Xenon headlamp power washers won't
After 5 weeks of being MINI-less while my car was being repaired at a bodyshop, I picked it up today, but there was a problem with the xenon headlight washer system. I've been burned once at this bodyshop (my car was supposed to be ready last week, but had paint chips and scratches), so today I wanted to ensure that everything worked on my car before I would take it home.
My car has a new hood (bonnet) fitted following an accident (flying tire hitting the hood and windshield), but the original, complete xenon headlamp assemblies were not damaged in the accident and were simply transferred to the new hood. When I tried to verify the working of the xenon headlight washers I could hear the special (noisy) pump activate, and the washer jet arms actually extended, but no fluid squirted out (there was plenty of fluid in the headlight reservoir).
A bodyshop technician was called in and checked all the fluid fittings, and was able to verify fluid was being pumped up to the washer jet assemblies by undoing the hoses on each headlamp (I learned that the headlamp washer pump is very powerful and can shoot a large stream of fluid 20 feet away!
)
As the technician worked to solve the problem, things seemed to get worse: the pump could still be heard working, but the washer jet arm assemblies would no longer extend and no fluid appeared anywhere. The jet arm assemblies did not appear to be binding on anything and could be extended by hand, but would not extend on their own.
The bodyshop doesn't know what to do, so the car is now scheduled to go the local BMW dealer to see if they can sort this problem out. The problem is that the BMW dealer is still 6 months away from becoming a MINI dealer, so there are no MINI trained technicians working there yet. The nearest MINI dealer is 200 miles away, so the BMW dealer seems like a reasonable alternative, but I don't know how similar the MINI's washer system is to a BMW's.
A couple of questions:
Does anyone have a clue on what the specific problem might be that I can pass on to the bodyshop or to the BMW dealer?
When it is working properly, what force causes the washer jet arm to extend? Is it hydraulic pressure from the pumped washer solution, or is there some type of motor or solenoid that extends the jet arm and then, once extended, allows the fluid to be squirted? In other words, if you are out of washer fluid, does the washer jet arm still extend?
After 5 weeks of being MINI-less while my car was being repaired at a bodyshop, I picked it up today, but there was a problem with the xenon headlight washer system. I've been burned once at this bodyshop (my car was supposed to be ready last week, but had paint chips and scratches), so today I wanted to ensure that everything worked on my car before I would take it home.
My car has a new hood (bonnet) fitted following an accident (flying tire hitting the hood and windshield), but the original, complete xenon headlamp assemblies were not damaged in the accident and were simply transferred to the new hood. When I tried to verify the working of the xenon headlight washers I could hear the special (noisy) pump activate, and the washer jet arms actually extended, but no fluid squirted out (there was plenty of fluid in the headlight reservoir).
A bodyshop technician was called in and checked all the fluid fittings, and was able to verify fluid was being pumped up to the washer jet assemblies by undoing the hoses on each headlamp (I learned that the headlamp washer pump is very powerful and can shoot a large stream of fluid 20 feet away!
)As the technician worked to solve the problem, things seemed to get worse: the pump could still be heard working, but the washer jet arm assemblies would no longer extend and no fluid appeared anywhere. The jet arm assemblies did not appear to be binding on anything and could be extended by hand, but would not extend on their own.
The bodyshop doesn't know what to do, so the car is now scheduled to go the local BMW dealer to see if they can sort this problem out. The problem is that the BMW dealer is still 6 months away from becoming a MINI dealer, so there are no MINI trained technicians working there yet.
The nearest MINI dealer is 200 miles away, so the BMW dealer seems like a reasonable alternative, but I don't know how similar the MINI's washer system is to a BMW's.A couple of questions:
Does anyone have a clue on what the specific problem might be that I can pass on to the bodyshop or to the BMW dealer?
When it is working properly, what force causes the washer jet arm to extend? Is it hydraulic pressure from the pumped washer solution, or is there some type of motor or solenoid that extends the jet arm and then, once extended, allows the fluid to be squirted? In other words, if you are out of washer fluid, does the washer jet arm still extend?
