window washer bottle-dodgy dealers
 

My washer bottle is either leaking or there is a split hose is it possible to change the bottle?

on another note is there anyware you can name and shame a dodgy dealer. i was sold my A8 as everything working and it is far from it the dealer dosnt want to know.

I know this sounds like a stooped question but is it definitely leaking? It’s throwing water all over the floor when you fill it. I read that the level sensors can die causing the warning to come on.

But to answer your question yes they can be removed but you’ll have to take the wheel arch liner out I think to get to the fixings. If I remember rightly I took the headlight out the D2 to make it easier with regard to access, not sure if the D3 is the same.
Could be the pump needs pushing back in the bottle.

As for the doggy dealer good luck.

If the dealer doesn't want to know, quote him ''Compliance with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)''

In short you have a warranty for 6 months. Put it all in writing / email and he will fold after some pressure. If the car was sub 10k its small claims and very easy to start the ball rolling provided you have given them an adequate chance to resolve the issue or refund you.

The law is very much weighted to the buyer, yet very few people are aware of it. The same applies to any retail transaction.

Furthermore if you purchased it with a Credit Card you have additional cover.

His just not answering anything now. I do have an email were he has said he will sort it out which really admits there are problems. Maybe he looked at the cost and desided against it. I will have to start small clams action against him

It will be a split hose and not the bottle, mine leaked screen wash from a number of places. Its taken two attempts by two garages to fix them. First fix lasted a couple of months, second one seems to be holding for now. I had two splits, one close to the headlight washer outlet and another behind the drivers side headlight washer.

Mine only dumped the fluid when the headlight washers activated, the failure of these pipes is very common it seems from reading elsewhere.

If I may update here with a little more information....

I experienced the same as mannyo; my washer bottle would drain if the headlight washers were activated.

Headlight washers are activated (at least on my vehicle) when you wash the screen whilst the dipped beam is active.

The likelihood of the vehicle having a split washer bottle is fairly slim; compare that to the likelihood of a split hose - you are far more likely to find a broken hose or connector.

I found that I had a broken line from the washer bottle to the headlight washer.

To review, remove the foglight surround on the side of your washer bottle, The fluid line runs from the washer bottle forward towards the headlights, is split by a T piece just before the headlight washer closest to the bottle and a pipe then runs through a channel in the bumper to the other headlight washer.

With the foglight surround removed, activate the headlight washer by turning lights on and washing screen - ensure there is enough fluid in the washer bottle to test. The fluid pickup for the headlights is higher in the bottle than the screen pickup, so if fluid is low it will wash screen but not pump anything to headlights. Just fill with water to test.

Chances are you will find a broken fitting more than a pipe.

You can view the bottom of the headlight washer assay on each side by removing the foglight surrounds.

I found the T piece had broken off from the fluid supply line on my vehicle, so when the washers were activated it just dumped fluid all over the back of the foglight. This started a syphon effect on the washer bottle and drained the fluid.

As a top tip - I was able to repair my fluid lines very cheaply and easily using rubber air-hose from my aquarium. Anyone who has ever kept fish knows you have to have air pumping into the water; this is done by small clear rubber hose and can be had with various adapter and junction fittings from any aquarist supplies. The house is only around 50p a meter and fittings around £1.

The replace the lines running between the two washer assays in the factory locations will require bumper off. Conceivably it may be possible without this but you would make your life a lot harder and would not be able to hide the pipe as effectively.

The hose is a perfect size to push onto the A8's existing fittings. I there cut a small section connecting to the plastic nipple from the supply line into the T piece. From each side of the T piece then run a section to the nipple input side of the supply fitting on each washer assay.

It probably took around 10 minutes in total to fix although needs around 30 mins setup time to remove the front wheels, arch liner halves and bumper.

Total cost for my fix was £2.55.