Replacing windscreen washer pump

[Tom]

Can anyone advise on how to remove the 944 S2 washer bottle or replace the washer pump in situ?

• On my S2, the pump is way down at the bottom of the washer bottle, under the driver's side headlamp.
• The only manuals and pictures that I can find refer to earlier models where the pump is easily accessible, and mounted above the water bottle.
• I can just get to the wiring harness on the top of the pump with the headlights popped up. It feels as though the pump might just pull out of the bottle but I'm not sure. I can't see or feel any hose attached to the pump either.
• I've tried removing two bolts at the top of the washer bottle hoping that I could lift the whole assembly out but something seems to be holding it lower down. Are there more bolts lower down?
• It also looks as though I'd have to remove the chin from under the bumper to access the underside of the wahsre bottle - is this the case?

Any advice much appreciated as my usual mechanic has let me down.

 

[Fen]

It's an horredous job to take the bottle out, so don't do it.

The pump is just pushed into a rubber grommet in the bottom of the bottle, possibly with some shaping of the bottle body to provide "rails" for it to slide over to secure it. Sorry to be so vague, but I have only replaced one and it was years ago. As I recall it's just a case of working your hand in and pulling the pump out (breaking off some fingers and a couple of places in your forearm to gain articualtion might help here []). I used a pattern Golf replacement that cost £8 from a factor; the Golf one has 2 outlets (for front and rear screens) and you need the second for the headlights.

 

[Tom]

Hi Fen,

Thanks for that - I didn't want to try to pull the pump out blind and break something. One thing though - my car has two completely seperate pumps (one for the headlamps, which is mounted higher up and can be seen from above and the windscreen one which is, of course, the hardest to get at). Also, when you pulled the pump free, was there some slack in the hose(s) to allow you to pull the pump out to where you could see what you were doing?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Fen]

In that case yours is different to the one I did, so treat my advice with a little caution.

I think the job was very easy in terms of slack in the wiring and hoses when I did it.

 

[NeilW]

Tom,
I swapped my lower pump on the turbo a couple of months ago. It is difficult to get to from above, so I went in via the front wheel arch. Remove the front wheel and wheel arch liner. Remove the brake cooling duct and unclip the power steering cooling pipe. You may be able to get it without this last item, depends how large your hands are I guess. It sounds like a lot of disassembly but it isn't really, they're all easy to remove. At this point you should be able to reach around the front of the washer bottle and pull the pump upward, which, as Fen describes, is only held in by the friction of a rubber gromet. There should be enough slack in the electrical cable. Also the pipe that exits the pump horizontally should have enough slack.

I won't quote the famous Haynes line about reassembly, but you know what I mean..........[]

Good luck.

 

[James_G]

Ah, excellent, a job I have done.

Tom, I did this a few months back and I took a slightly different route on my 91 S2. I removed the undertray (it was off for some other work) and as such you can then access the lower bolt that holds the washer bottle in situ. I first removed the fuse to the light lift motor and then removed the lift motor itself and removed the two top bolts holding the washer bottle.

With the lights in the raised position, and the bolts undone you can pull the bottle upward far enough to pull the pump out, which I can confirm is an interference fit. I then quickly plugged the bottle with the new pump, set to work undoing the pipework from the now extracted old pump and swapped them over. There was enough slack in the headlight washer pipework to do this.

If going this route I'd advise that you have a new bolt, nut and washer for the lower mounting point as mine was very rusty and sheared off. Luckily I had anticipated this, so a new one went in.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tom]

Thanks everyone for your advice - I think I'll try the front wheel arch route as the dreaded "Anti Lock" light has been coming on and I suspect the drivers side front wheel sensor.

 

[stevespic]

Hi Tom, be sure to clean and test the old pump on a battery before throwing it in the bin, only takes a min as there prown to just blocking up.

Steve.