Washer Jets

[Tatsfield]

Update on fan spray jets:

I phoned the parts department of my local Volvo dealer who were extremely helpful. They confirmed that for my 2012 XC70 the factory fitment for washer nozzles was the "ball point jet" but that within the chassis number range which covers my car, the fan jet was fitted to some cars although they cannot say why there was a difference in the spec.

The interesting part is that the ball point jets are handed. 31301523 is the left unit and 31301524 is the right hand one. However the fan jet nozzle is 31301827 and is not a handed component. The parts guy said although there was no explanation given for this, he assumed that the difference is in the angle of the actual nozzles for the ball points but that the fans do not need to be angled as they produce the same spray pattern.

The price is the same as shipping them from Lithuania so for once Volvo dealers are competitive and I am ordering a pair for a total of about £61 and they will deliver to my house! How's that for dealer service? So long as I do not open the packaging, they are immediately refundable upon return if they are grossly mismatched to the car but I have great confidence that I will be able to fit them. I will come back with a final update when I do.

[Tatsfield]

Sad final update on fan spray washer jets:

Received the fan spray jets on sale or return and when compared to the ball point nozzles they definitely are not compatible. The jets fitted to the car are definitely handed. The right hand assembly, 31301524, has one water inlet while the left hand one, 31301523, has a T-piece water inlet and outlet. The outlet runs across to the single inlet right nozzle. The fan spray units, 31301827, are one design with just one inlet and the mounting system looks different.

While it is quite likely that at different times the XC70 had either of these systems fitted, it would have had to have a different pattern of water pipes to feed the nozzles. While I was prepared to swap the nozzles, had they been interchangeable, I'm not prepared to start stripping out the water supply lines and replacing them. Sadly my enthusiasm has waned!

If I have missed something that others have covered when replacing ball point jets with fan sprays on an XC70, please let me know but for the meanwhile I am abandoning this project and warning others that it isn't as simple as a straight swap.

[TriggerFish]

All you'd need to is grab a connector like this, and a couple of cm of piping and make the join under the bonnet/near the washer jets - it really shouldn't be any harder than removing the existing jets to fit the new ones...

You'd just feed the existing pipe into the 'first' jet into the y-piece, and then have a short new length from the y-piece to the closest of the new jets, and use the existing pipe to the far jet to connect to the y-piece. Worth considering before giving up hope entirely

(Although, of course, if the mounts are different too, which I missed at first, then none of this is relevant )

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Y-Piece-H...wAAOSw7tBgR~CU

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1M-Food-G...kAAOSwt-ZgUe~I

(Note: I don't know what sizes you'd need, so 3mm ID was a guess.)

[Tatsfield]

You may be correct but I was expecting "plug and play" and for £60 OEM that's what I really want. Once I opened the packaging the parts would have no longer been returnable so I decided not to experiment. Had they been £5 a piece I'd have given it a go. Perhaps I'll look at breakers yards and try to pick up something cheap with which I can experiment.

[Ian21401]

I agree with Triggerfish. If the nozzles/jets will fit where your existing nozzles are then a simple mod. to the pipe work as he describes should sort it. If I’d spent £60 I would want to make it work if it was at all possible.
If you need a Y connection and few cms. of extra pipework you should be able to obtain them from your local factor.

[Tatsfield]

I cannot tell whether the 1827s would actually fit into the bonnet apertures without removing the 1523 and 1524 and taking the 1827s out of their packing and then my £60 is written off. If the units would not fit all the "Y" pieces and tubing would not make it happen. I wasn't prepared to risk it. No one has come on here to say that they fitted 1827s to a 2012 XC70 so theoretical modifications to the pipework might or might not work but if the design of the component isn't compatible then I'm not willing to throw £60 away finding out.

[Ian21401]

Sorry, I thought that you had already opened the new parts so did not have the option to return them.

[simboc2004]

Those parts should fit. i back tracked the numbers and this is what I found:

Vehicle Fitment: Volvo: S60 2011-13 | S80 2007-16 | V70 2008-10 | XC60 2010-13 | XC70 2008-16

Volvo OE No.
Current No.: 31301827 Prior No.: 30796028, 31253180

So, it should be the right part for a 2012 XC70...

[simboc2004]

There's a short piece of tube that connects each jet to the car's pipework - it runs through the seal under the bonnet (and is a bit fiddly to refit. You need to attach the short piece of tube to the jet, then insert it through the bonnet aperture into place. Then push the under bonnet seal over the short piece of pipe (easier said than done!) before connecting that to the L piece (driver's side) or T piece (passenger's side). Easy enough to put back if it isn't right...

[Kev0607]

I had a look at the washer jet nozzles on the bonnet of my car.

Mine have two vertical pin holes. If you imagine this colon : at the end of the sentence being the holes for the water to spray out of, this is how mine look... :