Mystery washer fluid appearance - Altea rear passenger cupholder

[Stunts]

Hi all,
hoping someone may have come across this issue....... I drive a Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI DSG and have noticed that the rear washer is no longer squirting, however, the pump in the front works. There is now a mystery pool of washer fluid that turns up in the offside rear passenger cupholder on the door side of the seat. I'm guessing that the pipe runs through this area and that it may have become detached and is verily pumping fluid from the union into the rear passenger area...... Any ideas? I'm thinking of just taking the car to my local Seat dealer as it's still under warranty, but the inconvenience factor is hig as my wife works 30 miles away from the dealer

 

[markirel]

I can't help but I can sympathise. Mine's gone for a 2nd time (a few weeks ago) but I haven't investigated it yet. Last time the fluid was running along the off-side skirt and out by the rear wheel. I took it to the dealers as I was having a service done and they sorted it out. I'll be booking it back in but am simply not using the rear washer at the moment.

I suspect that the joints are not capable of handling the system pressure that is generated when the washer jets are blocked. Its a design fault IMO and while as owners/drivers we should ensure a good screenwash to water ratio, the system should be capable of handling the pressure it can generate.

 

[Alty]

I recall I had this problem during the cold weather last February on my Altea XL . The rear washer wasn't working and I assumed it was frozen but was puzzled why it still didn't work when the weather got warmer.
I then noticed that washer fluid was in the rear cup holder so contacted the dealer (Ted Johnson of Barnsley) who came out to the car where I worked and fixed the problem in a matter of minutes.
The washer pipe had come detached ,presumably due to the pressure when frozen so it must be a fairly common problem.
If you take the car in to the dealer it shouldn't take them long to cure the problem.
Good luck.

 

[beport]

This has happened to me on my eight-year-old Ibiza so many times I can't remember.

You would have thought the designers could have come up with a better solution.

Now in the winter I am forced to use -60 deg screen wash neat!

 

[CrispDust]

wow I happened to notice yesterday some fluid in rear cup holder drivers side. I assumed it was snow that had fallen in over past couple of days but will investigate today. Me rear washr stopped working briefly (even though it had 50% fluid which should be good down to -18 deg C) but it works OK now.
Weird

 

[jtmac]

This is a very common problem in Mk4 Ibiza. I would have my rear washer reconnected by the dealer every year after freezing weather while I had that Ibiza.

So far I've been OK in the Altea...

 

[Hampton Caught]

Hmmm! I've got the same problem with my Freetrack, although it started before the first lot of snow. I was trying to wash the rear screen and my daughter, in the rear seat behind me, got dripped on with washer water. Haven't used the rear washer since and am going to book the car in for a repair under warranty.

Interesting that there are a few of us with the same problem (either in the past or currently).

Cheers, Steve