headlight washer problem

[Inuit]

My washer bottle keeps emptying itself - after asking syntners to help and being told it may cost me upto £200 to look at it, i left in disgust - i have a warranty, but as the part may be plastic or rubber it would be completely at my cost. Great customer service get again from Synters :x

Anyway, i have worked out myself (pretty good for a female ) that it is is pouring out from the passengers side headlight washer. I need to block off the pipe from the main washer bottle to the headlight washers (anyone know which one it is?)to stop the leak. The other alternative is to get under the car, I would prefer not to go crawling around on the floor in this weather unless it is something easy to fix - it might be that the pipe has simply popped off. Anyone got any diagrams of the headlamp washer. i have no way of getting this up on a ramp until after christmas. Rybrook Warwick whom i bought the car off have agreed to help me out, far better service than sytners, but i cannot get over there until after xmas so i think the easiest thing for me to do is block off the outlet, any help/diagram/pics would be appreciated.

 

[PawnSacrifice]

Sorry to hear about Synters... thought they were on the mend!

This was all I could find...
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=DU92&mospid=49422&btnr=61_1605&hg=61&fg=95&hl=1
Not brilliant.

There were a couple of posts about this sort of thing quite recently where they have broken / come off, might be worth a look.

 

[sk93]

CJ10Jeeper I believe is the resident headlight washer expert.. I'm sure he'll be along in a moment......

but when you see it empties itself.. is it a quick empty, leaving a nice puddle.. or does it take an hour or more?
(trying to guess if it's a pipe thats come off, or just maybe a split?)

 

[Inuit]

CJ10Jeeper I believe is the resident headlight washer expert.. I'm sure he'll be along in a moment......

but when you see it empties itself.. is it a quick empty, leaving a nice puddle.. or does it take an hour or more?
(trying to guess if it's a pipe thats come off, or just maybe a split?)

it empties really quick - filled it up at lunch and tried it out and saw the water literally pouring out under the passenger side headlight when/after using the washers, it does slow down once you stop using it, but it only slows to a drip, put 4 lts in last night, used the washer once to check and in the morning it had all drained. My headlight washers are not working either - presume they work on some sort of pressure. I am sure it is a pipe popped off, but the car is so low i am going to have to fiddle around with one arm (well the other half is) in the dark, hence the reason for an easier fix as a temp option.

I have checked out a couple of other threads, one seemed to involve taking the bumper off, though sure that was not only to change the headlight washers I need to see what is going on behind the washer.

 

[PawnSacrifice]

In the mean time, would it be possible to clamp off the pipe on that side? Thinking more if it would damage anything than whether it can be done.

 

[sk93]

try sending a PM to "CJ10Jeeper" - I'm sure he won't mind, and I'm sure he'd be happy to share the knowledge you need!

 

[gannet]

From this diagram: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT52&mospid=47797&btnr=61_1083&hg=61&fg=45

it is the pump on the washer bottle to the front of the car that feeds the headlight washers. you could clamp or block the hose there?

the pumps on the headlights are hydraulic with no electric feed...

To really look and find the leak you are going to have to take the bumper off though. It could just be something as simple as the hose has come of the pump under the bumper. There are guides on here about taking the bumper off though I'm not sure Id want to do it in this cold etc.

Sorry to hear about sytners :thumbsdown:

 

[paddy wright]

I had this prob- the hose had come off at the washer jet base. These can be acessed from the flap in the wheel arch- full lock on the steering and then pop it open- if its off its clear to see-esp if u fill the resevoir tank first! pop it back on and keep spraying off and on until the pressure builds up again.
more details on my thread here
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13701&p=203967&hilit=headlight#p203967

 

[Inuit]

Been outside for the last hour - found two flaps inside the wheel arch, one looks as though it is right behind the headlight - the other is slightly further down, but we cannot get it off. The problem we have is that i have an M and the 2nd flap down is held tightly into one of the cooling tunnels in the front bumper, there appears to be some sort of clip and even with a reasonable amount of force it is not coming off. The M bumper appears to be fully sealed. Have not tried to get the flap off which is straight behind the headlight, i presume it is in behind the one further down. I think the bumper is going to have to come off.

Anyone know any indepndendents around north west leicester area, though it might be as cheap to take it back to Rybrook, just a pain to go all the way over there.

Other option is to cap off the feed from the bottle itself for now, but just had a good look at that and it looks a the feeds are under the bottle.

It will be the first day i cannot take it out

Any other thoughts greatly appreciated

 

[sk93]

the bottle is piss easy to remove.. on mine it was a single bolt at the top, then a bit of a wiggle to release it from under the wing...... if that's any help?

(had to take it off, as I dropped the lid down in front of it, and I have fat fingers )

 

[Inuit]

I will leave it with the other half to remove the washer bottle tomorrow and see if i can cap of the correct tube. It has really been one of those days, very stupidly i left the lights on while we where working on it and now have a dead battery and to top it off i get to drive the people carrier to work tomorrow, if the damn thing will start in this weather:thumbsdown:

 

[paddy wright]

the flap needs a screw driver to open it- half turn and open it pops

 

[Gorbash12346]

for a temporary fix a pair of vice grips or a pipe clamp put onto the larger black washer pipe leading from the washer bottle (headlight washer output)

as for the flaps inside the wheel arches as said before a short flat blad screw driver then turn them 180 degrees in the direction they allow (they don't follow the usual clockwise to tighten etc)

once thats done it should open like it's on a hinge. with a decent light you should be able to see the pipe and if it has come off simply make sure the horseshoe shaped clip is still on it then simply press it gently into place until a click is heard (put your hand on the washer jet cover to prevent it moving while your doing it

if that doesn't make sense i'll do a video guide as my dads Z4MC is tucked up in the garage for the winter anyways

 

[frazell]

Inuit,

I have the exact same problem on my MC. Been out there today to try and remove the lower flap and it does appear to be rivetted with plastic rivets to the cooling intake duct. I'm not sure what to do other than drill the rivets out to remove the flap.

I might have a go next weekend at detaching the bumper to gain better access. Annoying thing is the car was in BMW last week and I reported the leak and they said there wasnt one....... even though by the time I returned from the garage the bottle had almost emptied itself!

Interesting to note that the passenger headlight washer still operates (raises and sprays) even though there is an obvious leak... maybe the pipe on mine is just split? Does yours still operate?

Let me know how you get on and I will do the same.

 

[Andy]

Same problem here, same side. (Same colour, same age, same engine, blah blah).

Dealer wanted £160 to replace as it's bumper off, not sure I'm confident about doing that myself.

Tempted to look for an Indi too.

Inuit how did you get it sorted in the end ?

 

[paddy wright]

andy its an easy kix mate if u read the thread i had on this issue

 

[AlanJ]

My washer bottle keeps emptying itself - after asking syntners to help and being told it may cost me upto £200 to look at it, i left in disgust - i have a warranty, but as the part may be plastic or rubber it would be completely at my cost. Great customer service get again from Synters :x

I am at a bit of a loss here..... someone sets up as a BMW to make money selling and servicing vehicles (and create a few jobs as well). So you go to that dealer and ask them to do some service work and when they won't do it for free you get angry - what's that all about! They have probably told you the worst case scenario for cost. Lets say they said it would cost £20 to check and then presented you with a bill for £200 then you would have something to complain about! oke:

 

[Andy]

have you got any idea how much a warranty costs for a Z4M ? To be told something as flawed as a headlamp washer isn't covered after you spend a further £1000 every so often on servicing, is quite frankly ridiculous.

andy its an easy kix mate if u read the thread i had on this issue

Thanks Paddy.. I did have a good look through, seems like it's harder to get to it on an /M but plan on looking tomorrow. They've told me mine is broken though, so probably not a loose pipe, although I'm not sure how they could tell.

 

[IK.]

have you got any idea how much a warranty costs for a Z4M ? To be told something as flawed as a headlamp washer isn't covered after you spend a further £1000 every so often on servicing, is quite frankly ridiculous.

andy its an easy kix mate if u read the thread i had on this issue

Thanks Paddy.. I did have a good look through, seems like it's harder to get to it on an /M but plan on looking tomorrow. They've told me mine is broken though, so probably not a loose pipe, although I'm not sure how they could tell.

I agree completely with Andy. Something so small should not be a problem for the dealer to do. You've paid for your warranty, and they've made enough money out of you already! If they built the cars better, we wouldn't need to buy the £1000 a year warranty!

 

[frazell]

Right, I finally got this sorted and thought that I should post my fix so others have something to go on.

Passenger side headlight washer jet froze on my Z4MC during the winter when it dropped to -15'C here, hardly a surprise really!

For those with an M, dont even bother trying to access the washer through the wheel arch hatch as the lower one (the one you need) is actually riveted to the brake cooling duct, meaning you cannot get the hatch off. So its essentially a bumper off job for the M, can't comment on the sport model.

I managed to source a working washer from the 'bay and fitted it myself. This didnt involve removing the entire bumper as originally thought. Basically I found a DIY guide on here for bumper removal and removed the top torx screws, the bolts under the front lip on the side effected, the wheel arch retaining poppers on the arch effected and then popped the bumper off where the arch meets the wing on one side only (this is the scariest bit as it comes off with a bit of a pop). Its not too hard to do, although you might need someone to help hold the bumper up whilst you fiddle around with the washer.

You can then move the bumper away from the front of the car enough to get your hands in behind and remove the washer jet (once you have removed the washer jet cap!), unclip the hose by removing the 'C' clip and then swap over. Refit is the reverse. The only parts you might need are replacement poppers for the wheel arch, x4 = 66pence from BMW.

So there you go if anyone has the same problem.