[V8] Oh, Damn: a failure

[Roger Woodbury]

Nope.  Not frozen.  It really hasn't been cold enough to freeze anything,
which means that after this upcoming blizzard the heavy, wet slushy snow
that I will have to plow will pull up a lot of gravel and mud and reign
havoc on the roads....but that is a post for a different venue.

The washer worked fine a week or so ago, and now nothing.  Tested it
yesterday with my wife working the stalk in the car, and the loudest sound
was the wiper motors, so the issue is absolutely in the washer motor itself,
possibly the wires running to it, possibly a connection (somewhat doubtful,
too).  I use the same washer fluid year round which is good for 25 below
zero because once a long time ago, I used something else and had the system
in that car freeze at exactly the wrong time:  once was enough.  

Looks like I am in line for two pumps because if I have to get in there at
all, I will get in there and do both at once.  It will have to be the wrench
that does it, though because I will not crawl under one of my cars again,
with the temperature near freezing no matter how clean and dry the concrete
of my garage floor may be.

I really don't want to take it back to the wrench again, either...at least
not until spring.  Maybe I'll park the V8 in the garage until then, except
for clear and dry days.  Maybe. Fortunately, for the first time in a lot of
years, I really don't have to travel about much at all.  

Roger

P.S.  I wonder if it is an Audi axiom that washer pumps ONLY fail just
before the first big snowstorm of the winter?  Probably. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Kellock [mailto:ekellock at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 1:35 PM
To: 'Ingo Rautenberg'; 'Roger Woodbury'
Cc: V8 at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [V8] Oh, Damn: a failure

Could the system be frozen?  If you haven't used it since you got the car
then it might not have had winter fluid in it.  Also, along the lines of
Ingo's input, the water lines could be broken or disconnected.  I've had
this happen a few times.  I've used small zip ties to keep the hard plastic
hose plugged into the rubber hood grommet fittings and had to replace
portions of the hard plastic tube because it broke.  

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
Ingo Rautenberg
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 11:27 AM
To: Roger Woodbury
Cc: V8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Oh, Damn: a failure


Roger,

The washer pump may well be dead.  The other thing is that the wires to the
pump (they don't have much slack), might be broken or the connectors
corroded (they're at the bottom of the reservoir up front).  The pump is the
typical cheap VW Bosch unit that goes for $20 or so. The intensive thing
also uses one of thsoe pumps and the small reserve reservoir.  It may/may
not be working. Other areas to look at are the plastic tubing for the washer
system gets brittle and breaks and the one-way check valves fail/clog.

HTH

-Ingo

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 1:19 PM, Roger Woodbury
<rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>wrote:

> I just drove my V8 on some errands and when I tried to use the 
> windshield washer, I got....nothing.
>
> Sigh.  I guess this means that the washer pump is dead, since it makes 
> no sound.  I haven't checked the circuit or the fuses, but I assume 
> the worst.
>
> It looks like it just pulls out from the top, is that right?  I have 
> never done one of these before.
>
> Oh, and my intensive clean thingy has never worked since I have had 
> the car, and I wonder how that even works....this has never been an 
> issue with any of
> my previous Audis, and it pisses me off that it happens now that the snow
> and ugly road season has arrived!
>
> Go figure.  I wonder of Piuses have this problem?
>
> Roger
>
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