Washer puzzle.

[Jul172]

Last year front and rear washers stopped working, I followed the guide on here and repaired the pumps, they worked, but not brilliantly. I was probably a bit shy in trimming the rubber valve.
Last week or so the rear wash worked intermittently then refused to work altogether. My assumption was that the rubber valve problem was causing the fault. This time I bought two new pumps from eurocar parts. This fixed the rear wash but when I operated the front washers the rear washed.
Yesterday evening stripped front washer pipes down and got the front washers working, this morning tested front washers, working, switched on rear, that worked, retested front and the rear washed and no water out of front!
Any ideas!?

 

[MartinR]

Lol my dci does this every now and then.


Shall keep an eye on this thread.

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

Lol mine has done that once before!

 

[Jul172]

Yes, lol indeed! So frustrating! Could an intermittent short in the switch be the problem?

 

[Tkul88]

Was there any progress on this?
When I operate my rear washer jets, the fronts squirt instead! Haven't had chance to look yet, any ideas? 172 cup '53

 

[Tkul88]

Posted a bit too soon. Just found this...
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?t=738615

 

[Jul172]

In an attempt to close out the thread with a conclusion.

The saga so far, after changing the pumps for new and still experiencing what appeared to be completely random washing i.e rear washing when selecting front and vice versa and even sometimes working correctly. I came to the conclusion that the switch within the stalk was at fault. I don't like bit swapping for the sake of it but I convinced myself that due to the random nature of the spray it wasn't mechanical but electrical. I purchased a new stalk from Adam, fitted it yesterday, did it cure it?

Short answer, I don't think so, it does seem to be less random but that could be the placebo effect. On the positive, I've got new pumps and a shiny new stalk and on the negative, I'm poorer and tbh none the wiser.

 

[Daniel]

I have the exact same problem with my ph1! I've changed the pumps and the stalk but still, 10 times out of 100, using the windscreen washer will also trigger the rear washer too.

It's a bit annoying but I can't be bothered to waste my life doing any more work on the issue.

 

[Jul172]

I've come to the same conclusion, life's too short.

 

[AlexW]

It won't be the stalk, or the triggering of it or anything. As it has to power it in one direction only, it'll be the little bit inside the pump that isn't moving freely.

Thats is the only way I can see it.

 

[Jul172]

My understanding is that the rear wash is activated by reversing the polarity of the impeller, which in turn moves the rubber "valve" blocking the outlet to the front jets, operating the front wash is vice versa.
I've changed both pumps and swapped them with each other and the fault is still present so the pumps in my opinion are not at fault.
I'm still airing towards an electrical fault which has been reinforced by an observation that I noticed today whilst driving an audible click/pop can be heard through the speakers when turning on the washers, this click/pop coincides with washers either operating correctly or not.

 

[Amos91]

I've got this issue with the Euro car parts pump as well. Did you find a fix for it? I'm tempted to buy a second hand genuine pump as I have a feeling the cheap pump is the issue! Jul172

 

[Jul172]

Amos91 Yes I fixed it (my sanity anyway) by linking the outlets of the pump to the pipe feeding the front washer jets, so I always wash the front screen regardless of which way the impeller spins. I never got to the bottom of whether it was a pump, stalk or UCH problem. Life is definitely too short!

 

[Chris_Beer]

Mine squirts all jets regardless of front or rear..

When the bottles pretty full, if giving it some uphill, I notice the rear jet becomes incontinent.. really annoying as wastes washer fluid!

Pump, jets themselves, is the valve thing inside the pumps or separate?

 

[Jul172]

The valve (cylindrical rubber thing) is contained within the pump body. There's a photo of a pump disassembled in the guide section somewhere.

 

[Chris_Beer]

Genuine pump should theoretically sort it then ?! :S

 

[Jul172]

I honestly don't know, genuine pumps are expensive tho'.

 

[Amos91]

I've bought a second hand pump from Renparts, will update with my findings!

What is odd though is that the ECP pump works fine with the headlights and switches direction correctly...

 

[Jul172]

Yes, I'd be interested to know if that cures it.
My headlight pump works correctly too and when I swapped pumps over the headlights washers operated correctly but the screen washers were random, my money is on an electrical fault with the UCH switching the polarity of the feed correctly.

 

[Amos91]

I tested it quite extensively on Sunday and my mate and I would put the ecp pump in and it wouldn't switch properly. Go back to my old original and it would always switch properly, it was just weak as the rubber inside is causing the impeller to foul.

 

[Jul172]

Fingers crossed then, I hope it solves the problem. Let us know.

 

[Amos91]

Jul172. Genuine pump works fine. Issue is just with the ecp pump not blocking the flow off properly.

Got one ecp pump on the headlights. First spray it goes fine, then subsequent ones only come out of one headlight, twice...

 

[Jul172]

That's good news, a nice simple solution.
Can't be arsed to see if it fixes mine tho'!

 

[GrahamS]

Just to add to this. It couldn't be a problem with the switch as you can't trigger both front and rear at once. The front/rear works by reversing the polarity. (Only 2 wires going in)