Hello,
First post
Just taken my partners car apart to locate a leak. The front and rear passenger carpets are absolutely soaked with screen wash.

Anyway, found the leak - we have a split in the corrugated pipe supplying the rear window (passenger sill, pipe is wrapped around the wiring harness).

I have wrapped some duct tape around the split for now until I figure out a permanent repair.

Any suggestions ? Perhaps a straight connector would do - 3mm diameter ?

Pain with it being corrugated, limits my options some what!

Cheers

I know some people have bought lengths of pipe and connectors to fix it. I am finishing breaking my car tomorrow. If I can get it out in one piece you are welcome to the complete pipe for a small donation to the forum. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Go to Halfords and buy a joining piece simple job done.

If you get a 'joiner' of some description from Halfords for instance I would thoroughly recommend getting some heat shrink sleeving to cover over the whole joint for a couple of inches each side. Also try and find out why this may have happened in the first place, I wonder if only water has been used in the wash/wipe reservoir and it has frozen perhaps and split the pipe?

Paul m.

typecastboy said:

I know some people have bought lengths of pipe and connectors to fix it. I am finishing breaking my car tomorrow. If I can get it out in one piece you are welcome to the complete pipe for a small donation to the forum. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

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Thanks for the offer - I don't fancy stripping the car any further. Looks a nightmare job to remove it from around the dash!

I'm going to use an in-line connector. Good call on the shrink wrap Texas149 - she says only washer fluid has been used, has been cold at times though!

Will a 3mm ID connector work ?

jetty said:

she says only washer fluid has been used, has been cold at times though!

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You need a concentrated mix of a good screenwash when there is a likelihood of frost.

It's a known weakness of the 500; the pipes will split or push off if the fluid inside them freezes.

I've recently used 50:50 screen wash to water ratio not had it freeze even though the screen was frosted over.

John202020 said:

I've recently used 50:50 screen wash to water ratio not had it freeze even though the screen was frosted over.

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There's a huge variation in frost protection between the various brands. The labelling should tell you what concentration you need to provide protection down to the lowest temperatures you're likely to encounter in your neighbourhood.

Every other marque of car I've owned has failed 'frost safe'; upon thawing, the washers have all worked perfectly. The 500 is the only one I've has that will self-destruct if it freezes.

Prevention is straight forward enough, but this catches a few folks every year.

jrkitching said:

There's a huge variation in frost protection between the various brands. The labelling should tell you what concentration you need to provide protection down to the lowest temperatures you're likely to encounter in your neighbourhood.

Every other marque of car I've owned has failed 'frost safe'; upon thawing, the washers have all worked perfectly. The 500 is the only one I've has that will self-destruct if it freezes.

Prevention is straight forward enough, but this catches a few folks every year.

Click to expand...

I keep a bottle of antifreeze screenwash in the boot and if i see temperatures may go below zero, I immediately load it up! No danger about leaving it overnight as it is parked in a garage.

Generally the risk is when you park the car a while as when the engine is warm, it 'heats up' the washer reservoir area.