Thanks for the video. There is a lot of work doing it this way though. Can I suggest this be "Plan B" and you try my "Plan A" first? It took an hour or so and it worked like a charm without taking anything apart. 1. Open the bonnet. 2. Unplug one of the windscreen washer tubes from the spray nozzle on the underside of the bonnet. 3. Get a hand held bike pump with a spare outlet pipe. Lucky for me, I already had a spare bike pump pipe in the garage that was prepared to donate itself to science. 4. Cut off the brass threaded end of the bike pump pipe so you have an open rubber pipe a few inches long connected to the pump. 5. Insert each end of a small male-male barbed connector (the kind used for small diameter irrigation tubing) in the bike pump pipe and the windscreen washer tube under the bonnet. You now have a means of back flushing the washer pump outlets with air to blast out the gunk in the washer pump and pump suction line. 6. Feed a piece of small diameter clear plastic tubing down the filler cap to the bottom of the washer tank. 7. Use a gravity syphon or pump to empty the tank. I have a hand powered vacuum oil extractor pump I could attach the clear tube to. It was brilliant. 8. Fill the washer tank with a mixture of warm water and a little bleach from a watering can and give the bike pump a good pumping. You will hear it vigorously churning up the washer tank. 9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 a few times until the water coming out through the clear plastic tube is clean. 10. Disconnect the bike pump from the washer tube. 11. Run the car windscreen washer pump through the open washer tube into a container so you can see what comes out. Ensure this runs clear before you plug it back into the spray nozzles. If not, keep stirring up the tank with the bike pump and emptying it and refilling it until you don't see any more gunk coming out. 12. Sit back and be amazed how much crap came out of the washer tank. 13. Ask your wife to use the windscreen washer more than once every six months so it doesn't get full of algae again. I suggest this method will also work to dislodge the slimy stuff that forms from some windscreen additives when they get old. This happened to my wife's car once when they put an additive in at the service centre. I now use tap water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid and haven't had this problem since. Good luck unblocking!
Tried this tonight in my own before s finding this tutorial. Got as far as the bottle coming out and it got awkward and dark lol. I'll remove the indicator in the morning and take your advice about removing the pumps. Thanks Spencer.
Thanks for producing the video, it helped a lot, although I couldn't find the captive pin centres afterwards 😂. Worst part of the whole job was cleaning the bottle out. Now I have working windscreen washers!
Also you can use a pump action pressure sprayer, put the wiper sprayer tubes over the pressure sprayer and give it a few pumps worked like a charm for me
Hi guys your a long way from me I always view your posts the screen washer was so helpfull and I completed it successfully.can you help my 120i convertable 2010 model I press the roof button it releases locking but does not operate would it be a fuse any respect will be great thanks Trev in sunny cape Town south africa
I'm not sure if this the same as the problem on the wifes car. The car I believe has one pump, we can hear it when squirting the back window, but not when squirting the front. So is that a blocked pipe still, or an electrical problem from the stork to the pump?
I had a similar problem a while back, the washers were only giving a very slight dribble of water. I tipped a bottle of bleach into the washer bottle and left it for a couple of hours. My washers are like water cannons now
hi mate, mine seem is not block as the water come out of the bottom of the tuck lid ? but my wiper still fucntion, is just that the water wont come out where it ment to be coming out off
I have good fronts on the wife's cars but a tiny trickle on the rear when u use the stalk it sounds like the pump doesn't run long enough to get good pressure. I took the boot door card off and blew it out with an air line. Some muck came out but no real difference. Any ideas?
@@Leonard_Smith done this on two different vehicles since. I wouldn't put self tappers in there it's going to take the arch paint off and be a magnet for corrosion. I snip the heads off with side cutters and remove the rivet. Then I use replacements. BMW charge way too much for the rivets, dollars for pack of 3 but they go back in nice.
Hi there iv got a problem on my 1 series iv changed the pumps still no washers iv cleaned the filters still nothing I'm pressing the stalk and not getting a noise also my rear wiper is not working at all all I have is front wipers and the only fuse boxs is behind the glove boxs iv checked all the fuses today still nothing can any one help me please
Hi jack I’ve got same prob with washer Did you get this sorted I Thght it may be the fuse but like you I checked and fuses ok Bit of a nightmare as need car to get thru mot Any help appreciated Thanks Steve
Thanks for the video. There is a lot of work doing it this way though. Can I suggest this be "Plan B" and you try my "Plan A" first? It took an hour or so and it worked like a charm without taking anything apart.
1. Open the bonnet.
2. Unplug one of the windscreen washer tubes from the spray nozzle on the underside of the bonnet.
3. Get a hand held bike pump with a spare outlet pipe. Lucky for me, I already had a spare bike pump pipe in the garage that was prepared to donate itself to science.
4. Cut off the brass threaded end of the bike pump pipe so you have an open rubber pipe a few inches long connected to the pump.
5. Insert each end of a small male-male barbed connector (the kind used for small diameter irrigation tubing) in the bike pump pipe and the windscreen washer tube under the bonnet.
You now have a means of back flushing the washer pump outlets with air to blast out the gunk in the washer pump and pump suction line.
6. Feed a piece of small diameter clear plastic tubing down the filler cap to the bottom of the washer tank.
7. Use a gravity syphon or pump to empty the tank. I have a hand powered vacuum oil extractor pump I could attach the clear tube to. It was brilliant.
8. Fill the washer tank with a mixture of warm water and a little bleach from a watering can and give the bike pump a good pumping. You will hear it vigorously churning up the washer tank.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 a few times until the water coming out through the clear plastic tube is clean.
10. Disconnect the bike pump from the washer tube.
11. Run the car windscreen washer pump through the open washer tube into a container so you can see what comes out. Ensure this runs clear before you plug it back into the spray nozzles. If not, keep stirring up the tank with the bike pump and emptying it and refilling it until you don't see any more gunk coming out.
12. Sit back and be amazed how much crap came out of the washer tank.
13. Ask your wife to use the windscreen washer more than once every six months so it doesn't get full of algae again.
I suggest this method will also work to dislodge the slimy stuff that forms from some windscreen additives when they get old. This happened to my wife's car once when they put an additive in at the service centre. I now use tap water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid and haven't had this problem since.
Good luck unblocking!
very clear instructions. pity you didn't actually show us the bottle coming out so we could see the hidden stuff you were talking about.
Tried this tonight in my own before s finding this tutorial. Got as far as the bottle coming out and it got awkward and dark lol. I'll remove the indicator in the morning and take your advice about removing the pumps. Thanks Spencer.
Thanks mate, this video helped me solve my sprayers. Took 2hrs and had never worked on a car before 👍
Thanks for producing the video, it helped a lot, although I couldn't find the captive pin centres afterwards 😂. Worst part of the whole job was cleaning the bottle out. Now I have working windscreen washers!
Many thanks for the upload, just the right amount of info Vs the length of the video, I did drop one filters in the bottom of the, lol
Thanks Spencer, I followed your instructions today and completed the job without any problems. Much appreciated!!!
This was hugely helpful. Thank you so much for making this video.
hi Mark I'm pleased it helped you makes it worthwhile posting the videos thanks again spencer
Also you can use a pump action pressure sprayer, put the wiper sprayer tubes over the pressure sprayer and give it a few pumps worked like a charm for me
Nice one thanks need to do mine thanks to previous owner
I'm not looking forward to this weekend job... But I'm glad I don't have to pay a stealer! Thanks Mark
Hi guys your a long way from me I always view your posts the screen washer was so helpfull and I completed it successfully.can you help my 120i convertable 2010 model I press the roof button it releases locking but does not operate would it be a fuse any respect will be great thanks Trev in sunny cape Town south africa
Thank for that Spencer very useful
very good instructions but much better if you had TAKEN OUT the bottle and shown us the job properly !
I'm not sure if this the same as the problem on the wifes car. The car I believe has one pump, we can hear it when squirting the back window, but not when squirting the front. So is that a blocked pipe still, or an electrical problem from the stork to the pump?
Hi there I'm pleased this has help someone out thanks for your comment
Hello, is there not a liquid solution that I could add to the water bottle to loosen the gue up?
bleach
I had a similar problem a while back, the washers were only giving a very slight dribble of water. I tipped a bottle of bleach into the washer bottle and left it for a couple of hours. My washers are like water cannons now
Tried the bleach method works like a dream
Hi there you may find some stuff out there on the market that says it will do the job but it won't I've always ended up doing it the hard way thanks
hi mate, mine seem is not block as the water come out of the bottom of the tuck lid ? but my wiper still fucntion, is just that the water wont come out where it ment to be coming out off
I have good fronts on the wife's cars but a tiny trickle on the rear when u use the stalk it sounds like the pump doesn't run long enough to get good pressure. I took the boot door card off and blew it out with an air line. Some muck came out but no real difference. Any ideas?
How are people removing and replacing the plastic rivets on the wheel arch covers?
@@Leonard_Smith done this on two different vehicles since. I wouldn't put self tappers in there it's going to take the arch paint off and be a magnet for corrosion. I snip the heads off with side cutters and remove the rivet. Then I use replacements. BMW charge way too much for the rivets, dollars for pack of 3 but they go back in nice.
Just done this work, it's not easy whoever thought up this design are f*****g cresey.
where are you based in UK? I need some help for my bmw 4 series lol.
Hi do you have s email o can send a video to in haveing problem with my throttle?
Terrifying! And what loon designed a system that requires this much aggro in order to get at a simple filter!
Ze Germans are such wonderful engineers zat zey go overboard sometimes........
Hi there iv got a problem on my 1 series iv changed the pumps still no washers iv cleaned the filters still nothing I'm pressing the stalk and not getting a noise also my rear wiper is not working at all all I have is front wipers and the only fuse boxs is behind the glove boxs iv checked all the fuses today still nothing can any one help me please
Hi jack I’ve got same prob with washer
Did you get this sorted
I Thght it may be the fuse but like you I checked and fuses ok
Bit of a nightmare as need car to get thru mot
Any help appreciated
Thanks Steve
there is a non return valve on the washers on these cars... they do fail and need replacing.
Gah, removing that arch liner is a pig!