1996/7 Astra 1.6 - Rear Window Washer

[ChrisM]

Hi,

My rear windscreen washer stopped working. I have plenty of fluid in the
reservoir, and the pump appears to be operating. On further investigaton,
when I do operate it, water is dribling out the bottom of the tailgate, so
I'm guessing the hose has either perished at the rear-end, or come away from
the nozzle inside somewhere.
Problem is, the nozzle is inside the grey 'spoiler' thing (for want of a
better word) at the top of the rear windscreen, and I can't work out how to
remove it(the spoiler thing).
There are 3 screws in the underside of the spoiler which i have removed, but
it is still fixed firm. I guess there are some more fittings somewhere that
I need to remove. Anyone know what?

** Having just written this, it occurs to me that another possibility could
be that the nozzle is just blocked. I'll check that out, but in the
meantime, any help on removing the rear 'spoiler' gratefully recieved...

 

[Roger R]

My rear windscreen washer stopped working. I have plenty of fluid in the
reservoir, and the pump appears to be operating. On further investigaton,
when I do operate it, water is dribling out the bottom of the tailgate, so
I'm guessing the hose has either perished at the rear-end, or come away
from the nozzle inside somewhere.

A similar problem on my model was due to the plastic pipe fracturing at the
tailgate where it emerges from the body and passes via the black rubber
grommety tubey thing into the top of the tailgate on the right hand -
drivers- side. On mine as the fracture was on the body side the water
disappeared somewhere into the body, never to emerge.

Remove the rear plastic trim by also taking out the two additional screws on
the underside of the tailgate, one on each side by each black tubey grommet.
You will then be able to release the pipe from the other part of the trim
that remains fixed to the vehicle.

The tube on mine was completely fractured, but I did not replace the whole
length, just added a new section at the tailgate end by pushing a joining
piece of larger size suitably heated in hot water over the existing tube.

Roger R

 

[ChrisM]

In message [email protected],

A similar problem on my model was due to the plastic pipe fracturing
at the tailgate where it emerges from the body and passes via the
black rubber grommety tubey thing into the top of the tailgate on the
right hand - drivers- side. On mine as the fracture was on the body
side the water disappeared somewhere into the body, never to emerge.

Remove the rear plastic trim by also taking out the two additional
screws on the underside of the tailgate, one on each side by each
black tubey grommet. You will then be able to release the pipe from
the other part of the trim that remains fixed to the vehicle.

The tube on mine was completely fractured, but I did not replace the
whole length, just added a new section at the tailgate end by pushing
a joining piece of larger size suitably heated in hot water over the
existing tube.
Roger R

Sounds straight forward enough...
Will check it out over the weekend... weather permitting!!

 

[ChrisM]

In message [email protected],

A similar problem on my model was due to the plastic pipe fracturing
at the tailgate where it emerges from the body and passes via the
black rubber grommety tubey thing into the top of the tailgate on the
right hand - drivers- side. On mine as the fracture was on the body
side the water disappeared somewhere into the body, never to emerge.

Remove the rear plastic trim by also taking out the two additional
screws on the underside of the tailgate, one on each side by each
black tubey grommet. You will then be able to release the pipe from
the other part of the trim that remains fixed to the vehicle.

The tube on mine was completely fractured, but I did not replace the
whole length, just added a new section at the tailgate end by pushing
a joining piece of larger size suitably heated in hot water over the
existing tube.
Roger R

Oh,

and thank you very much...

 

[Ian Hatten]

I had the same in my old Corsa. The pipe had split, I used a short piece of
brake pipe to slide into each end of the broken plastic pipe.

Ian

 

[Roger R]

Sounds straight forward enough...
Will check it out over the weekend... weather permitting!!

I should have made it clearer that my model is the hatch, whereas I assume
yours is a saloon. This probably makes quite a difference both in access to
the rear trim screws and the cause of the problem.

On the hatch model, fracturing of the tube is caused by repeated flexing
each time the rear hatch is opened. As this doesn't happen on the saloon
the cause of your problem may be quite different.

Roger R

 

[ChrisM]

In message [email protected],

I should have made it clearer that my model is the hatch, whereas I
assume yours is a saloon. This probably makes quite a difference
both in access to the rear trim screws and the cause of the problem.

On the hatch model, fracturing of the tube is caused by repeated
flexing each time the rear hatch is opened. As this doesn't happen
on the saloon the cause of your problem may be quite different.

Roger R

No, actually, mine is the hatch too, and the problem was EXACTLY what you
said. It was quite late Sunday evening by the time I got a chance to have a
look, so I've bodged it with a drinking straw and some plastic tape as I
couldn't lay my hands on anything better at the time.
Working fine now, but must remember to fix it properly soon!

Thanks for your suggestions!