Micra washer jets

Micra washer nozzle
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

My sister has an old shape Nissan Micra. To date I've managed to argue that this is far too modern a car for me to fiddle around with, these things have to go to dealers 'cos the evil manufacturers make then so they can't be fixed by your average grease monkey.

However even I ought to be able to fix a blocked windscreen washer she said.

So I bought a Haynes manual and started reading. I didn't know what the problem is other than water wasn't coming out so I read the lot. It's scary - the car appears to be built around the washer bottle. To get at it the front wheel, wheelarch liner and possibly front bumper and one headlight have to be removed. That sounds like a whole lot of no fun.

When the car turns up, there is, to my great relief, water coming out - just not very much. A quick check by unplugging tubes shows fluids get to the nozzles OK so there problem must be in there.

Uncliping the nozzles (long nose pliers required) is easy and I shot them through with half of the products under the sink plus some I have in the garage. The holes were poked with a pin and that did seem to make a difference. Once re-connected there was water coming out of all holes, just not very much.

So another poking and squirting session ensues. Here's a handy hint though; the washer nozzle is an assembly of several parts if the inlet tube comes away from the rest of the unit, it has broken off. At the factory they are two separate parts and clip together. If you are holding two parts the clip has broken. All is not lost though as you can (or at least I could) fix this with superglue. Make sure the nozzle innards are complete first. They are a bronze spring, ball bearing and rubber O-ring. This forms a non-return valve.

Anyway, more poking ans spraying got the jets back to use and spraying on the middle of the screen. I suspect the problem was crud from the bottom of the washer bottle judging by the black horrid stuff that came out of the nozzle. The moral probably is, keep the bottle topped up so you don't try and squirt the muck from the bottom though the system.

And if you are buying a Micra, make sure the washer pump works.