Mark Fletcher

Hi - I went through the many threads people have posted in the past about windshield washer pump issues, but couldn't find an answer to the problems I am having.

The car is a 1993 968. The windshield washer pump stopped pumping the other day (like, no noise from the pump when the washer pump switch was activated). Fuse was not blown. There had been no previous issues with the washer system. Before getting into electrical issues I figure I'll check out the pump, so I remove the fender well, remove the washer fluid tank, and notice that the previous owner must have been in there at some point because one half of a rubber boot of the washer pump harness is missing and in its place is a lot of electrical tape. Remove the tape, look at the exposed wires, they look OK, try the pump switch again and now the pump comes on (electrical problem diagnosed?), however there's still no washer fluid coming out of either of the squirters.

There's no visual indication that the hose from the pump is pinched off, and there could be a mechanical failure within the pump, so I drain the washer tank into a bucket, remove the pump from the side of the tank with the outlet hose from the pump still attached, put the end of the pump in the bucket, hit the pump switch, and again the pump comes on but no washer fluid out the squirters. Then I remove the hose from the outlet at the bottom of the pump and test the pump again, and this time the washer fluid comes out of that pump outlet with enough pressure that it sprayed about 30 feet. So I guess there has to be a block in the lines, or could it still be a mechanical problem with the pump?

What I'm curious about is the design of the washer pump, which appears to have a bypass line that runs from the bottom of the pump and back into the top of the washer fluid tank. If that's what the second outlet from the pump is for, shouldn't it have been sending washer fluid out that bypass line (it didn't) when I ran the pump when it was connected to the (blocked?) line to the squirters?

Mark

odurandina

sorry to hear about this problem...haven't a clue on how to help. my light is on but everything works perfect otherwise. can't stand that there's a light coming on on my dash when its just as easy to see i am out when NO WASH comes out of the outlets -- DUMB.

FRporscheman

I have seen two things that clog. One is the little plastic elbows that connect the hoses together - they are actually check valves. Some hot water and lots of sucking/blowing should clean them up.

The second is the nozzle. The orifices are so small, it doesn't take much to clog them. One little grain of debris in the fluid.... or while waxing your car you put wax in the hole and it dries... or even if you use the wrong soap in the tank, the soap can dry and harden in the nozzle tip. You should not use dish soap or anything like that, only solutions like windshield formula, or windex even.

To clean the nozzles, I remove them. I first try pushing the clog back into the nozzle using a small pin or needle. Then I connect the feed side to my hand vacuum pump and pull a vacuum. If it actually pulls a vacuum, the clog is still there. Try hot water, the needle, anything you can think of. Once the vacuum pump pulls freely, the clog is cleared.

To flush out the tank without removing it (lazy man here), I disconnected the lower hose to drain it, then I reconnected it, then disconnect the hose that leads to the nozzles and aimed it away from the car, then I filled the tank with almost-boiling water, and ran the pump, and by the time the tank was half empty, the stream was finally flowing clear. YMMV!!!

I hope that helps.

Mark Fletcher

Thanks for that advice, I was going to start taking hose connections apart to see how far I have fluid going from the pump, but since new hose, valves and crimp clamps are pretty cheap I'm waiting for those to arrive and I'll just replace those items and do the job once. It could be the nozzles, but since both failed at the same time I expect the problem will be found in the first section of line up to an including the T-valve (famous last words).

FRporscheman

That sounds like a good idea.

You might need bull-nose cutters to crimp the hose clamps. I get away with regular cutters (dulled the edges) but bull-nose cutters are way easier.

Where are you located? You can add your location to your profile info so maybe local users can lend a hand.

Mark Fletcher

So what I thought was a bypass line that runs from the bottom of the pump up the side of the pump body looks to be the chamber that has the fluid level sender. There is a float inside it with a metal bar at the top, presumably it closes a circuit that activates the dashboard light. Maybe some crud has jammed the movement of the float in your washer pump (if you remove the pump from the side of the tank and tip it about you should hear the float slide up and down, and if you can get the float to move then maybe the light on the dash will work normally again).