front windscreen washer

HI
I have had a intermittent wash working and sometimes not working on the front windscreen lately, but now it wont wash at all, the rear wash works ok as I thought that they both work off the same washer motor, so it must be some other problem. I tend to think that it must be at the stalk end maybe not connecting somehow....
any thoughts on it ??

Could be the lever but could you get someone to hear if the motor is running when using the front washer pump to confirm. It does have two motors so one could be failing or blocked.

saxavordian said:

Could be the lever but could you get someone to hear if the motor is running when using the front washer pump to confirm. It does have two motors so one could be failing or blocked.

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hi
no motor is heard when pulling on the stalk at all, I thought that it only had one motor...maybe I an wrong, it used to work intermittently but has now ceased altogether.

thebluemax said:

hi
no motor is heard when pulling on the stalk at all, I thought that it only had one motor...maybe I an wrong, it used to work intermittently but has now ceased altogether.

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There are 2 washer pumps in the bottle. One for the front and one for the rear. Only cheap Euroboxes have just one pump. Most British cars have a pump for each end

Could just be gummed up, try adding hot, but not boiling water to the bottle. Give it a few minutes to work then try the washers again.
Pumps are dirt cheap, but getting at the washer bottle isn't fun.
Mike

Skinny Mike said:

Could just be gummed up, try adding hot, but not boiling water to the bottle. Give it a few minutes to work then try the washers again.
Pumps are dirt cheap, but getting at the washer bottle isn't fun.
Mike

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cheers mike, will try the hot water trick first, last time the garage "fixed" it they had to take off the front bumper.

thebluemax said:

cheers mike, will try the hot water trick first, last time the garage "fixed" it they had to take off the front bumper.

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The arch liner needs releasing at the front to gain access to the washer bottle. There's no need to remove the bumper.

Nodge68 said:

The arch liner needs releasing at the front to gain access to the washer bottle. There's no need to remove the bumper.

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I don't know about the facelift, but having removed the bumper a few times now, and so long as all the screws haven't rusted up, I'd be inclined to still remove the bumper. Having to pull the fairly rigid arch liner away enough to get access and keep it away while fiddling with the bottle sounds like a recipe for expletives and sore hands to me.

I say this because the only PITA of removing the bumper are the bolts that mount it at the top to the wings - for which the arch liner needs pulling back - but presumably nowhere near as much as for access to the washer bottle.

I personally wouldn't take the front bumper off myself. There's no need. The pumps are in plain view with the liner moved out the way. Getting to the side bumper bolts is harder than getting the pump out of the bottle.