Lance Kragenbrink

If I fill my wiper fluid reservoir to full it will loose about 1/2 of the gallon on the ground under the car. Then it stops. that leaves enough fluid to last a week or two. BUT every time I spray fluid on my windshield more leaks out under the car.
I dont notice this when driving but this morning I back out of my garage and I was sitting in the drive way and hit the wiper fluid and suddenly I noticed a puddle of wiper fluid under the car that was not there before hand.
I suspect this is a seal somewhere and not a crack.
My headlights do not have wipers so it's not a supply tube to them.
Any help would be great!
Thanks

Just Me

typical failure point is where the sensor (if i recall) enter the unit. It cracks. Look and ye shall find.

G

cvanc

Just dealt with this myself, but I had (emphasis on "had") headlight washers.

About halfway down the tank are two separate mount points:

1- The 2-pin electrical sensor that triggers that incredibly annoying beep & the dashboard symbol. (seriously -- most overblown alarm in the entire automotive industry)

And just a smidge lower on the tank is:

2- The mount point for the headlight washer pump. (not sure if you know the windshield & headlights are fed by two totally different pumps?)

If you remove the mesh screen assembly from the top of the tank -- it just pulls out -- you can shine a flashlight down in the tank and eyeball things a bit. I can totally see the electrical sensor when I do this, but not the headlight pump mount point. Might reveal something to do this?

I found it's pretty easy to knock the sensor out of its' grommet; maybe yours has come loose too. And if you don't have a headlight pump I assume you still have the hole in the tank where it would go, right? So Audi puts a plug in it or something? Maybe that's leaking.


It's aparently common for the headlight pump to crack and leak; that was the problem I had. But you don't have that pump, right? Maybe it's leaking where the pump would go if you had it.

I disconnected my headlight system -- it's a dumb feature. Doesn't clean the lights well and gets tons of overspray on my hood.

Good luck.

Just Me

that sounds right. Thanks for filling in the holes....

Redneck Truck

I've got 2 complete bottles, 4 pumps, and 2 sensors sitting in a bin in my garage. Both failure points for me were the headlight washer pump splitting in half, right up the side. a barbed nozzle that comes with a tube of RTV silicone just happened to stuff down into the grommet and seal it perfectly. A new headlight washer pump is like $20 on ebay. I haven't gotten around to buying one yet.

Does anybody know - when the fluid level is good, is the "sensor" open or closed? I'd love to emulate the "pass" state with either a short or an open and eliminate that sensor and the annoying alarm forever.

cvanc

This is what the sensor looks like:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-C5_A6-...sher/ES257162/

So, it seems the washer fluid conducts enough electricity to short (or partially shoort) the pins together when the fluid level is high enough to submerge the sensor.

The key question is this -- are there any active electronics inside this molded plastic assembly? I'd guess probably not but it would need to be verified. Anyvbody got one they feel like dissecting?

Lance Kragenbrink

Thanks for all the good ideas to check out fellas.
Until I get my hands on a good manual, Ill have a few more silly questions.
1. Do I have to pull the tank to fix this?
2. Where and what publication do you recommend for a good repair manual?

Thanks again....

Redneck Truck

You'll have to remove the wheel and the fender liner to get it out, but it comes out easily once you do. There are only two, maybe three bolts, three electrical connectors, and two hose clips holding it in.

Lance Kragenbrink

Seems pretty straight forward.

Thanks !

Dill39

This happens because the leak is occurring at the upper (headlight) washer pump grommet. For me, the leak started in earnest when I had detached the quick disconnect on the hose to the headlight sprayers. I didn't realize how sensitive the attachment point was to being tweaked. There is an upper and lower pump on the washer reservoir. The lower one goes to the wipers, the upper to the headlights. This leaves a bit left when the headlight sprayers use up all the fluid. I pulled the driver's wheel and fender liner and removed the tank. What I found was that A LOT of dirt had accumulated behind the headlight (upper) sprayer pump. When I'd pulled too hard on the hose, it realigned the pump in the grommet, allowing dirt to enter and lift the edge of the grommet from the tank, allowing fluid to exit.

The grommet design is a weak link. When new, the grommet seats in the tank and the pointy end of the pump squashes the grommet surface against the edge of the tank, completing the seal. After many years, the grommet loosens. The proper fix would be to get new grommets from Audi, but the nearest dealer is quite far from me, so I used silicone sealant (lightly). Be careful here because the upper pump will want to come out of the grommet as you are seating the tank. As you reinsert it, it'll want to pick up wet sealant on the tip (bad).

I've read a lot about cracking tanks and pumps. I find both hard to believe if the parts are the same as on my 1998 C5 A6 Quattro. Both seem overly burly and not prone to damage easily. The grommets however...that's a different story.