Headlight Washer Cover flew off!

R

Rick Hunter

Veteran
 Jet City
Hey fellow Zedders.

hur2us.jpg


Just polling the audience about this weird occurrence that happened to me about a month ago. I came home from work one night and noticed that my right headlamp washer cover had flown off somewhere along the way. I did notice that it was on earlier in the day, but somehow it flew off. It wasn't a windy day, I wasn't speeding (that much), and there was definitely no foul play earlier in the day. Anyway, BMW replaced it on their own dime so the car's fine now.

Has this happened to anyone else? I figured I'd post a thread on it out of curiosity. Hopefully this won't happen again, although if it does, I'll be pretty irritated.

Cheers!
 
Is it possible that the bracket for the washer is adjusted too low, putting pressure on the cap when it retracts??

Mine are OK & have never come off, but I have mine disabled.
 
Have read about this on the pistonheads forum, apparently its not uncommon - bit disgraceful if you ask me!
 
Just happened to me today - only my dealer wants me to pay $100 for the replacement.

Their excuse is that, without the original component, they are unable to determine whether the component was at fault.

Sure fellas - it was all my fault. I shouldn't have driven the car without double-checking every bolt, screw and plastic clip. Because nothing EVER goes wrong with a BMW.
 
The cover is affixed to the washer jets via 2 tiny tabs. Obviously, these tabs will eventually fail and the cover will fly off. I really wish they were attached permanently to the inner jets. That way it'll never come off, and will still allow the washers to operate.

There is something seriously wrong with your dealer if they do not replace the part as per warranty guidelines. My service rep typed the issue in and ordered the part to be painted and installed ASAP. They had me sign off that they did this warranty work and did not charge me for it.

Good Luck with this, mate.
 
This happened tome last month - in the morning it was there, in the afternoon it wasn't! I took it to the stealer who initially told me it was not covered under warranty so I called BMW uk customer services, told them i was driving along the motorway, washed my windscreen and the washer cap flies off and hits the windscreen landing somewhere on the motorway behind me. they said to take the car back to the stealer and explain this to them, which I did and they agreed to replace it under the warranty. result :thumbsup:
 
tuscan said:
This happened tome last month - in the morning it was there, in the afternoon it wasn't! I took it to the stealer who initially told me it was not covered under warranty so I called BMW uk customer services, told them i was driving along the motorway, washed my windscreen and the washer cap flies off and hits the windscreen landing somewhere on the motorway behind me. they said to take the car back to the stealer and explain this to them, which I did and they agreed to replace it under the warranty. result :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Welcome Tuscan,

You sound like a fellow TVR convert :P I had a Griffith for 9 years..then tried a Lotus Elise (hence the username)...now I've got a proper car :thumbsup:

Steve
 
I had that happen the day after I took delivery.

If you look at the HC06 Panoramic photo you can see the Drivers side cover is missing.

As soon as the picture was over I went to the tech tent and they went into the factory and got me one.
 
I know this happened to Garlick (on PH) in his 3.0. The dealer said it was common apparently. Not had the same problem on mine yet though...
 
OK, so it has been 2 weeks since I was at my dealer and I have heard nada, zip, SFA from them. This was only supposed to take a week to get the bit from Melbourne and have it painted.

I'm not really in the mood to call them up and chase them for another BS response.

I recall seeing a post somewhere with an exploded view of the front end showing the part numbers of the various items, and the washer covers were number 8 I think. I would like to just buy this part off the web and get it painted myself. Can someone please advise the best place to buy from - consider that it is almost *that* time of the year, so I need to get in NOW.
 
Come to think of it, I had to wait about 2 weeks for my part to be ordered and painted. You should probably give them a call and hound them about it. Tell them Rick Hunter got it covered without ANY hassle.

BTW, I got these p/n:
COVER, SPRAY NOZZLE LEFT PRIMED: 51117078261
COVER, SPRAY NOZZLE RIGHT PRIMED: 51117078262

COVER, SPRAY NOZZLE LEFT PAINTED: 51110031025
COVER, SPRAY NOZZLE RIGHT PAINTED: 51110031026
 
Right! Back from BMW and it's all sorted.

I printed out a bunch of pages from forums and took them with me to see the Sales Manager. Didn't even need to show him. Once I explained the story to him, he took me out the back and shafted me - no, no, no that's not right - he took me out to the Service Department and told them to charge him for the replacement.

Also, the replacement had just arrived today from the painter and the service guy went and got it and fitted it to Sabine. Good as new.

It seems that BMW conduct audits of the dealers to determine exactly what they will reimburse as a warranty claim. Items such as this, where no faulty part is presented, are not covered. So in the end the dealer must pay for the replacement.

The service dude is only doing his job in saying it is not covered under warranty. I guess if you don't go to a higher level, then you pay.

In the end I'm happy the way it all turned out and all is forgiven.

Just don't let it happen again.

And thanks you guys for your helpful and supportive posts. They got real scared when I mentioned Rick.
 
I must say that this is one feature I'm happy not to have... not that it isn't a fine idea, headlight washers and such... but it has more to do with the little covers adding unnecessary "bumps" of complexity to otherwise clean flowing lines. too bad they weren't designed to be flush when retracted.

i wonder why they were standard in Europe (with xenons) but not here with the same setup. i'd have thought they'd be part of the premium package just because of the whole upgraded headlight thing.
 
This happened to me on the autobahns at about 160mph. The car is delimited and we were on a highspeed run when something flew over the windscreen. Didn't realise what it was until we stopped for some 100 octane German fuel.

I told the dealer that it happened in Scotland at 40mph and they sorted it no problem. No argument at all.

Incidentally the washers are standard in Europe as cars with xenons MUST have them under law. They are programmed to wash the headlights every second time that you use the windscreen washer jets which is damned annoying if you've recently cleaned your car. Typical European Parliament nonsense. Next they're spending $18761237836237 on a Europe wide study into the effects of handbrake turns on the environment, seems easier than commissioning 20000 new schools.
 
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