Washer Bottle Leak...
 

Got my XC90 back from KwikFit wednesday after a long over due service, and parked it outside the house. Noticed Water dripping from the drivers side bumper bottom: The grey trim under the bumper.

******

Wondered what the hell it was. Didn't smell of anything....

Anyway, got underneath it, and it seems to be coming from the washer bottle: Filling it up increases the drip, and then it stops (but the bottle is not emptied).

Before I go ripping the bumper off to investigate, any common issues I should be aware of.... I know that I've not given you a lot to go off....

Why didn't I see this when I bought the car, you ask? KwikFit must have filled the washer bottle :-)

Do you have headlight washers in the bumper?

In my case it was the pipe to the offside ( rhd) rubber pipe that was lose. They appear to be just a push fit.

The pressure to these headlight washers is quite high and in my case when I operated the screen wash, it was particularly noticeable.

Hope this helps

It's a common issue, the washer bottle is actually a very complicated multi level tank and depending on the model year there are two or three pumps attached to it. Sorting this is absolutely a DIY job, you don't need to remove the whole bumper, just un-attach the drivers side and peel it back, remove the bottle (there are bolts that go through the middle of it so you need a socket and long extension).

Usually the seals are slimy and the bottle full of gunge so stripping it down, cleaning it with warm soapy water and carefully re-assembling it stops leaks in 90% of cases. Also clean carefully the filters on the pumps.

As said above, if a headlight washer hose has detached and dropped, the fluid will leak out here via gravity - best check that first.

When reassembling check the wiring carefully - if you get it wrong you could reverse the operation of front/rear washers....

Thanks all.

I can see that the bottle is dirty inside....

Will have a go at this next week: Still waiting for my trim tool to arrive from amazon...

Great advice on ensuring the right polarity too :-)

It’s the correct polarity on later models, on early models there are separate pumps for the front and rear screen washers and the connectors are identical….