CatmanV2
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Hi all.
Finding myself with a 'spare' headlamp washer, I thought I'd have a look inside and see what repairs may be possible. The story so far:
My washer was wetting all the screenwash out in a steady drip. As far as I could tell it was coming out of the top of the collar through which the piston exits.
Here's a photo of the total assembly, you can just see the white seal
The nozzles are held on by one clip and friction of an o-ring on the inside of the piston:
In my case, I don't believe this o-ring was an issue. Worth noting that the washers appear to be identical on each side (although the caps are different). The nozzles appear also identical, but I didn't check the spray pattern.
Removal of the collar was a bit destructive. There are 4 clips moulded in which I had to shave down and then apply gentle persuasion on top of the piston while locking the collar against a solid opbject.. As expected, the unit came apart into a piston, a spring and an outer sleeve. Here we see everything lined up:
In operation screenwash is pumped into the bottom of the sleeve (cylinder) forcing the piston upwards agains the spring. When it hits the top, a small valve in the bottom of the piston opens, allowing the solution to flow up through the piston to the nozzles.
So at the base of the piston there is a blue seal the purpose of which is to seal the piston against the cylinder as it rises up. Although this looks in good condition, I suspect it was leaking, allowing fluid up the cylinder and then out through the collar. Not sure why this should have leaked all the time, though...
In any event, the seal and the o-ring on the nozzle can probably be replaced (although the seal is an odd shape, I suspect an o-ring would do just fine) Replacing the collar might require some remedial engineering depending on how bad the clips are mangled on disassembly.
If the valve at the bottom of the piston fails, I suspect it's game over. There's no way I can see to get to that, but also can't see any reason why that would leak *out*. If it failed open, I expect the washer to still work, although it'll probably be spraying as it rises.
Hope this is of help to some
C
I'll update as I find more.
Finding myself with a 'spare' headlamp washer, I thought I'd have a look inside and see what repairs may be possible. The story so far:
My washer was wetting all the screenwash out in a steady drip. As far as I could tell it was coming out of the top of the collar through which the piston exits.
Here's a photo of the total assembly, you can just see the white seal
The nozzles are held on by one clip and friction of an o-ring on the inside of the piston:
In my case, I don't believe this o-ring was an issue. Worth noting that the washers appear to be identical on each side (although the caps are different). The nozzles appear also identical, but I didn't check the spray pattern.
Removal of the collar was a bit destructive. There are 4 clips moulded in which I had to shave down and then apply gentle persuasion on top of the piston while locking the collar against a solid opbject.. As expected, the unit came apart into a piston, a spring and an outer sleeve. Here we see everything lined up:
In operation screenwash is pumped into the bottom of the sleeve (cylinder) forcing the piston upwards agains the spring. When it hits the top, a small valve in the bottom of the piston opens, allowing the solution to flow up through the piston to the nozzles.
So at the base of the piston there is a blue seal the purpose of which is to seal the piston against the cylinder as it rises up. Although this looks in good condition, I suspect it was leaking, allowing fluid up the cylinder and then out through the collar. Not sure why this should have leaked all the time, though...
In any event, the seal and the o-ring on the nozzle can probably be replaced (although the seal is an odd shape, I suspect an o-ring would do just fine) Replacing the collar might require some remedial engineering depending on how bad the clips are mangled on disassembly.
If the valve at the bottom of the piston fails, I suspect it's game over. There's no way I can see to get to that, but also can't see any reason why that would leak *out*. If it failed open, I expect the washer to still work, although it'll probably be spraying as it rises.
Hope this is of help to some
C
I'll update as I find more.