Sorry to be a plank but I am unable to suds out 2 things! 1. Where my windscreen washer reservoir is? 2. How I would actually do water on the windscreen! I've got 1976 Devon and I thought on my last bay that I pulled the wiper stem but this one doesn't appear to anything!! Thanks
Kick panel RHS, there should be a plastic cap to remove from the panel revealing where you both fill and pump it up. Yours may need pumping up. 30lbs max to be safe. You need some air in there to pressurise as water doesn't squash, but fill it right up as it's designed to trap enough air within. If water then pours out from the column switch, release the cap to let the pressure off and report back. Same if it won't hold pressure, we have ze answers.
Cheers squire I shall look again on te morrow Not quite sure why I've gone into ye olde English speak there!
Hey zed Tried to put pressure in with petrol station air thing but it wouldn't do anything. I'd just done my tyres so the machine was working. I thought all caps were on tight on reservoir so not losing pressure. Should I try with a foot pump?
did the garage machine have a pressure gauge...and did it show pressure in the reservoir? .....mine took an age to come through first time I pumped it up ...actually it was a bout the 3rd attempt, 1st time couldnt pump it up enough with bicyle hand pump.....second time I feared I might be putting too much air in using a compressor ....thought it would go pop, turns out they can take quite a bit - cheers for confirming zed
OK. The pump up valve consists of a rubber tube from the bottle, a tyre type valve and an extra rubber sleeve about 10mm long. Over the years pushing valve against pump edges the rubber sleeve along towards the end preventing your pump nozzle fitting onto the valve, so slide it back away from the end. Might be that anyway, I've had same lots of times.
@Merlin Cat thanks for posting the question, saved me the embarrassment (lol !!) only to find its another little quirk i need to understand. Looking forward to getting to the bottom of why my washers aren't working
Stupid question maybe but if this is the first time you've looked at the washer system, are you sure a PO hasn't converted it to using an electric pump? This was the case with mine, and they had fitted the pump above the tank so it was never primed and just spun like a lunatic without pumping anything
I've got an old Ford washer reservoir stuffed down into the place where the VW one should live. There was an old wash/wipe twist knob on the dash when I bought the van so I just wire the pump into that, the old VW switch/button was broken on the back so nowhere to connect a pipe to.
Afternoon folks I think the machine was showing 21 psi after attaching it. It was an electronic one I had set at 40 psi, my hand book said 43. The pump wasn't cutting in at all ? I had just done my back tyres at 45 and all worked fine. I will have another butchers at the hose. It didn't appear to be sleeved over the valve. It was a bit awkward to get to so maybe I was being a bit delicate! It doesn't appear to have any extras around it but I was too cold to mess about with finding screwdriver and removing the kick board! Maybe tomorrow... I'm going to go down the foot pump purchase line I think as I could do with one and it may be easier to reach than at petrol station. Thanks for all your help
have you tried a bike pump , thats all i use n just pump it a few strokes ?? i wouldnt over do it you might pop sumink out.
I think I may have a bike pump rusted to my bike somewhere so will start with that idea. I shall hopefully next be posting a success story
Tell yer wo' I'd do tho'. I'd jus uze me li'l (<---sounds like Lidl without the d) leccy compressa which plugz inta de ciggy liter, y'know? It's sound la, saves me spendin' munny when I go the garaj t'blow me tyres up.
Se necesita una botella squeezy con un poco de agua en ella. Esto pasará la M O T también! <--- well that's Google translate for you.
Perfecto senor! Well.......I bought a bike pump, couldn't get it to fit........fortunately in belt and braces manner I had also purchased a double cylinder foot pump I then set about pumping pressure up to 40 ish psi as stated in vw handbook 1978 edition (maybe those 2 extra years made the difference!) at approx. 25 psi I could discern a funny noise over the top of my wheezing. Wonder what that is I thought and looked through the gloom at the reservoir, hope its not popped I thought.....nothing appears awry so I will add more pressure.....by now it was a tad noisier and I felt an over abundance of pressure was some how the cause. I shone my crappy iphone torch at the windscreen and lo and behold there were small jets of citrus scented fluorescent green liquid issuing forth!! Cleverly I wedged myself into the miniscule space between the seat, gear stick and pedals and released the cap on the reservoir thereby (slower than I felt necessary) releasing the pressure. The garage floor and front of van now smelt lovely and the fluorescent green stain was hiding my oil stains. Fortunately the darkness hid it from the 'mother in law' who came out (to her garage) to say hello Question is..... what to do now?
oh well , was it the old type bike pump with a rubber bit in the end with a screw conn both ends that yu pull out n fix ta bike tyre n end of pump? mine leaks a tad if i over pump it ,did it work though ?
