Windscreen/Light washer acting strange

E

EdButler

Senior member
 Sheffield
Hi Guys, a bit of a strange one this...

Basically i ran out of washer fluid on Saturday night, so pulled into a petty station to fill up again. So firstly isn't the Z4 supposed to have a 'Low Washer Fluid' sensor/warning? This car has everything else electric, including heated jets!?

Secondly, after i re-filled the water - nothing came out of the washer jets. I thought it was an air-bubble, so just kept the washer motors on for about 20secs but still nothing except for a VERY slight dribble from the sprayers...

...Anyway i tried them again about 10 minutes lates and bam, they worked again straight away!? The only problem is that the headlight washers still aren't working.

Is the washer system prone to air-locking when they are tried without water? All the washer pipes still seem to be attached and both motors are definately working (you can hear them still). Does anyone know a way to test the headlight system, as it seems that its on a timed circuit, only operating 10+ minutes between windscreen washes.

Thanks all!
 
Nope doesn't have a warning light to indicate low level :(

Headlight washers only work every 2-3 times anyways...
 
doesnt the headlights have to be switched 'ON' as well for the headlight washer units to activate?
 
and there has to be over half a tank of water, although in practice i think it's actually less than that.. for it to wash the lights :)

incidentally.. mine did something not dissimilar, stopped working completely. took 2 trips to the dealer to sort.

apparently sometimes they melt shut.. :thumbsdown:
 
Assuming the pump motors are still working then added to all this that there is a lot of hose to the healight washers and they need a lot of water to hydraulically pressure them up, work only with the headlights on and cycle only every 3 or so times and you may therefore have to run them a fair number of times to purge the air in the pipes.
 
Okay cheers for the feedback guys, will give the pipes a few blasts on my trip to work. If not shes gonna have to go in - thank goodness for warranty! :)
 
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