Z4C 3.0si E86: £50 piece of plastic then h/lamp washer leak

[Vroomer]

The small piece of plastic covering the left-hand headlamp washer jet popped off after a frosty morning and was lost. Research revealed this to be a common problem.

A replacement cover was obtained online at the mind-boggling cost of £50+, including spraying. It's actually the size of a 50p piece.

Online advice was to get somebody else to activate the washers, then grab the unit before it retracted in order to fit the cover. This was achieved after a few attempts and I thought 'job done'. Sadly, a rapidly emptying water reservoir indicated a leak, and close inspection revealed this to be the case.

I now have water dripping down from the bumper under the washer jet, but the mechanism itself is hidden behind a mass of plastic and screws and it looks like a monumental exercise to get to the root of the problem. Has anyone one else had this issue, and is there a short cut? Thanks!

[A4 cabrio]

Sounds like a pain of a job, I’d get the headlight washers disabled, simple enough job if anyone local to you has the Carly app & dongle/cable

[Sticks.]

There'll be a how to on the Z4 Forum pages, and Youtube, I would think. If you do have to take the bumper off, do both washers.

The usual cause is the washer fluid isn't concentrated enough, so freezes.

I've had 3 replacement covers from the dealers, just the covers though. They were cheaper than that iirc, and they put them on for me (glued the last one) foc. Was a while back though.

Sometimes worth checking prices etc here. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BMW-Direct-Store?_rdc=1

[nxh66]

Its a common problem on the Z4 but luckily its pretty easy to get the front bumper off to find out where it leaking. As said there are threads on it on Z4-forum.

It happened to mine years ago, I'd always come back to the car to find a small puddle under the offside headlamp. I disconnected the power to the pump as a temp measure and then decided I rather liked the whole bonnet not getting sprayed with screen juice every time I gave the windscreen a quick spray.That was about 8 years ago now......

[Vroomer]

A4 cabrio said:

Sounds like a pain of a job, I’d get the headlight washers disabled, simple enough job if anyone local to you has the Carly app & dongle/cable

Isn't it mandatory for MOT purposes to have working headlamp washers with Xenons?

[A4 cabrio]

Yeah it is but with the Carly app you can just enable them again for the MOT, I had mine disabled on my e93 as I was fed up of soapy water in the face with the roof down lol & I’d forget to enable them again for MOT but never failed because of it, I know MOTs are changing soon so will possibly be stricter.

[JakeT]

Pulling Fuse 40 will do the same without impact on other systems. Carly is bloody excellent though, and saved me a ton of cash on diagnoses on both mine and mates cars. The coding is great too.

[G600]

JakeT said:

Carly is bloody excellent though, and saved me a ton of cash on diagnoses on both mine and mates cars. The coding is great too.

It's definitely worth the cash. I deactivate my headlight washers in the summer to stop the bonnet getting covered in screen wash and turn them back on for the winter when they are actually useful.

[Vroomer]

Having looked at this again, I'm still reluctant to remove the bumper, but now wonder if the leaking headlamp washer could more easily be accessed by removing the wheel arch liner. Has anyone any experience of this?

[stagnite]

I have a 2014 A4 which has just developed a leaking headlamp washer. Upon removal of the wheel liner and inspection of the jet itself by pulling it out with a cord, I was wondering if there is a one way valve along the fluid line that has got stuck. Any ideas?