WINDSCREEN WASHER RESERVOIR REMOVAL

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 29 Aug 2007, 17:15

Due to lack of the wet stuff from the windscreen washers I need to drop the reservoir & check the pump & pipework for blockages. The washer jets themselves don't appear to be blocked. The pump can be heard working.

The reservoir is held in place by 2 large cross headed screws which have obviously been there undisturbed for over 23 years & these have been sprayed with Plusgas.

Does anyone know what is the correct (large) screwdriver to remove these screws? They are not Pozidrive but they don't really look like Philips either. Flat bladed screwdrivers just slip & damage the head of the screw.
The screws are dome headed about 1/2'' - 3/4'' in Diameter.

Anyone done this job? Thanks.

Post by **Ian Hulley** » 29 Aug 2007, 17:51

Steve, on our 89 plate there's 2 M6 (10mm socket) setscrews on the underside and the white collar round the filler neck. It drops down so far and then you have to either disconnect the pump hose and wires or pull the pump from the tank.

Cheers,Ian.

Post by **mininut** » 29 Aug 2007, 17:56

Ian Hulley wrote:Steve, on our 89 plate there's 2 M6 (10mm socket) setscrews on the underside and the white collar round the filler neck. It drops down so far and then you have to either disconnect the pump hose and wires or pull the pump from the tank.

Cheers,Ian.

Yeah mine's the same.

Post by **Nicola&Tony** » 29 Aug 2007, 19:03

I took ours off a few weeks ago to replace the leaky seal. The reservoir was held on by 3 short bolts, at least I think it was 3 but the van's not here so I can't check this at the moment!

Tony

Post by **futurecut** » 29 Aug 2007, 20:18

kitchen sink blockage stuff??

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 31 Aug 2007, 16:26

The reservoir is still in situ & the 2 screws that hold it in place refuse to budge despite being Plusgassed twice. If the weather is a tad more favourable tomorrow, I will be under the van with the Dremel but if that doesn't work Mr.Angle Grinder will be coming out to play. One screw is single slot & the other is cross headed.

If the screws still refuse to come out then I will have to cut the bottle off.

Aidan (Beaker) has kindly agreed to sell me a replacement bottle at a good price if it is necessary.

Apparently the screws are located in some sort of expandable fastening that will be seized up with 23+ years of rust.

Post by **VWCamperfan** » 31 Aug 2007, 18:18

My whole van must have those 'expandable fastenings' then!

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 31 Aug 2007, 19:58

VWCampervan wrote:My whole van must have those 'expandable fastenings' then!

At least you can laugh about it - but it's true!

The screw located in an 'expandable fastening' theory was suggested to me this afternoon by the man with the serrated implement (HSB).

Only the screw heads are visible as the rest is inside a box section which iirc is the front end of the chassis rail at one side & a diagonal bracing box section on the other side.

Post by **Hacksawbob** » 01 Sep 2007, 09:05

How Fritz and Helmut laughed in the VW design studio when they thought that one up. They hadn't laughed so much since they "designed" the syncro petrol tank!

Post by **Ian Hulley** » 01 Sep 2007, 10:09

It must be a late v early thing then ... mine's definately M6 ... perhaps Onka Hermann caught Fritz and Helmut in the act.

How's about drilling it out and rivnut and bolting it in Steve ?

Ian.

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 01 Sep 2007, 11:06

Ian Hulley wrote:It must be a late v early thing then ... mine's definately M6........ How's about drilling it out and rivnut and bolting it in Steve ?

The last time I tried to drill out some screws they was the self tappers that hold a headlight unit in place. That was on my last van & to remove to siezed screws took two & a half days, four broken drill bits before the Dremel came into play.

Anyway, I might try the drill option before progressing to the Dremel & last but not least the angle grinder. Please note that the ever reliable lump hammer is not an option in this particular case.

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 01 Sep 2007, 18:11

Well I got the Dremel to work on the first screw & the cone shaped grinding thing lasted about 20 seconds before it was worn out. So I got the drill to work but it's such a slow process that I gave up. I ended up cutting the plastic tabs off the plastic reservoir with the angle grinder.
The pump is pumping water, I have cleaned out the actual reservoir so that means that there is a blocage in the pipework leading to the nozzles in the upper front panel.

The actual method of securing the plastic reservoir is, or rather 'was' (it doesn't have the plastic tabs anymore!) by 2 No. 3cm x 6mm bolts located into one of those square metal 'thingies' with a threaded hole in the middle. As previously mentioned in this thread both the bolts were dome headed, one with a cross slotted head & the other with a single slot.
I wonder if these were the original bolts or had somebody changed them at some point in the past? They were both as rusty as a rust thing!

Does anyone know if the washer nozzles can be easily/safely removed from the front panel? I need to replace the pipework as the old stuff is obviously blocked & using a 12v tyre compressor to try & shift it doesn't work.

Post by **andysimpson** » 01 Sep 2007, 20:25

Bowton Lad wrote: Does anyone know if the washer nozzles can be easily/safely removed from the front panel? I need to replace the pipework as the old stuff is obviously blocked & using a 12v tyre compressor to try & shift it doesn't work.

Mole grips on the jets and just pull untill they come out, don't twisr them about or you will mark the paint, you will need new ones.

Post by **Bowton Lad** » 01 Sep 2007, 20:35

andysimpson wrote:
Bowton Lad wrote: Does anyone know if the washer nozzles can be easily/safely removed from the front panel? I need to replace the pipework as the old stuff is obviously blocked & using a 12v tyre compressor to try & shift it doesn't work.

Mole grips on the jets and just pull untill they come out, don't twisr them about or you will mark the paint, you will need new ones.

Thanks Andy, do you know if VW can still supply them?

Post by **VWCamperfan** » 01 Sep 2007, 20:43

Cheating slightly but i would cut the pipe behind the front grill, then suck on the pipe leading to the jets. Should clear any schmuck in the jets and water should blow it through again when pipe is reconnected. Just use a fish tank air line straight connector to reconnect, should hold... Does on mine anyway!
You can also check the operation of the pump in this way, water would obviously squirt out the cut pipe when operated.

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