Rear washers not working - NOT the usual problem...

[MrShades]

I'm stuck, and am looking for some help - hopefully someone on here can assist.

My 2005 Passat Estate has been perfect up until recently - though the cold weather appears to have frozen my rear screen washer, and me trying to use it when it is frozen appears to have forced the pipe to separate - but this time it's under the bonnet and not by the rear light cluster.

I've peeled back the near side wheel arch liner and can see, very clearly, the pipe that comes from the washer pump - almost vertically upwards - but then mine simply ends in what looks like a push-fit plastic coupler and goes nowhere.

If I route this 'end' of the pipe out of the liner, and squirt the rear washer I get a lovely 15ft arc of water from it - so it's definitely the problem.

This sounds like an easy fix - but I can't for the life of me see where it should go. I can't see another pipe missing a friend, and I can't obviously see the route that the rear washer pipe takes to the back of the car.

I've taken some photos, both from under the bonnet (with the plastic thing from around the power steering filler removed, to aid viewing) and from crouched next to the near-side front wheel, pulling the liner back so that you can (almost!) make out the end of the pipe.

Any help in working out where the heck this goes would be really appreciated...

Many thanks

Shades

You can just about see the top of the 'nipple' on the end of the pipe in this one, though I'm not sure if that should be where it resides - I moved it so that it was visible from above, for this photo...



This is zoomed in a bit closer so that you can see the end of the pipe.



and this is the shot, crouched by the front wheel, with the liner pulled back - you can just see the end of the pipe and the rest of it running vertically down to the pump.

[MrShades]

Can anyone tell me what pipe this connects to??? I really would like to try and fix this today, and take the wheel/liner off - but I've no real idea what the pipe should connect to or what the pipe route is...

Any help from anyone that can either look under the bonnet or inside the wheel arch liner would be really appeciated.

Thanks

Shades

[MrShades]

OK - have cracked it...

You HAVE to take the wheel arch liner off completely, as you simply cannot see the pipe or get to the coupler without doing so. Even with the liner off, the pipe to join TO can creep behind the inner arch and remain invisible - mine almost had - and require some long nosed pliers to retrieve.

Will post some pictures in a minute to help those that may be having a similar problem.

Shades

[MrShades]

See the pictures below. Here you can clearly see the pipe joint, and how it should be when rejoined. Note that I've pulled the end that goes off behind the inner arch out - so that I could photograph it and so that I could grab hold of it to rejoin. It's very tight and there isn't much give in it at all.

When rejoining it really helps to put some neat washing-up liquid on the nipple that's being inserted it - it slides in quite easily then, right up to the hilt! Without it, it was a real struggle...

You can also see, in the 'before' picture how the washer pump works on the estate - with the single pump driving both washers. I guess that the motor spins either one way or the other and the valve assembly (with one pipe on one side, and one pipe on the other) pumps water to either the front washer or rear washer accordingly. Hence those that have problems with the rear washer, and water dribbling from the front washer MAY have a problem with the pipe work or MAY have a problem with the actual pump and this valve assembly.

Hopefully these images and this story may help anyone with a similar annoying rear washer failure after this cold weather. It's obviously caused by attempting to use the rear washers when they're frozen up - with the power of the pump and weakness of some of the couplings being sufficient to 'blow' them. If it happens again, the easy coupling to check is the one above the rear light cluster (plenty of stuff on here about that) but this one is a damn nuisance to get to so hopefully it doesn't happen too often...

Good luck,

Shades

Here you can see the two ends of the pipe, before reconnection. The reservoir and pump assembly are all very obvious as well...


..and here's the pipe as it should be, rejoined: