Issue with rear window washer. (Clogged?)

[JanJoh]

Hello!

Just bought a 07 in what appears to be pretty good shape. Got rid of the ridiculous Pioneer head unit, and put in a more usable head unit.

But, I digress.

On day two the rear window washer is giving me nothing (or a trickle). When i engage the washer, nothing happens for a few seconds, and then the front washers come to Life, but a bit less vigourously so then if I actually engage them.

To me this seem to indicate that the washer design is a bi-directional pump, and the backpressure is eventurally forcing some liquid the wrong way.

I tried the old "needle in the nozzle" but that does not seem to be the problem.

So, does this sound familiar to anyone, and if so where should i start looking.

(Ironically the broken rear washer/wiper on our previous car was one of the reason for geting Another car )

[ikhan]

I had a similar problem with mine - front worked fine, nothing out of the rear. Pump could be heard working in both modes though. Not being easy to access, I couldn't really do any tests without taking the bumper off, so I thought I'd have a replacement pump on the ready for when I took the bumper off. I replaced the pump to no effect. However, with the bumper off, I was now able to check the original pump was working ok, which led me to believe there was a blockage in the pipe going towards the rear.

I followed this pipe all the way to the c-pillar (driver's side). Here, the clear pipe is joined to the black pipe (connected to the jet in the LED light housing). Its this connectorbetween the two sections that I believe was blocked. I think this is supposed to be some kind of one-way valve with a 'ball' inside it, however, the ball was either missing on mine, or dropped out when I undid the connector. There was a lot of crude there though, which I cleaned and it has worked perfect ever since (on the original pump).

When you take out the plastic connector, do remember which way round it is fitted as I don't think there are any marking on it, but it does make a difference as to which way it is fitted as the water will shoot out off the rear screen if fitted one way, and gently wash the screen if fitted the other way (you will notice a 'long' and a 'short' section in the conecting pipe with a pin-size hole in between which I widened as I fitted a one-way valve near the pump because I hated dry wiping the rear screen before the water reached it!)

Short version - check the connecting valve in the c-pillar first!

[JanJoh]

I appreciate your answer!

I will probably not have time to check in the next week or so. But, i will surely revert with my findings.

[JanJoh]

I followed this pipe all the way to the c-pillar (driver's side).

Oh, is that tubing external, or run internally in the chassis? (I dont have a lift handy, and trying to guess the amount of work required to get at it)

I grabbed the service manuals and found the washer in secion 85A, but i cannot find a mention of the tubing.

[ikhan]

It all runs inside the car next to the wiring under those plastic trims, but you don't need to mess around with any of that to be honest. Just take off the c-piller cover, and there is a connection there between the clear tubing, and the black tube - this is the bit you need to check for any blockages.