MOT and windscreen washers

You decide:

that is up to the tester, mine would probably pass it and advise, as long as the screen can be easily cleaned then it should pass. Why not just fix it? a new jet is only a few quid at most. or just clean your one. A strand from a wire brush is the right size, get someone to operate the washers while you poke it in the blocked jet.

In message , Scion writes

That sent me running down to stick a needle in one of mine! MOT later this month...

...hopes you mean the washer jet

In message , Pete writes

:-) Yes, one hole in a twin jet seems to be blocked after the car had remained idle for 8 weeks when I broke an ankle. Interestingly the engine started first turn of the key, although I did charge the battery overnight at about 1-2 amps because I was only doing short runs for a week or two.

On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:25:52 +0000, Scion stammered:

The one thing I forgot to check when I took the Focus for it's MOT last Saturday was the washers - Mrs P uses the car, and typically hadn't bothered to fill them up.

The tester advised me that he could pass it as there was a "dribble" of water getting to the nozzle. He then advised me that "It's probably blocked up with limescale, or you might just want to put some water in there..."

I tried cleaning it with a needle, from both directions. Didn't think of a wire brush strand, I'll give that a go, if not I'll go for a new one. MOT's not until end of Nov.

Yeah I saw that (different web site but pretty much the same wording).

It is subjective though, I was wondering if the tester would reject on the grounds that only 1/2 the water on that side was getting to the screen.

Heh, I went to drive Mrs S's car on a longish night-time journey, switched the headlights on... bugger, only one working. She pipes up "I noticed it was a bit dim a few weeks ago..."

needles are usually too large.

It should be exactly the same wording if it's from the tester's manual.

As others have said, why take the chance? If it fails, the total cost to you would be more than fixing it.

Chris

But they come in different sizes, some are needle-thin. ;-)

I fixed my blocked jet with a very fine sewing needle yesterday, it needed some serious poking, then I had the fun of re-aligning the jet.

I should have used a larger needle for that job really.

There are certain advantages in not having a Mrs H.

On second thoughts, it's worse having several "just friends" who never check their fluid levels or tyre pressures...

I use miniature drills in a pin chuck for jet cleaning and a right angled dentist probe for re-alignment. The problem with a completely round pointed item (such as a needle) for jet cleaning is that it can compact the muck on the sides of the jet which then gives a reduced flow and they block up more easily in the future. A square ended wire or a drill gives a scraping effect which actually breaks up the deposits, running the washers while cleaning the jets washes out the bits. It is a surprisingly common job to have to do.

I hadn't thought of using a pin drill, and I understand what you mean about a needle, because they are tapered which would make the compacting worse.

I have memories of drilling a sheared manifold stud on a cylinder head to extract it, and breaking the tiny drill in the stud, so I never even got to use the extractor.

I then had the embarrassment of having to take the head into work where the millwrights fell about laughing then somehow got it out, and ground the valves in for me at the same time and fitted new springs. Those were the days...

I'm not going to chance it. I don't like lining Ford's pockets so it'll be a quid from the scrappie.