1997 850 wagon: Rear window washer doesn't spray

[billofdurham]

I have had words with my friendly Volvo man who says he has come across this problem on several occasions and has had some success in curing it without replacing the valve or fitting the bleed valve.

He took the pipe off the filter on the reservoir side and used a pressure pump to force water through the filter and out of the washer jet, thereby achieving what the washer pump couldn't - opening the pressure valve. Once the water was running out of the jet he stopped the pump but kept it connected to the pipe until he primed the pipe from the reservoir using the washer pump (catching the water in a container to prevent flooding the car). The next move needed an assistant to keep the washer pump running while he disconnected the pressure pump and reconnected the supply pipe to the filter. Doing it this way there is only a small amount of air gets into the system.

The pressure pump he used was a large bicycle tyre inflator filled with water. He makes lots of tools out of bits lying around his workshop..

He did stress that this would not work if the pressure valve has been damaged and that he has had some failures, but he thinks it is worth a go, or as he put it "he's got nowt to lose, he's ganna break nowt, so he might as well give it a gan". (translations from Geordie dialect are free of charge)

Bill.

[luketrash]

Thanks for the info! I need to give it a go in warmer weather. It does help to know there is a pressure barrier to be overcome in order to get these things to work correctly.

I can't believe it doesn't happen very often since most people I know run their reservoirs dry on washer fluid.