush it all with clean water.

Datatek it's a P38. All very odd. Yes the pump is certainly seems to be working albeit on a very stop start basis.

Click to expand...

It's not hard to pull the pumps from the washer bottle. As it's a P38, I can tell you I have regular problems with one or more of the 4 jet nozzles blocking, in fact I always carry a pin for clearing them. The pump motors do fail some times.

Ok I seem to have solved it... For now.

Should have checked this first I guess but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The drivers side nozzle wasn't pushing out the same power and the pump was dying out every few minutes. After emptying the washer bottle and filling again, the problem persisted.

I had a look at the nozzle where I took the pipe off and it was quite brittle and a small bit had broken off. I fitted the pipe and secured it in place with with a small cable tie. Tried the washer again and hey presto same pressure as the passenger side. However, this was short lived as the connection point was so brittle that it broke and the fluid was pouring out of the pipe into the engine bay.

So now I have no driver's nozzle, so cable tied the pipe up so as not to have fluid shooting out in the engine bay when using the washers. Tried the washers again and this time the pump remained pumping for quite a long time before I got bored and turned the washers off. Turned on again, and still the pump continues to pump. So all good for now.

All I have to do is source a new nozzle and I can have those delivered to the UK ready for next week.

Seems the pump operation appears to be based on air pressure I guess.