V70: General Washer bottle woes

[kinga]

Hi all,

Been getting an issue with my windscreen washer just giving me just a dribble.

A couple of times, I have taken the pipe off the drivers washer jet & blown through it - I can hear the bubbling in the washer bottle then it's ok for a bit - then it clogs up again.

Now it's not working at all!

Just taken the wheel arch liner out, taken the pump out & the rubber nozzle underneath it a- all looks fine..

then I found out that the washer pump you can get to is actually the rear washer one - hence why it looks ok.

It seems that the one for the front washers is the other side of the pump, and lloks like you can only get to it by removing the front bumper??

Any hints?

[RogerTo]

Aye, sounds about right, but I think you can probably get away with just half off - just the one side.

It’s a job I’ve done, same reasons as you. Bottle had black gunk in it - black gunk I saw going into the bottle as I filled it with old washer fluid, thinking “That’s not going to help...”

You need to remove the undertray too I think, and wheel off helps too.

I do ask myself sometimes, “Why?”

[griston64]

It will be the filter that's blocked. Wheel off. Remove arch liner at front and you should be able to get to it. If you are doing in your garage have a bucket handy as when you pull motor out to get to filter all you washer fluid will come pouring out

[k6chris]

In a previous (non-Volvo) with a similar problem, a garden hose poked down the washer filler cap and turned on full, removed a lot of black gunge. I then ran a couple of tanks of pain water through the system and all was well. Worth a try??

[Ian21401]

My first suspect would be the inline filter. Had this happen a long time ago with my 940. I had been making up a 5 litre bottle of suitably diluted washer fluid and eventually found that whilst being stored there was scum forming. Unknowingly, each time I had been topping up the washer bottle I had been introducing some of that scum which had eventually blocked the filter. I removed the filter and tried back flushing it under the household tap but couldn’t clear it so I had to fit a replacement filter after first clearing all the contaminated fluid from the reservoir. I also changed the brand of washer additive. I had been using any additive which was convenient to obtain but now use Halfords concentrate which I dilute depending upon the time of year. No further problems.

[kinga]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As stated in my first post, when you remove the wheel arch liner, the pump you can get to is NOT for the windscreen - I think this may be the headlamp washers. I took the tube off the washer jets and blew through this, and you can hear the bubbling coming from the front of the filler reservoir.

When you blow through the tube and then re-attach the tube to the washer jets it seems to be ok for a few secons, then the pump sucks the crud back in to the filter.

Is there an inline filter?

Or is the filter at the bottom of the pump that's for the washer jets, which it looks like I can't get to without removing the bumper - which I didn't really want to do.

I will try the hose pipe thing.

I have tried the stuff you put into caravan water bottles to remove the crud from the inside of the pipes, etc. but think we are well passed that!

[griston64]

Originally Posted by kinga

Thanks for the replies guys.

As stated in my first post, when you remove the wheel arch liner, the pump you can get to is NOT for the windscreen - I think this may be the headlamp washers. I took the tube off the washer jets and blew through this, and you can hear the bubbling coming from the front of the filler reservoir.

When you blow through the tube and then re-attach the tube to the washer jets it seems to be ok for a few secons, then the pump sucks the crud back in to the filter.

Is there an inline filter?

Or is the filter at the bottom of the pump that's for the washer jets, which it looks like I can't get to without removing the bumper - which I didn't really want to do.

I will try the hose pipe thing.

I have tried the stuff you put into caravan water bottles to remove the crud from the inside of the pipes, etc. but think we are well passed that!

I managed to get at mine without removing the bumper. I removed some of the bolts along the lower part of bumper and inner wing and just gently pulled it aside to get to windscreen washer pump and filter. you pull the pump out and the filter sits in the actual washer bottle.

[kinga]

Many thanks - will give it a try

[tommyweaves]

Been following this thread; here are my experiences this week!

Emptied water from washer bottle by running rear washer jet.

Poured 5 litres of neat screenwash into bottle. Tried front washers - useless, probably less than a dribble. Rear washer jet worked fine.

Removed jets from "short tubes" and ran front washers - good flow came out, and squirted around my thumb when I put it over the end. Indicated I had good pressure from pump. Therefore issue had to be jets.

Removed both front washer jets, with short rubber tubes attached. Poured descaler in to rubber pipes and allowed to dribble out of "spray nozzles". No fizzing, no bubbles, just slowly dripped through. Suggested no calcium build up. Rinsed in clean water and tried to blow through the jets with my mouth. Very little air flow. Tried filling the tube with water and blowing that through; no difference. Retried them on car, no difference.

I happened to have access to an ultrasonic cleaner. I thought I'd nothing to lose by trying it!

The fluid in the cleaner is for clock parts, so ammonia based and designed to remove oil and grease, probably not the right thing for washer jets. Ideally I'd have used a different fluid!

Anyway, I hung both jets in the cleaner, with the wires and connectors hanging over the edge (no need to get stuff into the wiring connectors) and switched on for 5 minutes.

Quick rinse in clean water and then tried to blow through them.................

Wow! Totally different!

Refitted to car and whilst the passenger side is not quite perfect the driver side is like new.

Might help someone somewhere sometime!

[DEL6286]

Originally Posted by griston64

I managed to get at mine without removing the bumper. I removed some of the bolts along the lower part of bumper and inner wing and just gently pulled it aside to get to windscreen washer pump and filter. you pull the pump out and the filter sits in the actual washer bottle.

Agreed, thanks for the pointer - you can reach both pumps doing as you say - not too much trouble. I folded back the front half of the wheel arch liner to help with visibility.