Washer fluid dumped out the bottom of the car

[Sp0oner]

I was trying to force through the washer fluid today as the screen was covered in road crap but the jets seemed frozen as nothing was coming through. I kept trying and it looks like by doing this either the pipe has split or come off the washer bottle as the remnants of what was in the washer fluid container flooded out from under the car.

How do I check to see how to resolve it as that side of the engine bay is pretty well packed plus a plastic cover in the way which didn't want to be removed when I tried?

Anyone come across this problem before? I'm hoping it's just the pipe that has come off but i'm never that lucky and I bet it's a b!tch to fix!

[Col]

Funny you should mention this as I had it happen today, twice !

Put in a fivers worth of fluid for it all to end up on the road.

What happened on mine was the hose joint just out from the pump came apart.

To fix it;

Get a Torx Bit either T20 or T25 (can't remember)

Lock the steering hard over as if your turning right.

Undo the three torx screws on the wheel arch liner (on the edge nearest the bumper.

Undo the single torx screwon the arch liner near the top corner of the bumper / arch liner (it takes a bit of looking but its there.

Once the screws are out, pull the arch liner away and hey presto you will see the washer bottle, washer pump and probably the hose that is detached.


Fisrt time, I connected it back up but it went again as the rubbish quality VW tube had over stretched and wouldn't hold.

2nd time I got some 5mm clear tube from B&Q (about £0.98/m) and some 5mm white plastic connectors again from B&Q and re-ran the pipe.

Note that the factory fitted pipe runs inside the chassis leg so you'll need to tape the new to the old and pull it through. I didn't do this and ended up having to find another external route which is quite obvious.

Hopefully yours will need just pushing back together.

Tip; put a cable tie as tight as you can on the joint to hopefully stop it being forced off.

[Sp0oner]

Bloody fantastic! I thought it was worth asking and thank you very much for posting that. I'd have been working how to take the engine out before looking from under the wheel arch :D I take it it gets forced off when blocked/frozen and you keep holding the stalk on the steering wheel trying to force the washer fluid out and the pressure builds up?

[Sp0oner]

Right well I got the 3 screws off on the arch liner but couldn't find the 4th one you refer to. Could only see ones that are at the back of the wheel arch holding the liner on and nothing in between. :confused:

I managed to pull the liner away enough to see the bottle. I got my son to do the washer fluid and it was leaking from somewhere up the top of the liner as it ran all down the arch liner as I was holding it. It was also going on the windscreen so hasn't completely come away what ever is leaking.

As it is coming from up high am I going to have to remove the whole arch liner? I can't get to anywhere near it from the engine bay even though I managed to remove the black cover that is near the top up bottle.

I guess it is going to be up on the jack and wheel off? I'm hopeless with mechanics and spent well over an hour just doing the above so anything more is going to take me hours :1zhelp:

[Col]

In that case....

Pull the scuttle liner off (battery cover but over whole width).

To do this pull the rubber seal off at the front of it.

Once that is off, there is a joint by the pollen filter, could have come apart there.

Also, it could be the pipe itself on its way up from the pump to the joint I've described above. In which case a trip to B&Q may be in order to get some pipe and connectors.

[Sp0oner]

Many thanks, i'll do try that tomorrow. To remove that cover do I not have to remove the windscreen wipers first as had a new windscreen last week and watching him fit it he took the wipers and another plastic panel off before removing that scuttle liner?

[Col]

No.

If yours is a B5 then you shouldn't have this panel. You may need to take the pollen filter cover off instead.

If it is a B5.5 then it is the cover that sits over the battery and brake fluid reservoir.

[Sp0oner]

Thanks. Yep saw the pollen filter last week when he changed the windscreen and it was in a terrible state so said i'll have to change that which is when I asked about removing the covers and what was involved and this is when the bloke said about needing to remove the windscreen wipers as they sit on a cover that has to be removed before you can remove the cover that goes over the pollen filter. Its a 2003 tdi 130 sport.

[Col]

No.

The windscreen wiper do not have to come off. The cover we are talking about is under or nearer the front of the car than the cover that the wipers stick out from.

The cover simply pulls out once you have removed the rubber seal along the length of the bulkhead.

It takes less than one minute to get that cover off.

[Sp0oner]

Thanks, will do that tomorrow and see if I can find the leak.

[caldirun]

Thanks, will do that tomorrow and see if I can find the leak.
Just suffered similar problem but the leak is from inside the bonnet and running down to the wheel arch, so I am presuming a split hose inside the bonnet, great fun!