[Josh1a1h]

Cheers for that bud. I couldn't find it myself

[sa12]

I just cleaned the filter on my 320d today ready for winter.

Hardest part I found was getting the wheel arch liner off. There's a 'sneaky' plastic nut on the underside that you cannot see until you completely remove a plastic part that's bolted over the top if it! The top part of the liner is also slotted into the wheel arch 'v-groove' and needs some force to remove it - I thought i'd end up bending the wheel arch itself with the amount of force I had to use!!

Took me around 1.5hrs but would be a lot quicker now that I've done it once. Washer jets are back to squirting full blast now.

Looking at the crud on the filter, I believe that using the compressor clean method would only be a temporary fix as the stuff is like a really sticky gelatinous substance that took some cleaning effort to shift.

[agolebio]

has any of you guys tried a chemical for unclogging bathroom drain pipes?
This is what I want to try first before disassembling, I think this will help since it's pretty aggressive and dissolves all that grime and dirt from water.

or if this happened to be too invasive I might try baking soda + vinegar first

[coopersim]

I'd be worried of spraying the residual chemical on the car afterwards. It's only an hour or so to do the job properly, then remember to use the BMW screenwash after to prevent a repeat

[davyk31]

As well as the worry about what you spray on your paint I would be worried about the effect of the strong chemicals on all the plastic components in there. The job really isn't that tricky to do properly and once you have it done you will know everything is cleaned out and sorted.

[Markypoo]

My washer pump was working but nothing spraying on the screen, I knew a pipe was off as could see the water running from the bottom of the car so checked under the filter panel first and found the pipe had popped off the driver side jet, what an easy fix

[safety_james]

Just want to say thanks for this thread, because now I have working windscreen washers without having to go to the dealers or a garage..

I wasn't bothered it didn't work when I purchased the car last Monday, just wanted to get it home!

Did this on Wednesday, the whole job only took about 40 mins, pretty straightforward! Couldn't believe the amount of slime on both filters!

Is there a recommended screenwash that will prevent this happening in the future?

[GrantF]

Had this start on my (under 3 year old) 60 plate E93 with 18k miles on last week.

I suspected it may be the clogged windscreen pump filter issue, as my neighbour had this happen to his 2003 E96 M3 last year, but I was surprised it had happened to my car so soon.

Anyway I stripped the wheel arch liner and removed the reservoir bottle and cleaned the windscreen washer pump filter. A bit of patience and some basic tools are all that is required for this job.

One thing I'd recommend when carrying out this fix is the total removal and cleaning of the washer reservoir 'bottle', as I was quite surprised at the amount of residual cludge which was stuck to the inside of the reservoir, I took mine into the kitchen and flushed it with lots of very hot water, and it took a few flushes to get it properly clean inside. Hopefully this thorough clean out with further delay the onset of it congealing up and returning.

Cheers
Grant

[Blue Streak]

Wow Dude! I just followed your recommendation here and it worked perfectly! That was a 5 minute job with excellent results. I know this is a 3 year old post, but found it with the good ol' SEARCH function.

Now, this only works if you still hear your pump operating, but nothing is coming out. I recently added some washer fluid with distilled water (about a 1:2 ratio). The next morning, the jets only drizzled some water onto the lower part of my windshield and then nothing at all. My tank was obviously full. What I did first was pull the rubber hose from the jet sprayer assembly on the windshield (right side) and then attach the sports ball attachment of the bike pump in there after opening the lid to the fluid reservoir. Then I pumped it several times, hearing the air and water mixture through the tank system. Then I placed the bike air pump nozzle in the fixture to the jet assembly and blew that several times. Then I re-attached the hose to the jet assembly and got in the car and it worked perfectly, like new again!

If your pump is fried, then you need to spend an hour or two pulling apart all that stuff from the wheel well and replacing that pump and all the fluid. That's a wicked pain in the ass. It happened early on in my car, but it was within my original factory warranty and done for free whist I was able to drive around in a nice new loaner with no tire burning horsepower.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by charliesum

got my stealers down to £130! but thought no way
i have been driving since dec without them working
i have cured it for free and 15 mins
open washer filler cap
unplug washer line on drivers side where it goes into washer arms by front window and drivers door
connect bicycle pump with football attachment connected ( for blowing up footballs _spike)
push through as many times as needed fill up with boiling water and repeat until all the gunk comes up out of open end of washer filler tube!!
job done

note you can buy the pump and attachment for roughly a fiver from most sports shops!
charlie 1 stealers 0


wonder if it works for prostates??? -WILL?????????

[gerald325i]

After much looking for pictures on how to change the windshield washer pump on my 2011 X3 F25, I found this post too and was able to fix, even if temporarily, my issue of the windshield washer pump running but nothing coming out of the jets. I used my bicycle tire pump with a red plastic nozzle (not the one for footballs though) and it did the trick quite nicely! On F25s, there is a joint on the passenger side under the hood where the fluid line comes off the engine compartment into the hood, you have to twist the black sleeve to get it to come off. Right at that section, you hold the tip of the air pump hose and pump until you hear fluid. Make sure you open the reservoir cap before you do this. Pump a few times, then do it again on the line that goes to the jets until you hear air coming off the jets.
Reconnect et viola! Tested good on my car! Hopefully it works until someone posts pictures of how to replace the pump or access it at least.

[gonzo_the_great]

Hi all,

This issue is really frustrating.
My motor works fine (sounds ok)..
A tiny drop of water comes our of the left nozzle.. nothing comes out of the right one.

I've noticed water dripping from under the car a few seconds after I trigger the washer jets.

BUT.. the water seems to be leaking from 3 different places.

1) under the front bumper right at the front of the car
2) by the front right wheel arch (easily visible when stood beside the front wheel)
3) by the front right wheel arch but slightly more central (i.e. a few inches towards the engine)

I dont have headlight washers, so I'm confused why water is leaking from the front of the car.
The water ONLY leaks after the jets are used. Not at any other time.

No visible leaks from the top of the engine bay.

Does anyone have an idea whats going on here?

Any help would be massively appreciated!

Many thanks all!

Paul

[percusski]

Yesterday I carried out the unblocking technique (blowing air down the tube) on my e46 320 td compact. This worked momentarily then blocked again. So i then took out the whole fluid container and rinsed it out, then reconnected. It now seems ok.
The question is, where is the filter? I'm assuming it's contained inside the fluid container itself. Reading some of the above there is talk of removing wheels etc to do this job but I can't see how that's necessary, not on my car at least.

[Daveedo]

Originally Posted by bounty78

I had exactly the same problem couple of days ago..tried dissolving the Calgon tablet in the washer reservoir..made no difference. Took the black cover/lid(just above the jet nozzle-right at the middle of the bonnet next to the brake fluid cover) held by 6 small screws off..and surprise surprise found out that the pipeline that connects to the nozzle has popped off..strange..not sure how did could have happened. Reconnect it and bob is your uncle...been perfect all day today. I dread to think how much a trip to the stealer would have costs me if i haven't removed that cover and have a look underneath.

Bob must be my uncle as well. This worked for me as well. The pipe simply came off. To first test the issue, I tried spraying fluid on my windshield, but only got a little trickle. I looked under the car, and voila, I had a nice puddle. I followed bounty78's instructions and found the disconnected pipe.

Thanks!!

[urfankhaliq]

With mine the jet does spray the water on the headlight so i assume that the pipe isn't disconnected for me?

[toesy]

A quick easy fix with a bottle of dust off compressed air.

had to get my winderscreen washer jets working.
Had a can of dust off i use for cleaning computers with. I undid the water hose on the drivers side under bonnet near winderscreen the hose fitted onto my nozzle on the dust off bottle, kept the water tank full and took lid of water tank inlet and just kept the dust off trigger pressed. Eventually the water comes out of the inlet and the longer I kept pressing the more gunk flowed up to the top. I guess it’s a temporary fix as this is coming off the blocked filters in the water tank. But a bit of a life saver as it can be done by the side of the road and now they are working fine. When I get time will clean the tank fully.