2010 Mondeo Washer Problem

[sddsddean]

The washer motors (front and back) work...I can hear them; bottle is full, but no water comes out (actually, a little bit comes out of the front washers). This has only just happened. There is no evidence of leaks, so my conclusion is the pump inlets are blocked at the bottom of the bottle. Before I go to the hassle of trying to access the pumps/bottle, I had a quick look online. Someone said they siphoned out the water, put in 2 denture cleaning tablets with the right amount of water per denture cleaning instructions, left it for 20 mins then blasted inside the bottle with a hosepipe. Re filled and everything worked fine. Has anyone else ever tried this and did it work?

[douglas9401]

No, but it sounds like the kind of DIY task you can get your teeth into.

[theshedman]

Hi, I did this to my old Mondeo. I siphoned out the old stuff which had turned into a gel like thing as I must have used two different types of washer fluid and they didn't mix. After this I filled up the water tank a few more times and drained it out using the siphon then filled it up and sprayed it through the washers a couple of times to make sure all the gunk was out. Then I filled them up with new stuff and they worked great.

[sddsddean]

douglas - fnarr, fnarr

Thanks shedman. I'll give one or both a go.

[Hopkirk]

This is the penalty you pay for diluting the solution too much - stronger solutions stop the bacteria or whatever from taking hold.

[theshedman]

Hopkirk it wasn't to do with the strength of the mixture I used it was the fact that 2 different types didn't mix. I was told this by the shop I bought the new stuff in.

[TWR]

Empty the Bottle, clean or blow the jets out, refill, job sorted.

[davewr]

A lot of problems with clogged washer jets are caused by putting washing-up liquid into the reservoir, which congeals in the cold water. I've flushed through several systems with this problem.

[sddsddean]

Just an update. Tried siphoning out and 'blasting' with a hosepipe several times, but still didn't work. Main problem was getting the siphon pipe round the odd shape of the bottle! Had a word with a 'mechanic' at my local Ford's and he said if you can get at the pump, its only a pushfit into a rubber grommet at the bottom of the tank, so easy to remove. So today I removed N/S wheel and all screws at front of inner wing. Could see bottle, but had to undo the various screws holding the 'under tray' to the bumper. Why use 4 different sorts of fittings?! Anyway, left the ones on the drivers side in place so didn't lose position of under tray totally. Could access pump easily (its only one pump with 2 pipes coming off it). Wiggled it out easily . Stuck my finger in the rubber grommet to see if blockage was obvious. As its rubber, it sort of seals again when nothing is in it, so to keep it open I put in a 2" length of 12mm air hose from my truck. Flushed it through a couple of times and loads of black gunk came out. Put the pump back in and hey presto!, everything works! So if anyone else reads this in the future, you just have to undo the under tray fittings for access, no need to touch e N/S inner wing.