How To.....

[pauldyson1uk]

WOW what a site only been a memeber for a matter of an hour and you have solved my wet passenger side floor

[gregers]

and its free,

[B@rnstormer]

Hello,

 

The rear washer in our Mk2 doesn't work. I can hear the pump and can smell washer fluid in the car, but nothing on the back window. So I checked here on the forum, and was relieved to find out that this was a common problem - BUT - my carpets are dry. The only place I found water was in the boot, around the striker plate where the boot lock goes when you shut the boot. So today I took the card off the boot lid, fully expecting the leak to be there, but there's no problem there (other than with the black plastic 90 degree coupler which connects the black flexible washer tube to the back of the wiper motor - which I stupidly broke). Next, I opened the bonnet and hey presto, there was fresh water sprayed over the engine cover. I had my wife pull the washer lever and saw water spraying in the area of the coolant expansion vessel (round ball on the right of the engine bay). I identified the tube which was spraying, it was just poking in through a small hole in the black plastic shroud that sits in front of the top of the suspension turret, heading back towards the rear of the car. On close inspection, this tube has been burned/melted in two! It's all deformed and bubbly. Unfortunately my wife pulled the washer stalk again and I took a proper facefull of washer fluid. I can't find the other end of the tube, if I could then I'd cut both ends off flush and reconnect them. For the time being, I've popped the top off the washer bottle, removed the strainer and pushed the melted end of the hose down inside so activating the washer pump just squirts the water back into the bottle rather than spraying all over the silver metal square box which is presumably the ECU.

 

Has anybody else had a problem with the washer tube being burned/melted in half in the under-bonnet area?

Does anybody know how this might have happened?

Does anybody know where I should be looking for the other end of the burned/melted tube, please?

 

Sorry this has been long-winded, any help would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers all,

 

B@rnstormer

[chrispb123456]

Would advise you take off the passenger side scuff plate and trim panel and follow the pipe back up behind the dash and through the bulkhead, you will also come across the dreaded joint that comes apart, usually when it freezes.

Do yourself a favour wrap a small cable tie across the joint to prevent any problem there

[B@rnstormer]

Would advise you take off the passenger side scuff plate and trim panel and follow the pipe back up behind the dash and through the bulkhead, you will also come across the dreaded joint that comes apart, usually when it freezes.

Do yourself a favour wrap a small cable tie across the joint to prevent any problem there

 

I've been out to the car this afternoon to try to find the other end of the melted washer tube. I undid three bolts to take out the wide, tray-like part that goes between the engine and where the wiper motor is, to get better access. Sorry, I don't yet know the correct names of all the parts, but this is the same bit that needs to come out in order to access the pollen filter. Looking way back behind the top of the nearside suspension turret, with a bright torch, I could see the other half of the washer tube - it's all burned, twisted and shrunken, and it's too far back for me to reach from there. I had the trim panel off inside the car and found the hose under the door seal (the "usual suspect" connector at this point was a very loose fit and came apart when I touched it). I followed the tube all the way up behind the dash, by feel, to what seemed to be a gromet where it goes through the bulkhead. Looking under the wheel arch, right up at the top, there's a hole about 15mm in diameter through which I thought I could see the melted tube. I jammed a pair of needle-nosed pliers up through the hole and looked for them under the bonnet, and sure enough they were sticking up just a few inches in front of where the melted hose is. But I cannot get to the hose through the wheel arch. I tried taking out the arch liner to see if there was an access hidden behind that, but there wasn't.

 

Short of removing the dash from the car, or the nearside wing, what's the best way of getting to the area back behind the suspension turret? Is there some trick to doing it?

 

MOT's coming up very soon and will presumably fail if the rear washer's not working, so any suggestions welcomed.

 

Cheers again.

[seatkid]

Rear washer and wiper are not part of the MOT.

[B@rnstormer]

Rear washer and wiper are not part of the MOT.

Now THAT'S what I like to hear. Great news obviously, but I'll want to fix it all the same. Just maybe I can wait until it's warmer now before I do it.

 

Cheers!

[xavier]

Apologies, but this had me in hysterics

 

>Unfortunately my wife pulled the washer stalk again and I took a proper facefull of washer fluid

 

Can you take any pics?

 

I'd suggest you either try and join the 2 bits of pipe or you use the existing pipe to pull through a new pipe into the correct position. Note, I've not done this or had a look at the area, just trying to come up with ideas!

[B@rnstormer]

Apologies, but this had me in hysterics

 

>Unfortunately my wife pulled the washer stalk again and I took a proper facefull of washer fluid

 

Can you take any pics?

 

I'd suggest you either try and join the 2 bits of pipe or you use the existing pipe to pull through a new pipe into the correct position. Note, I've not done this or had a look at the area, just trying to come up with ideas!

 

Hello,

 

Yes, it was like a super-soaker in the face. I was pointing it away from me to make sure it didn't happen but the badly deformed end of the hose sent the water in two or three different directions, the bulk of it going in my face and in my mouth.

 

That aside, I was able to get a picture of the burnt hose end today and I'll post it here in a minute, if the forum will let me post pictures - I don't know.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Actually both of these are things I'm already considering. I thought I'd just go to Halfords and get some washer hose - but no, their website seems to suggest that they don't sell it. Plenty of bangin' sound systems, alloy wheels, noisy exhausts and light-up mobile phone holders but no washer hose unfortunately. I'll try joining the 2 existing bits of pipe together if there's enough slack after I've chopped off the toasted bits, and failing that I'll use the old bit to either pull a new length in from the engine bay to the car or from the other direction.

 

Picture in a minute, if I can.

 

Cheers.

[B@rnstormer]

 

Here it is, seen sitting on top of the battery. The other end of it which disappears through the bulkhead into the car is a lot worse.

 

 

Apologies, but this had me in hysterics

 

>Unfortunately my wife pulled the washer stalk again and I took a proper facefull of washer fluid

 

Can you take any pics?

 

I'd suggest you either try and join the 2 bits of pipe or you use the existing pipe to pull through a new pipe into the correct position. Note, I've not done this or had a look at the area, just trying to come up with ideas!

Edited February 2, 2013 by B@rnstormer

[chrispb123456]

Just a little intrigued what's happened there, is there any evidence of burnt wiring or scorched paintwork. 

[B@rnstormer]

Just a little intrigued what's happened there, is there any evidence of burnt wiring or scorched paintwork. 

 

Not that I can see. No soot, nothing that would suggest any kind of heat or even fire - except for once I removed the big, wide bit (3 bolts, one in the middle, one either side near the bonnet hinges, is this the drip tray?) I was able to see what I could only describe as a piece of sponge/foam, wrapped in a piece of VAG branded clear ployethene bag, tucked into each end of the drain-like channel underneath the wiper area. Hard to explain really. But both of these show signs of having been melted at one end or have even been on fire.

 

I thought that maybe somebody did some welding on the car at some point and this is what did the damage - I can't really see any evidence of that, though. Little bit worrying.

[B@rnstormer]

I know it's extreme but if I take the wing off, will I be able to get to where the burnt tube is?

[chrispb123456]

Them bits of foam in bags I have on my MK2, they seem to turn up in the hard to get at places even found some on my Mk3 in the rear compartments.

By the way that drip tray you referred to is commonly called the bulkhead extension or scuttle plate, it's removal provides better access to al those inaccessible items at the back of the engine area.

 

I wonder if there's been previous accident damage on the car and as you say cutting or welding gear may have caused it .

[xavier]

> I thought that maybe somebody did some welding on the car at some point and this is what did the damage

 

I have a thought. What about heat on the strut nuts to get them loose when replacing either springs or dampers? Had any suspension work done recently? Someone a bit too enthusiastic with the blowtorch, or not paying attention. That's a serious bit of heat, I think you're looking at replacement, for that section anyway. Halfords have washer hose IIRC, sure I saw some last time I was in looking for hose bandages. Also get some self-amalgamating tape from screwfix, great stuff that.

 

by the way, I re-read my post, glad you read it as I intended (looking for pics of the problem hose), rather than as pics of you getting soaked.

[B@rnstormer]

> I thought that maybe somebody did some welding on the car at some point and this is what did the damage

I have a thought. What about heat on the strut nuts to get them loose when replacing either springs or dampers? Had any suspension work done recently? Someone a bit too enthusiastic with the blowtorch, or not paying attention. That's a serious bit of heat, I think you're looking at replacement, for that section anyway. Halfords have washer hose IIRC, sure I saw some last time I was in looking for hose bandages. Also get some self-amalgamating tape from screwfix, great stuff that.

by the way, I re-read my post, glad you read it as I intended (looking for pics of the problem hose), rather than as pics of you getting soaked.

He he, wish I did get it on camera, especially video, would have been the easiest £250 I ever made.

Anyway, we've only had the Galaxy a couple of weeks and we know very little about its history. It's done over 200,000 miles, the interior's had a real beating in places and somebody's not been very careful with removing trim clips as there are loads broken. The underfloor aux heater doesn't work but hey, I didn't expect it to.

Anyway, I digress, I don't know if it's had suspension work recently. What I CAN see is that the suspension turrets themselves appear to have no rust, but the crowns on top of the suspension struts (I believe these are damper weights) are orange and rusty. At least spare parts are plentiful and cheap. Our Nissan X-Trail is very expensive to get parts for.

Cheers

[xavier]

> The underfloor aux heater doesn't work but hey, I didn't expect it to.

 

Mine doesn't either. Tried to fix it on the car but needed to remove it to drill out screws. Serves me right for having a laugh at your predicament yesterday, went to remove it from the car today, clamped the hoses but forgot to release the pressure on the coolant system first. Got covered in OLAT when I removed the first hose.

[steve329]

Thanks for the great post - brought our first galaxy last weekend and thanks to you Iv just completed the first repair - let's hope it doesn't need repairing every weekend! :-/

[daddyfixit]

ive just bought a skoda fabia sdi---polo/golf

 

no rear washers as the pipe uses the same joint UNDERNEATH THE ABS PUMP !!