Leaky headlight washer.. any pointers?

[AJP]

Hi

Car was in the bodyshop recently and had the bumper off. He mentioned it lost a bit of fluid from the headlight washers but topped it up.

Fast forward 36 hours and I get to the car after work today and notice a small puddle just in front of the offside front wheel. Had a sniff.. definitely washer fluid, had a feel.. it was coming down of the back edge of the splitter, so more or less directly below the headlight washer pump/line. Had a look in the resevoir and it looked dry, although I haven't had a low fluid warning on the dash strangely.

I'm guessing there's a hose/clip/something that hasn't gone back on properly.

So, bearing in mind I've never had the bumper off myself (only had the car a few weeks!) and I'm not too familiar with how the washers work, does anyone have any experience with this?

I've read that you can gain access by removing the fog grill rather than the whole bumper, but I'm not sure it would give enough room/daylight to find and fix the leak.

Thanks in advance :-)

[skard]

There are T pieces and clamps all along the system, it would be better pulling the bumper our a little to look fully. The pump attaches to the reservoir, it could have got a little cocked with being moved about so there is a leak now.

Mk5 OEM bumpers are very good to work on though, just a series of torx screws, but start with the centre grille.

[AJP]

Cheers pal. Am I right in saying the undertray has to come off first in order to remove the bumper? Can see that being fun and games without a ramp!

[4ndy]

1st thing and easiest thing to do is to remove the filler neck from the cap down to where it enters the reservoir itself. Refit with silicone Mines perfect now http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clear-Silicone-Adhesive-Sealent-/141483127927?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20f10d3477

[AJP]

1st thing and easiest thing to do is to remove the filler neck from the cap down to where it enters the reservoir itself. Refit with silicone Mines perfect now http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clear-Silicone-Adhesive-Sealent-/141483127927?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20f10d3477

Ok will do. Would that have shifted with the bumper coming off though? I'm inclined to think the leak is further forward.

As it happens, there's been no fresh fluid on the floor today, and the low fluid light still hasn't come on. (I haven't topped up the fluid by the way.) Which makes me wonder where exactly the sensor is. As in how far down.

You may be on to something 4ndy!

[4ndy]

If you stop leaking after a while Id say the fluid upper level is below the leak/hole etc  I "borrowed" some food colouring added it to the washer bottle to see where its lower level was  The lower concertina part of the tubing had come away from the reservoir very slightly.