I'm starting to have problems with blocked washer jets. The jets have two outlets each and if I unblock one with a pin the gunge just seems to go into the other outlet. Is the root cause of the problem anything to do with the washer fluid I use? ~ approx 10% (stronger in the depth of winter) Halfords own brand. The car is 4.5 years old so is the problem now inevitable? I know that algae can breed in my bottle of diluted product if it is continually left in daylight.
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Suggest you replace the jet or try blowing it clear with compressed air. Be wary of small parts which may get ejected from the jet itself, mind.
I agree - once jets get to a certain age they tend to get very temperamental; perhaps it is the gradual buildup of debris in the washer resevoir?
Still, you get my drift.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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DL is right - clear with compressed air if possible. Failing that, remove the whole jet assembly and then clean out the holes with a pin. Also while the jet assembly is off, run the washers for a few seconds to help clear the pipework of crud.
By using a pin with the jets in situ, all you are doing is pushing the crud back into the system. When you next use the washers the crud comes back up and blocks the holes again.
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And while you have the washers off you could replac them with those lovely ones with the blue lights in :-)
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I have found that the contents of the washer bottle gradually turn to sticky goo after a few years, which of course is not very good at passing through small nozzles. Best solution is to siphon out as much as possible (you may be surprised what it looks like), rinse out with a hose, and refill. Then you only have to clear the pipe!
I don't think this deterioration would happen if you just use water with meths or IPA as antifreeze. I presume the goo is degraded detergent.
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Beat me to it!
I had a couple of Citroens where this happened - limescale plus a sort of gummy scum which attracted any foreign debris.
I lost count of how many times I cleaned the jets before I twigged this.
Washer bottle went through the dishwasher twice before I was happy with it.
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Don't forget to purge the wash lines of any debris after cleaning the jets....a common failing!
....often resulting in blocked jets once again.....
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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The pin method is really only an emergency - it usually blocks again.
The other use for the pin of course is aligning the let. Isn't it maddening that the smallest movement it is possible to make to the little eyeball covers the entire range from squirting down the scuttle vent to firing over the roof!
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Of course there are those who seem to feel that aiming the washer jets over the roof or sideways towards pedestrians is "cool" (often they have blue LED's as well.....)
I've found the pin method works okay for me if you give a long blast on the washer afterwards. The loosend debris then flys out of the jet onto your windscreen
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my problem on this subject is solved by telling missus not to polish them!, we never use wash\'n\'wax, seems like cheating somehow,but if we did then maybe she wouldn\'t block them!
billy.
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Be careful when blowing compressed air into washer jets. Many years ago Fiat's used to have a small rubber bulb in the middle of the dashboard - squeezed to squirt water over the screen. I used an air line to clear some jets, went to press the squirter, and found a large black balloon in it's place. Luckily it didn't burst.
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On this subject my previous car 2.0lt Cavaliar had a plastic washer supply tank and when I noticed a black film was building on the inside I was able to take the complete tank off the car and thoroughly clean same,the fluid level was also easy to see.
My present 2.0lt Vectra simply has a filler cap beside the battery with no means of checking the level,I have got round this by mixing my washer fluid in a gallon container and topping up to the brim when I check oil etc.My query is how would I clean the system if I experience problems?.
ndbw
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ndbw,
i empty the resovoir via the washers,then drop a couple of steredent tablets into it and top up with hot water, after the initial frothing(which i rinse away as it's bleach)from the filler,let it stand 30mins.i then disconnect the tubing from the jets,and direct it to the ground, empty and rinse it through using the washer pump.it's suprising the amount of carp it shifts.
billy.
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ndbw,
My vectra has a dipstick attached to the cap. Has yours perhaps fell off ?.
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ndbw, My vectra has a dipstick attached to the cap. Has yours perhaps fell off ?.
Mine snapped off, leaving a 2" stub of plasic. I always rely on the multi function display to tell me it's low anyway. Warning comes up when there's approx ¼ tank left.
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Washer bottle went through the dishwasher twice before I was happy with it.
Easy if like the UNO the bottle is easily removed but my Sierra and the Focus have the bottle hidden in the front wing under the headlamp with only a little filler spout on view.
Back to the drawing board??
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"Easy if like the UNO the bottle is easily removed but my Sierra and the Focus have the bottle hidden in the front wing under the headlamp with only a little filler spout on view.
Back to the drawing board??"
Called "progress".
I think that some washer tanks are the first thing put in to some modern vehicles...
BTW, the cable core used for telephone extensions is 0.5mm dia. and works much better than a pin for "immediate nozzle relief" if out on the road.
rg
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Just a thought but would pressure washing the inside of the bottle through the fill spout do any harm to the bottle or its connections? I know you'd mess your clothes up pretty badly with the overspray, but it might just get the gunge out of the bottle. Alternatively you could try filling the bottle with hot water to loosen the gunge then attampt to fill it again from the bottom (i.e. through a tube) with cooler water which might make the gunge float up out of the bottle and... ummm... all over you and the car - unless you created some clever arrangement with a bung and a pair of tubes... anyway it's left as an experiment to you as my washer bottle is nice and easy to access :¬p
-- Kev
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Try taking 2 or 3 of the copper filaments from a piece of wire and pass them through the washer jets. Much more flexible than a pin and the soft copper is much less likely to bore out or damage the inside of the jet.
they get clogged due to the calcium in the water, I think Halfords washer concentrate has a water softener added so seems to prevent this problem.
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I used to use Halfords own brand (blue bottle??) and suffered from blocked jets all the time. When I ran out and switched to another brand the problem went away. Coincidence??
I'm currently using the RainX washer additive (was £1 from a cheap shop) and have not had any more problems with the jets and it does seem to perpetuate the RainX treatment as it claims to do!
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I'm using Halfords 'smelly' screenwash at the moment - lemon flavour! It's really quite nice - if you pass a pig farm or suchlike a quick sloosh freshens up the whole car. (In fact, with a little adjustment of the jets you could probably freshen up all the pigs too!)
I'm not sure if it actually washes better than anything else. Haven't had any problems with blockages - but the old Xantia used to be bad for this.
I've been wondering if the problem is not so much related to any particular type of fluid, but rather particular combinations - usually you top up before the tank is empty - maybe 2 dissimilar types don't mix too well and gunge up.
Don't know - just a thought ???
Graeme
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What you could tery, is putting a finger over each hole, except the blocked one, and getting someone to operate the control. The pressure might blow the crud out!
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A quick spray of aerosol contact cleaner (isopropyl alcohol) has occasionally worked well. It should, in theory, only blow the crud back down the line, but I suspect that it has a chemical effect on scale or muck.
From Maplin. Around £3.00. Essential purchase if you are Citroen owner, as some of their switchgear appears to have come out of cheap Christmas Cracker..
rg bhaji
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Contact Cleaner is alos excellent for freeing up door lock barrels - it hasn't let me down yet!
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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