Cost for Seat garage to reconnect rear washer?

[punk beatz]

Hi guys,

This is a common problem by the looks of it! My rear washer has stopped squirting water, although there is no leakage in the boot (or anywhere else I can see.)

I've seen guides on how to take off the boot trim using a Torx 20, but I'm wondering how much it would cost at a Seat garage? If it was a reasonable price I'd pay it to save me the aggro. I didn't realise Seat's service teams were all off this weekend, so I can't get a price from them. My dad is visiting Sunday so I wanted a rough idea so we could decide whether we'd do it ourselves.

I don't mind doing it myself, but since I can't find leakage anywhere I'm worried that when I get the boot trim off it might not be where the pipe has disconnected. If there's no leak in the boot could this still be the place where the pipe is disconnected? Where else can the pipe become disconnected and how can I check? As you may have worked out, I'm a bit of an amateur!

 

[Gooner_Mike]

This is a very common problem with Ibizas and tends to happen in the winter if you run just water in the reservoir. I now run concentrated windscreen washer stuff, to stop it freezing again!
Mine went in the engine bay. There is a join under the airbox (on the 20VT lump) and ECU, just before the pipe runs into the bulkhead between engine and cabin. To check where the leak was, I ran the washer jet for about 10 seconds to see where the split was. The water was pissing out of the engine bay, so I knew it was in there. There is a join at the reservoir and the one where mine went!

The general area you need to look in

You can see the suds in this one!

 

[punk beatz]

Thanks Gooner_Mike, I'll have a look at that.

Any idea on how much it would cost at a garage though? It happened just before I had my first year service and they did it for free, but now it's out of warranty I'm not sure what the cost might be.

 

[Gooner_Mike]

Probably 1hrs labour, varies between garages! £60, £70??

 

[punk beatz]

Thanks again Mike, might be worth doing it myself then!

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

i have same problem i just got water coming out behind the front passanger wheel if i hold it on washer do you know if there is only that joiner that it could be thanks dan

 

[beezanick]

The washer pump is by the front passenger wheel, and there is a connection on that. It could have gone there, which has happend to me before. To get to it I took the front bumper off, but you should be able to get to it by removing the wheel arch lining at the front of the wheel arch.

You could try undoing a few of the toex screws on the front of the wheel arch and seeing if you can see the leak before you pull the whole car apart.

 

[Damoegan]

Has happened to me in two places, the same as Mike and where the pipe actualy goes onto the wiper motor. PITA to do.

Not as bad as doing it on a mk4 Golf though. Took me about 2 hours to find the one in the rear 1/4 panel in the gf's golf. She came out to se how I was getting on and foung half of her interior out and me swearing at the car. She just turned round and went back in the house shaking her head

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

thanks i will try and and find it
the first place i looked was in the boot and 1/4 panel its still a pain doing it in the ibiza but when i held the pump running then i see the puddle at the front cheers dan

 

[beezanick]

Can you get someone else to hold the wash on to see if you can see where the leak is coming from? Might give you an indication of whether its the connector at the bulkhead or pump.

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

i will make the girlfriend do that thanks

 

[mymorph]

i took the rear panel off about 2 weeks ago to try and find the missing link - to no avail all looked connected. that rear panel feels pretty flimsy and easily damaged i reckon.

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

i am guesing this only happens when its cold to stop motor from getting damaged

 

[beezanick]

Sorry, what does? The rear wash wipe should work in all weathers.

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

is that why the connectors pop off to stop the pump from getting damaged in cold weather like when the pipe is frozen
this what i got told by seat dealer

 

[beezanick]

Never heard that excuse before! Doesnt make any sense to me... running the pump for a few seconds when there is a slightley larger back pressure on the pump than usual wont damage the pump.

Its down to a poor design, and a seat dealer either not knowing what they are talking about or trying to make up for the design flaw!

 

[beezanick]

Never heard that excuse before! Doesnt make any sense to me... running the pump for a few seconds when there is a slightley larger back pressure on the pump than usual wont damage the pump.

Its down to a poor design, and a seat dealer either not knowing what they are talking about or trying to make up for the design flaw!

 

[Dan_Biza_Boi]

proberly but dont want to keep pulling bumper off to connect it if you get me

 

[beezanick]

Agreed, but if the pipe has become disconnected at the pump then it should be a one off fix. When I had my bumper off, I also found that the pipe had been rubbed through - that could also be your problem. Its worth a look through the wheel arch to check.

If you use screen wash and not plain water, the pipe shouldnt pop off behind the wiper. It happens when it freeses and expands, pushing the pipe off.

 

[RUM4MO]

is that why the connectors pop off to stop the pump from getting damaged in cold weather like when the pipe is frozen
this what i got told by seat dealer

I think that that is partially the correct answer, its all down to owners being too tight to "up" the concentration of the washer fluid - or too thick to realise that not doing this could cause problems, the many inline fluid pipe connections actually do, it seems stop the pump dead-heading under cold conditions - but the piping will be arranged this way to easy assembly at the fatories.