Club 80-90 Forums

Amongst the numerous jobs I tackled this Xmas, one was to try and sort my washer jets which have been playing up for some time. Now this may not be news to some people out there, but it was an eye-opener for me so I thought I'd share it.

It was an easy enough job to undo the two or three 6mm bolts holding in the tank and drop that down, I was lucky that none of the bolts were corroded fast (like the bash-plate ones do). Once free, I was gob-smacked to find how much mud and filth there was *inside* the tank !

It seems that if the vehicle is used in heavy mud, enough of it will find its way into the area above the tank to work its way past the rubber grommet thats supposed to seal the hole where the filling neck enters. To me the rubber grommet seemed to have lost it elasticity, probably due to all the anti-freeze in the washer fluid.

Once disconnected, I used the pump and an extra bit of vinyl hose to flush water backwards through the nozzles to try and flush out the grit and mud that was blocking them. Another trick (thks. Aidan) is to use a needle to rotate the jets a bit which may help loosen any grit particles.

I'd suggest it's definitely worth cleaning this out periodically on a Syncro that's been used off-road, and also worth considering replacing that grommet.

Andy

Well, I know the inside of my tank is clean, since i pierced it off road a few months ago. I've since (extensively) hot knived it back water-tight, but to no avail - the jets still refuse to damned well work.

My next step is to air gun the hoses back into the washer tank, with small diameter rubber tubing to seal over the jets. I'll let you know how I get on with that method!

The grommet's been a well known issue for some time - I think I've seen it discussed in tech on here previously.

That reminds me the drivers side jet blocked on mine the other day, but soon figured out the optimum time to jet the water so that the wipers would throw as much as possible onto the drivers side, so problem solved
Sam.

Re: Windcsreen Washer jets

but it was an eye-opener for me

You may just have explained what happened to Tyger's then, which left me confused as in but being a sycnro virgin, I assumed the pump side of the motor had packed in, as I could hear whirring but not a dribble to be seen - NOT that it 's bothering me much at the moment, you understand

.. and I dont think my 6mms will come out quite as easy Andy. I had to drill out nearly every bashplate screw - doubt if any had ever been off.

Had a good Chrisse on the Doka though, got non-collapsible steps now, got a g/c that resembles what the lord intended when moving that lever around (took complete refurb end to end, but set it back up in a jiff, hehe, just measure that 23mm quoted in Bentley, jobs a good'un), even have to push it down now to get G and R - now that's a novelty
and some polybushes went into the rack, soundproofing and draught exclusion (hot or cold, depending on season) to the floor, insulated the heater and return feed hoses and you gussed it, a good slapping around with a brush loaded with RustEncap.

Ahh! Thomas, yes, forgot, both those steering couplings too.. honest! an the one you can't see with bashplate on was mucho grimmo.