V70: Body Rear screen washer leaking into front passenger footwell

[capt jack]

Just what it says in the title really. Operating the rear washer douses the front passenger footwell and glovebox in washer fluid!

It's a 2012 V70 SE auto.

I'm guessing that the plastic pipe that runs from the washer bottle to the rear of the car has come apart somewhere under the dash.

So, has anyone had this happen? Should I try to strip out the dash and repair whatever's broken, or is there some clever way of bypassing the problem with a new length of water pipe?

I tried removing the fuse that says Rear Washer, but this knocked out the front screen washers too, although not the headlamp washers.

Does anyone know how the pipe is routed inside the car?

Thanks

Jack

[Kev0607]

I don't know the exact pipe routing, but I found Volvo to be very helpful. They sent me an image of the washer bottle and connections in the front, so I assume they'd do the same for the pipework going to the rear if you ask nicely.

Maybe someone else can chime in who's experienced the issue you're having. If not, give Volvo a try and they might be able to at least send you a diagram.

[capt jack]

And indeed it was. After consulting the interweb, I decided that there must be some sort of connector in the rear washer pipework, somewhere in the A-pillar of the car.

I popped off the little plastic square airbag cover to reveal a Torx bolt that holds the A-pillar trim panel place. With the bolt (and a section of the door seal) removed, the trim panel came off very easily to reveal the airbag canister strapped to the metalwork of the A-pillar, various electrical cables, and the washer tubing. About midway along the length of tubing is a little black plastic connector - just a simple push fit.

The downstream tubing end had become disconnected, hence the leak. I snipped off a little of the detached end of the tubing - it was a bit bell-shaped, reconnected it all, and popped a couple of zip-ties around both sides of the connector, just as a precaution. A quick squirt or two of the rear wash-wipe confirmed that everything was working properly.

There's some foam insulation on the back of the trim piece, and this was quite soaked, so I dried it all off, used a baby wipe to clean the blue stain (washer fluid) from the trim panel, and put it all back in place, tightening up the Torx bolt and finally replacing the little plastic cover, and of course the door seal.

It really was quick and simple, and it made me wonder why on earth Volvo didn't just add a couple to zip-ties to the connector in the first place. Cost would be the reason I guess, and given that the car is 12 years old I suppose you could argue that Volvo's approach isn't wrong.

I can only think that either the tubing had just aged and gradually slipped off the connector, or that possibly there'd been some freezing of the tubing along its length, which caused the pressure to build up enough to dislodge the connector. Or possibly a bit of both.

Anyway, it all seems OK again, and I've learnt yet another lesson in DIY fixes!

Oh and for the H&S conscious, I didn't use any tools to prise the trim panel off the pillar - and was glad I'd been careful. The airbag canister nestles tight against the edge of the pillar nearest the door aperture, so pushing anything sharp in as a lever would possibly have had some interesting consequences.

But when you think about it, that panel must be designed to come off easily if the side airbag deploys, so it was never going to have much holding it in place!

The other thing that struck me was just how flimsy the trim panel is - a really lightweight ABS plastic with some fabric stretched over its outer face.

So if you find that your rear wash-wipe is becoming a foot spa for your front seat passenger, fear not! It's an easy fix!

Jack