Window Washer Leak

[BenV70D5]

Hi all,

My Window Washer system leaks from the wheel well when used, there is enough pressure to clean the windscreen but due to the leak i am having to re-fill the tank more often than i would like (1-2 weeks from topped off the warning light coming on the dash.
There is no water coming out of the headlight washers at all.

I have had the bumper off and there appears to be no blockages in the headlight washer system and when used the water is dripping down from about 20 cms above the washer water bottle.

Can anyone advise if this is could just be a leaky pipe or any other solutions?
I would ideally like to sort it myself as opposed to paying a dealer £££ just to investigate.
Also could the leak be causing pressure issues and stopping the headlight washers spraying or is that a separate problem like the separate pump?

Thanks
Ben

[Waynedance]

Mine has leaked twice in the last week pipe near the pump and the pipe was loose where it fits onto the head light washer.

Easy to get to remove the nsf wheel and the screws from the arch liner, I did have the car on a ramp in the works garage.

[37 RUBY]

Hello.

Yes I had exactly the same problem.

It will likely be the push fit right angle connector on the pipe end at the washer pump.

Designed to prevent the pipe from coming off in the event of the water in the pipe being frozen in winter condition but appears to be prone to leaking.

Covered by warranty if you have one, as mine was, or just remove and push the rubber pipe direct onto the pump connector.Quite easy to get to under the arch cover.

HTH

[Tatsfield]

It might pay to use a miniature nylon cable tie to tighten around the tubing on the push in connection to prevent it coming off so easily. Maplins sell the very very small ones.

[BenV70D5]

Thanks for all the feedback, unfortunately I don't think the issue is the connector on top of the pump, the leak appears to be coming from 20+ cms above the water bottle.
Think it may be a split in the pipe further up. Can reach up inside with bumper off but can't find specific point, reckon it may need to go to garage to have pipes replaced as can't see how to get to them all without removing lots of bits first.

[bobsy852]

I had the exact same problem.
Turned out to be the pipe which serves the headlamp washers.
The windscreen is served by a separate pump from the same washer bottle.

The pipes serving the headlamp washers are a corrugated plastic, not unlike a cable tidy, rather than the rubber you'd expect them to be.
(The hose/pipe that serves the windscreen washer is rubber, but this system is under a lot less pressure which probably has something to do with the choice of materials).
Anyway, they split where they bend and where they had been held to the bodywork with cable ties. So then when you fill the washer bottle up it just runs through the pump, down the pipes and out the holes!
You won't see it leak out straight away due to all the covers under the car which catch most of it.

The pipes serving the headlamp washers have a "Y" split about 1/3 way along their link (to split the water from left to right). The pipes can't be separated from this, so you have to replace the thing in full.

I googled and found some people had replaced these hoses with new using fuel lines for model cars.
However, I managed to get an OEM Volvo replacement hose (which came as one whole part) from someone on here for about £20-£30.

An hours work or so and I had it replaced.

When I did, I fastened the new one in place by tying them with insulation tape to the old pipes. This was rather than using the cable ties that had been used to hold the original one in place as these had been tightned really tight and caused a couple of leaks. I figured insulation tape would be a lot more gentle.
The sections of original pipe I left in place would remain in place by their original cable ties.

To do the job you just need to remove the covers from beneath the car and the wheel arch liner from the passenger side to get at the washer bottle!

Hope that helps