Windshield washer nozzles

[Twistytee]

The jets on my washer nozzles keep clogging. I clean them with a pin, run a bunch of fluid though them to clean them out, checked and cleaned the reservoir so no dirt, and replaced the check valves. Are new replacements my only option? I saw a post from Shogun about disassembly and soaking in vinegar but the photos no longer work. Maybe I'll try that.

Crappy design to begin with. I put updated nozzles with a fan spray pattern on my Avant and love them.

[bluptgm3]

265K miles and no clogs in my washers, though I use them everyday here in Washington.


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[mslevin]

Soaking in vinegar would most likely clean them out. You could also buy new ones or grab some from a partout/junkyard.

Sounds like you're not using 50% distilled water and 50% OEM BMW washer fluid!

[bluptgm3]

FWIW, my three E36s use RainX


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[Twistytee]

Soaking in vinegar would most likely clean them out. You could also buy new ones or grab some from a partout/junkyard.

Sounds like you're not using 50% distilled water and 50% OEM BMW washer fluid!

lol. So true. I only need to run summer formula here so I buy the cheap jugs at Wally's. I'm trying the vinegar tonight and if no joy I will get a new set and use better fluid.

[shogun]

The ones I opened up were heated version from E32 which is much more expensive than the normal ones. Here a pic

[Eric93se]

If you can upgrade them, then do that. I hate the e36 nozzles. I've replaced the check vales, but recently removed them and run without. If you upgrade then follow up so we can see, also post where you get them from.

I didn't know there's a BMW washer fluid formula, I wonder what the ingredients are, probably no methanol.

[Twistytee]

The ones I opened up were heated version from E32 which is much more expensive than the normal ones. Here a pic

The e36 with winter package are heated too. Not sure if they are same/similar to the e32 but I have the heater plugs. Doesn't look like I could open these easily without destroying them.

[shogun]

On the E32 the heated ones were pretty easy to open, just clips similar to the switches.

[Twistytee]

Ok. I got them open and there was a lot of crud similar to your photo. Do you recall the order for installing the springs, those orange plugs and the o ring? Unfortunately they all popped out together and I'm not sure how to reinstall.

[shogun]

Forgot it, that was almost 10 years ago when I did it. But one can figure out. Looks like the red/orange plastic pieces are the plugs to close the tube opening under spring pressure where the fluid come in from the washer tank to the washwater nozzle. When washer pump is activated and pressure is built up, the pressure of the washwater pump will be higher than the spring pressure and the red cap opens the flow thru the washwater nozzle.
Otherwise, if that is not closed when no washer fluid is needed, the whole pressure/fluid from washwater tank pump to nozzle would go out of the nozzle and dripple away. If you then would start the washwater pump, it would take a long time till pressure is built up again to spray.
So try to install the red / orange plug into the inlet to the spray nozzle and on top of that the spring.
Hope that makes sense.

[shogun]

Searched more on the Japanese websites, here you see disassembling of a E39 washer nozzle and you see that the red part goes into the bottom part and the spring keeps it closed, as I mentioned above, to block the flow when the washer pump is not active and keep pressure in the line
http://dd.jpn.org/BMW_HP/20060308/index.shtml

[Twistytee]

If you can upgrade them, then do that. I hate the e36 nozzles. I've replaced the check vales, but recently removed them and run without. If you upgrade then follow up so we can see, also post where you get them from.

I did some research on this today and hit the pick n pull to grab a variety of nozzles to try. As Shogun mentions, those springs and orange plungers are the integrated check valves for the e32, e34, e36 heated nozzles. If you have the standard non-heated nozzles, there are no internal springs and the cars came usually came with the white check valve in the photo below. I grabbed a set off an early e46 which has a similar shape but inserts in the plastic cowl vent instead of a slot in the hood - too narrow so no dice. I also grabbed a heated set from an e39 figuring I could splice on my heater quick connect if it fit. Although the e39 nozzles have the same square base and width, the length of the spray head is shorter than the e36 (see photo below - standard e36 on left and heated e39 on right) so it left a gap in the hood slot. This was a bummer as apparently the e60 nozzles are interchangeable with the e39 and they have a 3 spray nozzle head vs. our two so a bit more like the fan pattern I wanted. I saw a variety of non-heated mist/fan style nozzles, but they almost all had round bodies below the spray head so the fit on our cars would be questionable. The 2004-2008 Toyata Solara nozzles were one of them and looked like maybe they could fit.

In the end I decided to keep my original heated nozzles. They seem to be working pretty well now that I cleaned all the dirt and gunk out of the bodies and check valves. I'll probably switch over to Rain X washer fluid when I empty my current fill.

Untitled by Twistytee, on Flickr

[Eric93se]

Ebay has a ton to pick from but few/none have dimensions, nor do they have the spray pattern.

[shogun]

First time I see the internals of the standard non-heated nozzles without internal springs and with the white check valve in the photo above, thanks for the pic.