Can I use drain unblocker to unblock washer jets?

[d215yq]

Hi all, not exactly mission critical but as I've not had to fix anything for quite a while now and holidyas are over time to address the washers. For a long time now I've only had 1.5 of the 4 washer jets working. After playing around with them with a needle I managed to get 2 briefly working (those on drivers side) but now back to just 1..

The needle goes right into 3 of the washer jets (one is so crudded it seems like it's welded shut and you can't even see the hole) but I'd be happy with 3 of 4. I've tried removing them from car and no luck.

So I'm now almost on empty so can I just put a little drain unblocker in the tank and then run the jets a fair bit (and then once run through fill with water to flush it out). The drain unblocker on sale here is pretty potent stuff but I'm guessing that the components of the washer jets are more or less the same as that of a typical drain pipe (rubber, metal and plastic) so should be OK??

Not too bothered if the drain unblocker discolours the paint when it sprays, this car is a working vehicle and already has quite a patina. Will it destroy the windscreen glass though? Suppose I could put something over the jets to capture it exiting if this is a problem.

Thanks,
Ben

PS car is 1987 W124 300D as in signature.

 

[Craiglxviii]

I would go with a kettle descaler if you can find it.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

You need a parafin lamp pricker .Its for unblocking the jet on the old paint striping parafin lamp. I had 3 pricks off ebay they are just the thing for cleaning them out . I put a little penetrating oil on the jet, and let it stand for a few hours , then go to work on the jet with the pricker.My jets were made small copper pipes .And inside they close up over time as the washer fluid corrodes them ,along with polish

 

[d215yq]

You need a parafin lamp pricker .Its for unblocking the jet on the old paint striping parafin lamp. I had 3 pricks off ebay they are just the thing for cleaning them out . I put a little penetrating oil on the jet, and let it stand for a few hours , then go to work on the jet with the pricker.My jets were made small copper pipes .And inside they close up over time as the washer fluid corrodes them ,along with polish

Thanks....I found a needle that went in 3 of the four about 1-2cms. I also sprayed WD40 through them and it got two working on the drivers side but now only one. The passenger side has one completely blocked so much that it's unclear where the hole is. The other on the passenger side allows the needle to pass 1-2cms but still nothing. For this reason I'm thinking the blockage is somewhere else in the pipes so am a little stuck without taking it to bits, which seems complicated.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

I sold a set for a w126 , and before i posted them off i put them in the sonic cleaner . It cleaned them out My washers are not that hard to remove on the w124 .So dont know what its like to remove yours one at a time .

 

[d215yq]

I sold a set for a w126 , and before i posted them off i put them in the sonic cleaner . It cleaned them out My washers are not that hard to remove on the w124 .So dont know what its like to remove yours one at a time .

I can move the passenger ones about and even start to prise it off but there is just no way to get it finally off without excessive force that will probably snap whatever part of the washer is holding it in. Maybe there is a knack to doing it? I'll try again and remove the passenger one as it doesn't work anyway so can't do much harm. No access to a sonic cleaner but I suppose once off the car I can soak it in unblocker etc with no risk to any of the pipes/motor/rest of the car and see what happens.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

You need to pull down its in a slot .Push to the screen or to the front of the car. The wash as a retainer on the side push that in as you tyr and remove it . PM sent

 

[turbopete]

I'm pretty sure you can just unclip them from under the bonnet.

 

[Frosty149]

Chances are you have some crud in the main bottle too, kettle descaler has worked for me on the bottle before now, the jets and hoses require patience and attacking last to avoid pushing more crud into them.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

Once you have your hands on them , its only the mater of pushing in the righ direction pull back to the screen and lift one end out . Now if electrical mind you put back the conectors in the right place and secure them some way . Its been known to cause a fire through these dam things coming apart and shorting on the hood .So remove the earth lead before you pull them out.Hope you have your radio code .And i looked in the manual and nothing to say how to remove the nozzles..

 

[Flyinspanner]

I would be very wary of using kettle descaler in situ, as it is a mild acid and could damage your paintwork. It would be better to remove them to soak them by submersing them in a solution for a few hours. (Same with the screenwash bottle). This will give solution time to dissolve any limescale buildup etc.
Maybe check how much new nozzles are from mb.
I had this issue on a class rear screen - totally blocked but part was quite cheap from mb, it just needed a good push to side, to allow it to pop out. Maybe just buy one replacement so you can see which way you need to push, clean them - putting new one onto driver side so you know you have good clear vision.
Ps don't forget to take supply pipe off pump and operate to check pump has good output flow. Washer line may have kinks in line to jets, check the run of pipe work.
Rinse washer bottle before reinstall.

 

[EmilysDad]

Are the jets actually blocked? On another car I was struggling to get water onto the screen. It turned out that the heater bit had corroded so the jets had swollen & split underneath .... it turned out I was spraying more water over the engine than the screen.

 

[daibevan]

Same symptoms on my mates Kia, turned out to be a blocked filter between the wash bottle and the pump. Very common fault on them, don't know if you have one on yours.

 

[d215yq]

I did disconnect the pipe to the passengers one and it sprayed all over the engine so I assume it is the nozzle assembly that's causing the problem. On the driver's side there's one nozzle that works perfectly so again assume it can only be a nozzle problem.

 

[00slk]

I've had this problem at times, the needle works OK, and so does compressed air. The other alternative is to fit new jets if they have scaled up. You never seem to get the spray quite right after a needle clean. I have used a very fine drill to clear a completely blocked jet before too.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

The next time mine stop , i know they womt work again .Its rip them out time and replace them with a better set up . Not worth the hasstle keep cleaning them out . More work involved to remove them to work on . So i will remove all the wires along with the jets at the same time ., Reading on one forum were the wires came apart inside the bonnet from the conector to the jets , and set fire to the hood liner along with, coolant pipe. That chap was very lucky .He saw smoke , and stoped right away ,it was entering the car via heater vents .His quick thinking saved any damage to the bonnet by removing the negative wire to the battery . So is ot worth it ? , as they do very little .

 

[d215yq]

Well I got the blocked one off OK bending the clip and then managed to snap the brittle clip holding the good one in. No problem - except the tube part of the nozzle was also cracked when the clip broke. But atleast after a night soaking in drain unblocker I now have them unblocked and working and superglued all around the cracked nozzle tube building up layer by layer so it doesn't leak water.

So then was out cleaning the tank and running drain unblocker through the reservoir out of the tubes and into 2 plastic bottles wedged nicely between boonet and bulkhead so as not to spray that on anything or anyone - got a weird look from a passerby doing that! All done and then thought I'd give inside of reservoir one last clean and knocked a perished rubber bung that goes through a hole in the bottom of the tank and so a whole reservoir of screenwash came out. Found a suitable plastic sized bung in my toolbox and superglued that in building up layer on layer to waterproof it like I did with the cracked nozzle. Then had to use yet more superglue as the nozzle without a clip wouldnt want to sit in position.

Forgot to mention I also couldn't unclip the heater elements so had to cut those wire and isolate them with tape but as has been said I don't think they are needed.

So not a pretty repair and probably not up to the standards of many but happy to report after 3 days no leaking from the tank and I have 3 good clean jets and one that's about 0.5. Does make a difference now as the outer 3 inches of the wiper's reach actually clean now rather than just smear

 

[umblecumbuz]

So now you pray for rain in Spain...