Washer fluid leaking through hood nozzles

[Mtnman]

Guys, i hope you may be able to help me with this. It appears my windshield washer fluid is leaking out through the hood nozzles. Is this a faulty nozzle, or is my pump somehow staying pressurized even when I am not calling on it? Ive heard of this with headlight washers, but the hood nozzles are "uphill" from the tank, so how the hell is fluid travelling against gravity to leak out of my nozzles? Now Fixed. See last post.

David

[danewilson77]

I bet your nozzles have become unseated.

EDIT: Oh....HOOD nozzles...mmmmm

[Mtnman]

yeah. hmmm... Im gonna try to take them apart this evening to see if there is a check valve open, but it is still going against known physics...Maybe Newton was wrong?:dunno

[Mtnman]

keep thinkin, dane! What I'm gonna do tonight doesn't make sense, but I'm just gonna do it and see what I see. I really need a more logical direction to go.....

[danewilson77]

I would take it apart also...lol.....

But...I would think that you would be able to see if there is pressure another way.

[mimalmo]

Hmmm. I've had the headlight washers apart but never the hood mounted windshield washers. I would get a buddy to help you search for leaks. From my experience on the headlight washers, the system isn't "pressurized" but since all the tubes and such are full of fluid, if there is a small hole, they will leak until they are empty.

[Mtnman]

I agree, except the hoses in question are above the reservoir. Either I'm about to rebuke newton's laws, or something weird is going on! Bout to disassemble now...

[mimalmo]

The pump has a one-way valve so once it pushes the fluid out it won't drain back down. The onlŸ way out is as you've found out; via the nozzles or a leak.

[Mtnman]

So i thought i had this fixed just by taking things apart, and putting them back together....well low and behold, my son and i went to the childrens trading post to pic up some clothes for him and this is what i found in the parking lot when i returned to my car. I told you guys i thought the washer fluid pump was somehow continuing pressure when the car was off... well, look at these pics. I did NOT use the wiper fluid on the way over to this store, and it was only a 2 mile trip. How does fluid come out of the nozzles when the car is off????? It is definitely NOT leaking from the reservoir or pump itself.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i398/booneflyfisher/2011-02-12_11-12-14_822.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i398/booneflyfisher/2011-02-12_11-12-23_461.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i398/booneflyfisher/2011-02-12_11-12-43_239.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i398/booneflyfisher/2011-02-12_11-12-56_726.jpg

Thats a lot of fluid under the car too!

So the only thing i can think of is the angel eyes are wired through a tap into the "accessory" wire in the CPU. maybe this tap is somehow the cause? Ive had the tap in for over a year, and this probelm just sprang up 4 months ago. Anyone who is more knowledgeable than me about wiring have any idea? Also, if it helps, i did have an aftermarket washer pump installed for 8 months, which used two taps on the washer pump wires. Now i have an OEM pump that is using the wires that were tapped into... but i dont know why that would make a difference. Anybody have any ideas?

[kayger12]

I'll start digging in the wiring schematics in the Bentley and see if I can come up with anything.

[mimalmo]

Is it just leaking out of the one side David?

[billschusteriv]

Is it just leaking out of the one side David?

If it is leaking out of one side, have you thought about switching the nozzles?

[Mtnman]

Nope, leaking out of both sides! But how is fluid traveling against gravity?

[Mtnman]

Ok Folks, this problem is SOLVED!! I was sitting at the indie shop getting ac charged, reading about Dane's son's continuing saga......so i saw the shop owner and I said hey, Barry, got a second for a brian teaser? I desribed my problem to him, and how much time ive spent on it. He started smiling before I could finish the story. Immediately he says-------"You've got a clogged vent on the washer fluid tank somewhere. The tank has to vent because it heats up, and the air inside expands. If it doesnt vent, it forces the fluid through the tubes to the nozzles."

Ha! makes perfect sense. I had replaced the fluid cap (with on from BMW) but the old one must have had a venting mechansm or something on it. Solution- drill a 1/16 hole in the center of the washer fluid cap. I wasted 2 cases of beer and countless hours on this, and the solution was right there......Should have drank less and pondered more! lol.

[kayger12]

Glad you got it figured out! Need to file this one away-- you know this will rear it's head again with someone else some day.

[mimalmo]

Good thing you can laugh about it now. Such a simple thing...

[danewilson77]

Sometimes the answer eludes you, even when its right in your face.

[pyreguy]

I'm really glad this quandary is resolved! Isn't physics fun?

[danewilson77]

No kidding......thermodynamics.....

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[anandoc]

Apologies in advanced for reviving such an old thread but after months of troubleshooting my windshield washer system leak, the solution in this thread seems to have fixed my issues. I replaced all the components in my washer system excluding the nozzles and the reservoir and the leak would not go away, leaving me baffled.

I finally stumbled upon this thread when I saw my nozzles leaking even when the car was turned off. Phew - such a relief to have fixed this issue. Thanks!

[ELCID86]

Wow. So the fix is drilling a hole in the cap. ??


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk.

[anandoc]

Yup! The hole in the cap allows for the vapor within the washer container to vent. This prevents pressure build-up leading to fluid leaking out of the hood nozzles. I'm surprised the cap didn't come with a hole or another venting mechanism from the factory.