Xsara Picasso 04 Front Washer Jets Slow To Respond

[albionsangel]

Hi all, new here.

I have a problem where my front washer jets on my Xsara Picasso 04 reg are very slow to actually spray water. This causes my wiper blades to wipe first, and thus drag grit across my dry windscreen. The jets do eventually spray after a couple of swishes of the blades, and with full power, so I dont believe there is a pipe blockage as such. In addition, I can hear the motor from the moment I pull the stalk, so the motor is responding quickly. It does sound like its struggling though.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[wine~o]

It's winter.

[arco_iris]

I do not know about Citroens specifically, but on several vehicles over the years I have encountered a black sludge (fungal?) build up in windscreen washer tanks that blocks the filter in the base of the tank. I first noticed this on a car then 10 years old; when I had a similar problem on another car later it was the first thing I looked for, and sure enough......

Most recently the washers failed on a car less than 3 years old, so under warranty - the dealer fixed it FOC but did say it was to do with not using decent fluids. I took this to mean they wanted to charge a fortune for branded additive, but maybe they had a point. It does stand to reason that washers are often not used for long periods and the (supermarket) mixture stagnates.

Remove the tank from the car (on all three BMWs above this can be quite involved, but is DIY possible, tanks are under the o/s wheel arch) and thoroughly wash it out. Flush the pipes & wash the filters, put it all back together.

No cost for parts but it does take time & care.

[columbiers]

It's winter.

If it's really "water" you've got in it then I'm not surprised it's struggling.
If it's properly diluted screenwash and not freezing up in there:

Remove and flush out the tank and pipes, especially filter. Sometimes there are in-line valves and filters to headlight washers- check these.
If still no good replace the motor. Cheap and simple to do

[mikew1972]

I suspect the fluid is draining from the pipes back into the tank. Fitting something like these near the jets should help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/One-Way-Non-R ... SweCVZu~nc