washers not working

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cakey87
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Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:21 pm

hay, im having a bit of trouble today with my washers jets and hlww, washer jets have never worked since i had the car so thought it was time to crack on and sort them out, iv checked all the wiring from the stalk back and theres continuity where there should be, all fuses are good, motors all work, etc,

when i pull the stalk it dusnt spray water and the wipers dont do there 3 sweeps,
only thing im not to sure on is if the long black wiper relay is working properly, could this be the cause of my problems?
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threelander
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Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:39 pm

this will be the non return valves that are blocked or have you tried cleaning the jets out with a needle.if you trace the pipes back from the nozzles in the front grill you wou will come across a white valves about 8 inch back from the grills.these get blocked but still available at stealers.hope this helps
capri_rob
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 7:24 am

as above it will be the non return valves - for a quick fix you can remove them completely ( did this one one of my E36's with no ill effects ) - but they arent that expensive from the dealers
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cakey87
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:00 am

sorry guys, i dont think i explained myself properly, when i say the motors are working, i ment i removed them and tested them out of the car, when there in the car plugged in they dont work, a pull on the stalk dus absolutely nothing, not even the 3 sweeps across the screen,
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threelander
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:03 am

have the motors ever worked when there in the car
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Brianmoooore
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:14 am

The washers are controlled directly by the stalk switch. On the way, the wire is connected to a pin on the wiper module in the fusebox, which triggers the wipers when the washer is used.
From what you've said, your problem is between the fusebox and the stalk, including the stalk itself.
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cakey87
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:54 am

ok thanks alot for the help, oh dus it make a difference that i have a sport with the headlamp wash wipe and extra reservoir i had the stalk out and tested for continuity between the stalk and the reservoir end of the wiring but couldnt find a signal coming from the stalk, on the back of the stalk there are 5 wires, 4 are permanent live and the other is earthed, could anyone explain how this works for me as my brain was hurting lol
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Brianmoooore
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:50 am

The intensive wash and headlamp wash/wipe option has no bearing on this fault whatsoever, other than its fitting introduces a flying plug and socket into the wiring for the 'normal' screen washer pump, near the washer bottle, which makes things a bit more vulnerable to damage, and as I've said above, the fact that the wipers don't trigger when you try to operate the washers suggests that the fault is further back from here.
The wire of interest at the stalk is the brown/black. If you earth this wire with the ignition on at the first position, the washers should run, and the wiper sequence should be triggered.
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cakey87
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Sun Oct 14, 2012 6:40 pm

Thanks fella, i took the wiper stalk off and bridged the brown/black wire to earth and al is working, took the stalk apart and bent the appropriate pin down slightly and now everything is as it should be. bar a few blocked nozzles, thanks a lot!!
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