Headlamp washers not working?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, discovered tonight that my headlamp washers have decided not to work. The jets don't actually 'pop out' as they should but I can hear them working shortly followed by the appearance of a small puddle of screenwash under the car. Has anyone else had this issue/any ideas?

Cheers!

 

[Sanity]

Have you tried helping them out by hand? Two person job but worth a try If they have got stuck and a little help can do the trick. Don't know if there is a way too give them some oil treatment or similar.

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't yet (apart from a very vague pull on the washer covers from the outside) but might give this a go tomorrow when it's light. Is it easy to get to? Couldn't see a lot when I looked this evening!

Cheers

 

[tianorth]

Probably the pipe supplying the fluid has either split or come off as the pressure when you wash the screen should push out the headlight washers out.
I think someone had the same problem on here if you do a search for headlight washer you should find it.

 

[DKZ5745]

I just had a headlamp washer pipe replaced under warranty. I hadn't noticed the washer not working, but I did have a leak which was slowly emptying my washer bottle. It did take the dealer a while to diagnose the problem, so maybe they are quite difficult to get to. :eusa-think:

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the replies. Had another go today and they have decided to work now, oddly! Wondering if it might be something to do with the screenwash running a bit low recently (now topped up). Oh well

 

[howardf]

I've just got exactljy the same problem tonight......
Did you get a low washer level warning when they stopped?

 

[Anonymous]

I did indeed. Sounds like that might be the answer then!

 

[frankvdb]

And you didn't imagine that warning could be related to your problem? :eusa-think:

 

[tianorth]

Another rcz where a sensor reported correctly!

 

[howardf]

Mine had stopped working ,but level not low enough to activate the warning sensor ......
The headlight washer pump must be higher up the washer bottle.

 

[Anonymous]

I did indeed imagine that might be the case, as per post #6 in this thread, but I thought the motors would still work to push out the jets bearing in mind that the warning had only just come on... Naïve perhaps but doesn't seem unreasonable. Also, the fact that the jets were audibly working followed by the appearance of screenwash underneath the front of the car, as mentioned in the first post, would generally suggest that there wasn't an issue with the washer fluid being too low for them to work. Seems strange that the car would just piss out screenwash for no reason...

Anyway, it's sorted now!

 

[frankvdb]

You assume that it is motor powered.
It's much more likely that the system is controlled by the pressure of the washer fluid, and then its level being low perfectly explains all of your symptoms.