I have a 2011 L322 4.4Tdv8 & wondered if anyone could shed some light on a minor issue I'm having please?

My drivers side / offside (UK car) headlamp washer jet doesn't seem to work. The nearside / passenger side one works just fine (obv. I have the lights on and use windscreen-wash to activate).

Can anyone give a brief overview of the system - just basics such as, is it one pump for both lamps or a pump each? Any common / known issues? Any easy way to clear blockages etc.

I'm *hoping* its just blocked & easily cleared - or it's just frozen but fairly sure the other day when temperatures were much higher, that just the passenger side worked then too.

If its just the one pump driving both sides, then its likely to be a blockage / frozen and nothing electrical but I would like to avoid an MOT failure as I've corrected a few advisories that were on the last MOT certificate & was thinking of re-MOT'ing earlier to get a new clean certificate.

The reservoir is filled with 50% - so it *shouldn't be frozen - but could have been blocked for a long while - meaning it could be frozen as well as blocked!

Thanks in advance for any help

One pump and located on the nearside, so likely the fluid is frozen on the run to the offside nozzle, once the temperatures rise, if still not working then its blocked, thats a bumper off job if you need to remove the nozzle, theres a spring clip behind the bumper that holds it in place.

Thanks a mill. So, I had another look before seeing your reply & my guess is the pipe has come off the nozzle & there’s a fluid leak on drivers side when the headlamp washers engage!

Tried & failed to get my hand behind headlight into cavity below bumper to try grasping the pipe!

Tried to remove headlight & guess bumper cover needs to come off to release that - as there was no obvious way of removing it without the bumper cover (& rad grille) removed.

So next question is how to remove the bumper cover & if by removing it, will the ACC sensor be upset? On an Audi A8, taking the bumper cover off meant that ACC needed to be recalibrated. I’ve no idea where the ACC sensor is on an l322 mind?

Is there any way of accessing the washer pipe through the wheel arch cover - without removing bumper cover?
Thanks again.

Yes, bumper off to remove headlghts on the MY10 facelift.

No way to get at the washer nozzle without bumper removal, which isnt too hard, 2x screws on each wheel arch liner (one visible, one hidden behind the liner which can be a pain as you need to pull part of the liner out from the bumper edge) and then several bolts along the lower section and 4 more across the top under the grille, finally two small torx screws under little flaps that screw into the crash bar, them just a sharp pull to release the bumper from each wing bracket.

I'd recommend waiting tll the weather warms up a bit, the cold weather will increase the risk of breaking plastic brackets / mounting points on the bumper

ps the ACC wont be affected - its not touched and no recoding required.

Last edited by JCW on 18th Mar 2018 7:44pm. Edited 1 time in total

That really helps - thanks to both of you!

You're absolutely right about plastics being brittle in the cold - I've got that t-shirt

When I thought the h/lamp needed out (before my last post) I did start removing screws beneath / behind the rad. grille (downward facing) and one from drivers side wheel arch - in the hopes that it would partially pop-off on the drivers side just enough to get my mucky bits in there but I was nowhere near making it loose so refitted them all

Actually, I remember having a similar issue on the A8 (D3); in winter, I filled up the washer reservoir. Drove to work no problem. Following morning, empty warning again? Turned out, the pipe froze, pipe come off but didn't leak until temp rose in garage overnight - emptying the reservoir. On that car, there was a small bit of grille around fog-lamps which allowed me to re-fit the pipe. Took 30 seconds.

Anyway; I'll have to be patient and do it when the weather warms, perhaps next w/end. I have the fuel loom TB in the fuel tank to do as well (the fuel gauge mis-read requiring the connector blocks removing from the loom in the fuel tank) so thats 2 jobs now.

Thanks again.

Didn’t need to remove the bumper for this job fortunately, just the drivers side wheel arch cover, sufficiently pulled back enough to allow my grubby mits to reach in & reattach the headlamp washer pipe which had indeed come off. Simply pushed back on & it tested fine 👍

Thanks 🙏