Technical Washer jets

[Tubthumper73]

Afternoon all. Had a bit of a fail this morning trying to sort the poor delivery of my washer jets. Having taken the o/s fog out and blowing the pipes through with an airline, all that happened was the rotating part of the jet blew off and onto the gravel, never to be found again ! The n/s jet works ok ish and I tried slaving off of its pipe by running a fresh one from it using a t piece to the passenger one but the pressure dropped too much. So, firstly has anyone had a similar issue and resolved it and where can I get another jet from. Thanks.

 

[widemouthfrog]

Washer jets here:
http://www.ricambio.co.uk/1801-front-windscreen-washer-jet--fiat-multipla

There used to be loads of listings for them on ebay. Now there's none. It looks as though they're drying up, if you can forgive the pun. Autosklep also list them. They are unique to the Multipla.

For the tubing, I'd just get a new length of silicon or fish tank (PVC) tubing and replace the old stuff. It'll all be old and brittle by now and trying to clear it will only cause a problem somewhere else.

There's also a couple of tips here:
http://nick.hostwith.me.uk/multipla/techfaq.html

 

[Tubthumper73]

Many thanks WMF. I tried taking the plastic scuttle off earlier but got scuppered by not managing to get the wiper arms off their splines, they're siezed on solid. I can see where the pipe attaches to the pump but not sure where the t piece is. I did run a new piece of tube from the working jet, using another t, but there was a significant drop in pressure. Is it just a case of running a new pipe up into the scuttle then t'ing off to each jet ?

 

[widemouthfrog]

For the wiper arms, treat yourself to one of these:
neilsen CT1785 Battery Terminal and Wiper Arm Puller - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

Way better than screwdrivers etc and negates the risk of cracking the windscreen. Give the splines a good spray with some penetrating oil first too.

It sounds to me as though you've got a blockage somewhere in the pump or the tubing near the reservoir. Have you tried giving the rear screen a good squirt? That runs the pump in reverse, so it may free something up. I seem to remember you can get pretty good access by taking out the OSF inner wheel arch liner - easier than removing the bumper!

 

[Tubthumper73]

Thanks again, a puller is on its way as we speak. The rear jet works as does the fronts, albeit with low pressure. Taking out the o/s fog gave great access to the pump and hose ends so I may just have a go at running a new hose up to the jets ( well, the one jet that still has its rotating spray bar!)

 

[Tubthumper73]

Amazingly,I found the spray bar that had shot out of the nozzle yesterday, after 10 minutes of crawling over the gravel drive ! Just need to run some pipe from the pump to see if that sorts it.☺

 

[MarkX]

Hi Tubthumper73,

I have the same problem now - low washer pressure - and had the same problem 3 years ago. This is what I did then:

(In no particular order)

- Cleaned out washer jets. Tip off local motor factor. Boiled in water with detergent. My wipers are corroded on too, so I removed the screws securing the grill under the washer jets. Now just enough room to get hands under grill to detach/reattach jets for cleaning, and route new piping to jets (see below).

- Replaced washer pump. Awkward location at bottom of washer bottle. Requires removal of offside wheel arch liner (didn't know about o/s fog access to the pump!).

- I believe there is a two-way valve between the pump and front and rear washer jets. It gets stuck/blocked so I routed new piping directly from the pump to the front washer jets (not bothered about the rear washer jets), via the engine bay. I chopped and plugged the pipe to the rear washer.

This time will try cleaning the jets first.

The jobs are piling up: need to redo ARB bushes, new droplinks, new wishbones, difficulty changing gear - think the clutch needs bleeding, and just today started getting loud rattling/sewing machine noise from aux belt/pulleys? Been reading up on the latter on this forum... Only recently replaced two pulleys, so looks like another has gone. Well the car is 17 years old !

 

[widemouthfrog]

Get a pair of Meyle HD droplinks off ebay. They are way better than any others I've fitted.

Though I prefer to avoid them myself (see my thread on wishbones), I've got a pair of new Birth wishbones you can have at a knockdown price if you want them. PM me if interested.

For the engine rattling, slip the aux belt off and have a good waggle of the crank pulley and the plastic tensioner pulley - they're the two that normally seem to give problems. You can also then check if the aircon pump pulley/clutch is OK.

 

[MarkX]

Hi widemouthfrog,

Thanks for the info. I've got the droplinks and a Birth NS wishbone already thanks. Would you sell OS wishbone only, if so how much do you want for it inc P&P?

"slip the aux belt off": Read on this forum that to get the aux belt off you put a long ring spanner on tensioner and turn anticlockwise to release the tension on the belt?

2 questions:

Any idea what size spanner I need for the tensioner - both nuts?

Can I get at the tensioner w/o removing the crank pulley?

Might take the wheel arch liner off this weekend. Weather looks sh*t tho.

I think problem started, I've been through some big puddles on flooded roads in the last week. Was OK before this.

 

[MarkX]

PS. The crank pulley and I think the plastic pulley were renewed within last 6 months, so I assume they're OK. From what I've read on here I bet it's the tensioner...

 

[Tubthumper73]

Thanks for the reply Mark, it's a job that's going to need doing before the MOT in April, but as you say, this weather isn't fun for spannering outside.
I managed to change my tensioner without removing the crank pulley. It was a fairly painless job in the end ☺

 

[widemouthfrog]

From memory, put a long 15mm ring spanner on the tensioner pulley bolt, so that it's pointing downwards at about the 6 'o' clock position. Then pull the spanner towards the front of the car (i.e. anticlockwise) and the pulley will swing on an arc, backwards and down. It doesn't take a lot of effort and it's very controllable but a long spanner makes the job easy. Holding the spanner forwards with your right hand you can then pull the belt out with your left.

Yes, I think you can get the tensioner itself off without having to remove the crankshaft pulley. I can't remember what size the mounting bolts are though. Possibly 13mm.

Once the wheel arch liner is removed, access is pretty good. One of the pluses of the Multipla being a spaceframe structure

 

[MarkX]

Cheers WMF, that's just what I need to know, thx. I'm not forking out for a long ring spanner for a one-off job tho, I'll try my previous trick of cable-tie-ing 2 spanners together to extend my ring spanner (to undo starter motor top bolt when doing clutch).

Clutch/gear changing is getting worse, but I think it just needs bleeding (I hope), haven't done it for about 3 years. Clutch master and slave cylinder must be getting on a bit. Got a good *metal* slave cylinder but I'll try bleeding first - got a one man bleed kit I've used before, pressurized by spare tyre.

Good pic of the belt and pulleys, I'll print off for reference.

Have been quoted £18 + VAT for the tensioner, and £6 + VAT for a new belt. Same day delivery at local partstealer. Seems cheap enough. Obviously need to have a look see first to see what's wrong.

Have hijacked Washer jets post, but hey just going with the flow... (or rather no flow)

 

[MarkX]

"Washer jets" alias Aux belt and pulleys...

Between snow showers today, I managed to remove and replace the aux belt and check the pulleys on my 1.9 JTD.

To lever the aux belt tensioner back and slacken the aux belt, instead of a ring spanner, I used a medium length torque wrench and 15mm socket plus a trolley jack on the end of the wrench (see photo) - easy.

After belt removal, restarting the engine - the banging noise stopped, so noise is definitely from one or more aux belt components. Seems to be from either the crank pulley or tensioner or both.

Couldn't detect any play in the pulleys and they seem to spin OK, however after reassembly, and starting the engine, I noticed that the tensioner pulley jogs around quite a bit, could be caused by crank pulley jogging around? but the latter is only 6 months old, so have to assume it's OK. I'll replace the tensioner pulley and belt this week. It is at least 4 years old cos that's how long I've had the car, so worth replacing. I know one other forum poster said it made a big difference.

Belt removal and refitting: I took the belt off the tensioner pulley first, and on refitting put the belt on the tensioner pulley last. Seems best way to do it.

Only false step - I started removing the whole wheel arch liner, then realised you only need to remove the section covering the aux belt pulley assembly (3 x 10mm head bolts, 2 in the wheel arch and one behind the front bumper (the latter bolt requires a socket extension to access as it's high up behind front of the car).

Fear replaced with satisfaction of understanding and completing another job on the car I hadn't done before (aux belt replacement), with help from other forum-ers.

And my football bet came up trumps just now, so I'd call that a successful day!

 

[pig]

My money would be on the crank pulley, despite it being nearly new. I replaced it twice, the first time with a no-name cheapy from a local motor factor- worked nicely at first, but soon started rattling again. Got a better make and the rattling has gone completely, the tensioner doesnt move around like you've seen.

 

[MarkX]

Would you Adam and Eve it... the noise from the aux belt has gone Today! Car driving normally. I wonder if the belt had dislodged slightly when I'd gone over a bump or something - there are a lot of potholes round where I live, and reinstalling the belt has straightened things out?

Anyway I've already bought the tensioner (£30 inc, local partstealer) and replacement belt (Continental, Eurocarparts, Click and Collect, £13 inc, with saver code). Both look really good quality, the belt looks much better than the one installed by the garage (cheapo generic?). So I think I'll install them anyway.

I bet my local garage put on a no-name cheapo crank pulley. Anyway will see how it goes with the new bits on.

Thanks for the tip "pig" - you're not a policeman are you? In which case you're PC, and I'm not PC...

 

[Tubthumper73]

Right then, managed to replace all the hoses today and as with most jobs on my Multi it didn't go 100% smoothly. The pipe work was relatively straight forward but when I came to refit the pump into the bottle I noticed that the rubber grommit was now missing and is nowhere to be found ! This leaves me with a washer bottle that no longer holds water, which isn't going to impress Mr MOT man next month.
If anyone has a spare grommit or complete bottle for sale please let me know.

 

[Tubthumper73]

The grommet badly arrowed is the one I'm missing. I suspect it got pushed into the bottle when I was groping around refitting the pump ?

Not managed to turn anything up on a search, so if anyone has an idea of a part number or where I can get another grommet, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Tubthumper73]

Finally sourced a rubber grommet and fitted it this afternoon and I now have the best washers I've ever had on my Multi. I'm feeling a bit more confident about Fridays MOT now !

 

[MarkX]

Finally sourced a rubber grommet and fitted it this afternoon and I now have the best washers I've ever had on my Multi. I'm feeling a bit more confident about Fridays MOT now !

Good luck with the MOT.

I have a pre-MOT check Thursday. Hoping there's no show-shoppers.