[EastBayE90]

The new PWM Meth kit from Vishnu has been released to the public. I wanted to post this DIY for all of those about to install this kit. The PWM Meth kit taps into the factory Windshield Washer hose that comes from the washer pump, up to the sprayers on the hood. On my car it was noticed that I had a lack of flow coming from the washer tank due to build up on the washer pump filter. Most of the cars that the PWM meth kit was installed on had no issues at all. For some reason my car was “special” and required cleaning. This was put together so that you guys could clean the filter incase you experience the same lack of flow that I did.



You will need a 10mm socket, a 8mm socket, and 1 Torx bit (can’t remember the size)



Jack up the passenger side of the car and remember to use jack stands. Once the car is up remove the passenger front wheel. You will then need to remove the passenger side turn signal. Push forward towards the front of the car while pulling out on the back of the signal. It will slide over and pull out. Remove the connector from the light.



Now you must remove the wheel arch cover (rear portion). Use the sockets and Torx bit to remove the various nuts located in this image. Keep in mind that some of the bolts are located on the bottom portion of plastic facing the ground.



This is what the rear wheel arc cover plastic looks like when you have it all the way out.



Another shot of the arc cover with the reservoir in the background.



This is the total count of bolts that will be removed and the tools needed.




Once you have the cover off there is one bolt holding the washer reservoir in place. Remove that bolt and slide the whole reservoir forward. This will allow you to access the pump. You will pull straight up on the pump and remove it from the reservoir.
BRO TIP: the black rubber grommet has the washer pump filter on the end of it. Be careful when removing the pump sometimes the filter will fall off the rubber grommet and fall into the reservoir. This happened to us and it took a little bit of turning and shaking to get it out.

Let the washer fluid drain out into a bucket. If the rubber grommet/filter falls in to the reservoir you will then need to remove the reservoir completely to be able to shake the filter out.



Here is a pic of the reservoir draining. (it takes a long time)
Now if you were lucky and did not drop the filter into the reservoir then you can skip the removal of the reservoir. If you dropped the filter in the reservoir then you will need to completely drain and remove the reservoir. This will allow you to shake the reservoir until the filter falls out.




THIS STEP IS ONLY NEEDED IF THE FILTER FELL INTO THE RESERVOIR
Once the reservoir is completely drained, you will then need to pull it out further towards the front of the car. You will unplug the fluid level sensor connector and remove the harness from the reservoir. The red arrow is pointing to the harness clip that goes into the reservoir. The big white tube is the filler neck for the reservoir. Just lift up on the tab and pull straight out to remove the filler neck. Once everything is disconnected pull the whole reservoir out and shake it different directions to get the filter to fall out the filler neck hole. It will take some time so don’t get frustrated.




Once the filter pops out you will notice it all caked with some nasty grime. This is what was restricting the flow of the meth through the factory washer pump.



Use some brake cleaner or any cleaning liquid and wipe it off with a paper towel. Blow through it and make sure you have all the little holes completely cleaned out.



It should look like this when you are done.



After cleaning the filter grab the rubber grommet that was holding the pump in the reservoir. The grommet just squeezes into the filter and becomes 1 piece. Carefully place this back in the reservoir. (Don’t drop the filter again into the reservoir otherwise you will be trying to get it out again.) Once the filter and grommet are seated carefully install the pump into the grommet and click it back into the reservoir while pressing down. After the pump is back in just install everything in reverse order. Now you are ready for some PWM Meth!!!

[import36]

great write-up man! i wouldn't even think gunk like that would build up in the washer fluid reservoir.

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by import36

great write-up man! i wouldn't even think gunk like that would build up in the washer fluid reservoir.

Yea man it was so nasty it looked like cigarette tar hahaha

[Brey335i]

I would suggest that anyone who gets the PWM kit and has more than 30K miles do this cleaning just for peace of mind and because you can never be too careful.

Great DIY!

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by Brey335i

I would suggest that anyone who gets the PWM kit and has more than 30K miles do this cleaning just for peace of mind and because you can never be too careful.

Great DIY!

Yea my car has 48,000 miles and it looked like this. I can only imagine what it looks like with 80,000+ miles.

[chancejat]

this also happened to me with my bms ww kit....my filter was permanently attached to my seal though.... btw if you have a 135i there is no need to removed the turn signal, and if you have a headlight sprayer and ww sprayer the smaller pump is for the ww sprayer.

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by chancejat

this also happened to me with my bms ww kit....my filter was permanently attached to my seal though.... btw if you have a 135i there is no need to removed the turn signal, and if you have a headlight sprayer and ww sprayer the smaller pump is for the ww sprayer.

I saw the dual pump in some of the ALLDATA diagrams of removing the reservoir. Good to know that thank you for adding. So that makes two of us that needed to do this. How nasty did your filter look?

[chancejat]

it was completly covered in fuzzy goodness......my meth would only work if i would hold down the ww pump.....ha

[Rotorocious]

Did this, this weekend.
It was squeaky clean. Oh well, peace of mind

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by Rotorocious

Did this, this weekend.
It was squeaky clean. Oh well, peace of mind

Oh good to hear. Yea I dont imagine may people needing to do this. What made you decide to try it out?

[Rotorocious]

Looked pretty easy and just wanted to not think about it again

[dbjb]

I'm thinking of doing this too... Proactive as I am still waiting on my pmw kit. Curious, how long does it take? With and drooling the filter?

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by dsbj

I'm thinking of doing this too... Proactive as I am still waiting on my pmw kit. Curious, how long does it take? With and drooling the filter?

The whole process took less than an hour and is very easy and educational. Curious to know if your filter is as nasty as mine was lol.

[BMW86]

I did this a couple days ago. Thanks (-(ellblazer420 for the DIY.

I have been getting Low Meth flow when I go WOT, usually around half but it isn't stable. I can only get close to full flow if I go WOT + run the WW wipers. I have highjacked the WW lines for my meth kit. More info here - http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13361

Anyways, my question is for anyone that has done this DIY - did you notice on the back of the reservoir that there is hole roughly 1 inch in diameter? I dropped my filter inside the tank so I had to shake my reservoir around a bit and remember seeing it on the back and not thinking anything of it at the time. I have been using a lot more meth than what is considered normal, maybe around 5 x or more. I think I may be leaking the meth from this point. I would like to confirm if anyone else has seen this as I think I may be missing a rubber grommet from this location. The 'hole' that I'm speaking of is on the backside of the reservoir in the photos.

Btw, it turns out my WW filter was clean as new so if anyone knows why I'm still having low meth flow PM me!

[335okc]

just did this on mine, thanks for the diy!

i've been suspecting clogged filter since i installed pwm, never got high flow, only about 30 max. when i saw the filter, it wasn't as bad as yours but pretty damn clogged. and the rubber seal cracked (will replace soon).
what surprised me is what came out of the tank, i had so much dirt, even have dead spider in it. wtf? lol i'm glad i did this diy. thanks again!

[KurtV]

Great instructions. The only problem I had was that the wheel well liner is secured to the fender with 3 plastic rivets/fasteners which didn't want to come off. I cut them off and found replacements at Autozone.

My tank actually had algae with long threads growing in it and from the filter. I decided to replace the filter rather than clean it. You know it is a common problem when you go up to the parts counter at the dealer and they have one in the drawer in front of them. Cost about $6 at dealer.

[RAWM3EVO]

Excellent DIY - helped me no end...

I will add:

1,Those cars with headlight washers have an extra pump this has a very much larger filter.

2,Best to remove the white washer water holder COMPLETELY and rinse it out due to the sediment in the bottom of the container, this also ensures you can refit the pump(s) easily before reinstalling.

3, Ensure pumps are flushed with clean water

4, Torx 20 for plastic screw under sill

5, two hidden 8mm bolts in recess next to air con radiator .. note they will be
covered in crud.

6, Very carefully note how the liners fit together.. it will help refitting them.

Total DIY time: 65mins

From a weak dribble to very strong jets...like new ... !!!!

I had what looked like Jelly/Jello on the filters.

Always use a good quality screenwash .. and STICK with that brand i think the mixing causes the sludge.

[Aly]

Many thanks for this great DIY, I had a leak, I was loosing a full tank of washing fluid within 1 week of refill, I followed your instructions and the problem was in my pump, it had a very small hole in it and it was leaking every time I activate it.

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by 335okc

just did this on mine, thanks for the diy!

i've been suspecting clogged filter since i installed pwm, never got high flow, only about 30 max. when i saw the filter, it wasn't as bad as yours but pretty damn clogged. and the rubber seal cracked (will replace soon).
what surprised me is what came out of the tank, i had so much dirt, even have dead spider in it. wtf? lol i'm glad i did this diy. thanks again!

HAHA a spider? that is so random! Glad it helped out. It's nasty how much crap ends up getting into this little tank.

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by RAWM3EVO

Excellent DIY - helped me no end...

I will add:

1,Those cars with headlight washers have an extra pump this has a very much larger filter.

2,Best to remove the white washer water holder COMPLETELY and rinse it out due to the sediment in the bottom of the container, this also ensures you can refit the pump(s) easily before reinstalling.

3, Ensure pumps are flushed with clean water

4, Torx 20 for plastic screw under sill

5, two hidden 8mm bolts in recess next to air con radiator .. note they will be
covered in crud.

6, Very carefully note how the liners fit together.. it will help refitting them.

Total DIY time: 65mins

From a weak dribble to very strong jets...like new ... !!!!

I had what looked like Jelly/Jello on the filters.

Always use a good quality screenwash .. and STICK with that brand i think the mixing causes the sludge.

Nice to hear it worked out for you. Thank you for the additions. So their is two filters on the a front headlamp washer setup? That makes sense because there is two washer motors on that setup.

[EastBayE90]

Originally Posted by Aly

Many thanks for this great DIY, I had a leak, I was loosing a full tank of washing fluid within 1 week of refill, I followed your instructions and the problem was in my pump, it had a very small hole in it and it was leaking every time I activate it.

Great work. I'm glad all of you are finding it to be easy. Once you get in there and start taking stuff apart it goes pretty fast.

[stormtrooper7]

Do you need to blow out the lines that lead up to the cowl/hood/windshield area?