[s-cars] urS4 Leaking windshield washer tank?

[chris chambers]

The cause can be determined depending on how fast it leaks out, and if
the headlight washer pump is spraying on your windshield. If it's
spraying fine I would bet it isn't leaking there.

If it is a slow leak look at the hoses that hook to the
headlight/windshield washer pumps and their associatted lines. I
wouldn't expect the headlight washer lines to leak. They are large
strong lines that are just about impossible to remove. I would inspect
that hooks to the windshield washer pump, you'll need to remove the
tank to get to that though.  

If it empties out fast, look at the headlight washer pump it might be
cracked. Or at the bottom of the tank, their is a seam that can split.
I repaired my tank that had split with a 2 part epoxy. It lasted one
year and then started leaking again. As I write this I am staring at my
new tank that I get to install. It's an easy job but the tank is ~ $75.

To determine where your leak is you might need to do some exploratory
surgery. The headlight washer pump is visible right behind the driver's
side headlight assembly. I mixed up some colored water and poured it in
my tank while I was leak searching. Look at the headlight washer pump.
it should be pretty apparrent if its leaking there.  If its a cracked
pump they are ~$30 for a replacement.

If it isn't a cracked headlight washer pump, then it's time to remove
the tank. First step is to slide the hydraulic fluid bottle up and out
of it's bracket. You can easily move the hydraulic fluid bottle to the
front of the car out of the way, I used a rope to tie it in place.

Next remove the 3 10 mm screws that hold the bracket for the hydraulic
fluid bottle, now you can get to the 10mm screw that holds the corner
of the windshield washer bottle. After this you need to get the 1 10 mm
nuts that hold the base of the windshield washer bottle, if you are
standing at the driver's fender looking at the bottle they will be at
the two far corners. Look down, you might have to move some wires out
of the way. I put electrical tape in my socket so that after loosening
the nut it would stay in the socket and not get lost.

After removing these nuts it's time to remove the headlight washer
pump, don't even try to take off the hoses....they wouldn't come off
for me. Just use a blade screwdriver and lift the pump up and out of
the rubber grommet in the bottle.

Now that you can move the bottle around be real gentle. The headlight
washer pump's plastic line is brittle!  You can inspect the line now
and see if its leaking. Normally if it leaks here it's because the line
is broken or removed from the pump. Carefully move the pump towards the
front of the car and slip the plastic line out of the rubber grommet of
the pump. Now you can easily remove the wiring harness from the pump
and the tank is free.

Look at the bottom of the tank, there is a seam that is prone to
cracking. If yours is cracked you can try repairing like I did with a 2
part plastic epoxy. But my repair only lasted a year, so you might as
well pony up teh $75 and get a new tank.


HTH
Chris



--- Bikeaudi at aol.com wrote:

> I find that my wiper tank is leaking on the garage floor.   Any clue
> as to 
> common causes? Where to start looking? Please add a direct answer to 
> bikeaudi at aol.com as i don't check s-list well MC
> _______________________________________________
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> 


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