Disable headlight washers D3
 

Hi all.

I'm a bit miffed by the headlight washers using tons of fluid and more annoyed by the offside washer typically spraying over the windscreen AFTER the wipers have finished their sweep of the windscreen.

So, is there a way with VCDS to disable the headlight washers from always spraying when the lights are on, or even failing that reduce the amount of fluid that is sprayed (largely on to the windscreen)?

With thanks. John.

Only way is messing with it on a physical level, or turn your lights off when cleaning windows, which is not practical at this time of year

Cheers Del. Didn't want to start messing with it or removing fuses etc, but maybe I will have to.

Ta.

Disconnect the pipes and bung the ends up.

Is it basically a fully mechanical system on the D3, bar power to the motor being linked to headlight switch position? I know on our S5 you can programme the frequency of washes, including down to zero.

Does it not work the same as it does on the D2? (Short pull, windscreen washers only .... long pull windscreen and headlights). I just use a series of shorter pulls if I don't want to activate the headlight washers.

Only car I had with headlight washers was C4 A6 and I disconnected the plug from headlight washer pump after the first tank ran out very quickly.

My D3 failed the MOT because they were not functioning, so whatever you do must be reversible for the MOT

They stop working anyway, just after the low screen wash warning, because the level in the washer bottle is then lower than the output from the bottle to the headlight washers.

Not many street lights where I live, so loosing the headlight washers would be a bugger, especialy on salted roads.
They do use up the water, but if it's going that fast, are you sure you don't have a leak. They are very prone to leaking, and if they are then they sometimes will follow a headlight spray with dumping the rest of the reservoir contents on the road

No leak, thankfully. And it's more the fact that they spray all over the windscreen in addition to using tons of fluid that annoys me.

Mine do work well, but the aim is such only a small splash seems to get onto the bonnet. Apart from the motors running, you'd be hard to tell if anything actually came out.

I went through a phase of going through litres of screen wash, turns out I had a leak which was not really noticeable as it drips onto the engine undertray. Eventually the leak became catastrophic and they stopped working, and failed the MOT. Cause was a split joint, which once replaced all is good once more and hardly any washer fluid is used.

The D3 has an enlarged washer bottle to allow for the headlight washers, so it should last ages.

Give that man a medal+++++++++

Didn't know about this. Thanks Mark.

I have a leak somewhere, I'm convinced. Added 2 litres to the reservoir a week ago and it's already complaining about being low.