Windshield Washer Nozzles

[GitEmSteveDave]

I have been blowing and flushing my nozzles from both sides with air and from the fluid side with fluids and every other day it seems like mine still get clogged and dribble from the nozzles. Any suggestions?

 

[Jbergun]

Maybe its the pump? I never had an issue with them. Send some simple green or rubbing alcohol through them.

 

[GitEmSteveDave]

Maybe its the pump? I never had an issue with them. Send some simple green or rubbing alcohol through them.

No, b/c the rear never seems to block up. Only the front.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Have you tried sticking a needle or something in them? What if you activate the back first and then do the fronts? My front one's won't spray anything sometimes if I don't do the back first. Works fine if it's above half full. Something about some valves or something getting stuck.

 

[Damotee]

Mine are so clogged up with dust they just dribble out. Ive tried the pin in the nozzle with out luck. Im really not sure what else I can do. Its annoying as they use to work perfectly.

 

[Billwill]

The pump turns in one direction for the front wipers and in the opposite direction for the rear wipers. A series of valves directs the flow along the relevant tubing.

Pull the tubing off the rear of the front spouts and check if you have good flow there...if the flow there is good then the spouts are blocked...I have used a pin...not a brittle needle!....to unblock these spouts and have had to sometimes remove them and soak them in a diluted acidic solution.

I would advise that you disconnect the tubing along the whole length between the front wipers to the pump and try to "blow back" along the tubing in the reverse direction with some form of air or water pump.

Adding some form of diluted acid such as swimming pool acid will help to dissolve any form of sand or any other gunge in the tubing.

 

[LibertyTC]

Ya just make sure none of that swimming pool acid gets on the paint job =eek

 

[GitEmSteveDave]

Since they are plastic, I'm hesitant to shove something metal in there, in case I mess up the spray pattern. They never clog while using, but instead after it's been sitting. At first I thought it was cheap dealer fluid freezing.

I haven't removed the nozzles themselves because I would have to take a big portion of plastic off.

I have taken the rubber plug out on the passenger side firewall, and disconnected the tube that feeds the fronts. I've flushed it with a 60cc irrigation syringe(I live on a horse farm and these are easy to get and can generate a lot of pressure) with distilled water/vinegar/soap in it from the pump side and it always blows it clear...for a time. I've also blown it out that way and also from the nozzles themselves with a air compressor, and it will shoot out the other nozzle and also back through the disconnected line into the engine bay, but clogs again within a day or so.

I've been hesitant to use CLR or anything stronger for fear of damaging the paint and also it spraying in my face/eyes.

I'm honestly thinking of cutting the line and adding a fuel filter in.

 

[Billwill]

Yeah a fuel filter inline may help!

Are you using clean water and any windscreen cleaner solution?

 

[GitEmSteveDave]

Seriously, these nozzles are driving me crazy. They literally work one day, not the next and then again the day after, with NO involvement of me. I don't touch them, other than trying to run them, and they sputter, the next day they work perfectly with no problems, and the day after that they weep and don't even touch the wipers.

I seriously can't figure out what they can be clogged with that changes so drastically, but can't be expelled with 70 PSI.

 

[Billwill]

Maybe worth picking up a pump, hoses and nozzles from a breaker yard?

Stick a volt meter on your pump and check what voltage you are getting when things are working well and again when water is just dribbling out....your multifunction switch may be failing sometimes!

 

[Charlesthe2nd]

Since they are plastic, I'm hesitant to shove something metal in there, in case I mess up the spray pattern. They never clog while using, but instead after it's been sitting. At first I thought it was cheap dealer fluid freezing.

I've been hesitant to use CLR or anything stronger for fear of damaging the paint and also it spraying in my face/eyes.

I'm honestly thinking of cutting the line and adding a fuel filter in.

Hey, so I had a similar problem with mine and used some tricks of the trade (I'm an agricultural operations manager) and was able to fix it. Seems like you've done a lot of things to try to fix it. I'm surprised that the syringe didn't blow out the clog. My problem originally started, I believe, with my addition of vinegar to my washer reservoir which then "fermented or grew" and clogged my lines with this snot-like substance. It kept fouling up the nozzles, then get cleaned out, spray fine and get clogged again.

What I ended up doing was adding Star-San to the reservoir (easy to get on amazon, although we get it in 275g IBC tanks), which we use to sterilize our stock tanks and it works extremely well at removing scale and organic deposits. After adding it and running it into the system, I enlisted my partner to activate the windshield washer sprayer, and as she was doing that I used a fisher (what I call it, imagine a sturdy but flexible thin steel wire with a blunted end) to plunge down into the nozzle. We sprayed the whole reservoir, took several minutes. The star-san worked great and a lot of junk that was living in the lines came out. Rinsed the reservoir and replaced the pump. Now I only use rain-x brand washer fluid, all is good.