vauxhall astra windscreen wash jets

Rinse the washer bottle - refill with plain water and a few squirts of bleach. Leave it for a day, then stick a hose in to rinse it out at fairly high pressure. Refill with water, let it spray out and then refill with water and washer fluid in the correct concentration. That will solve the problem. I've known them to smell like a sewer if the water is left too long. Bacteria builds up. If the pump was on its way out it wouldn't spray any water through the jets. You can change the jets on the Astra for Insignia ones, they are around £1.98 each and they spray a fan shaped mist instead of 2 streams of water.

Thus spake Roger ( snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

It seems strange to hear this about two Astras no more than three years old. My Astra is now 9 years old but has never had a "smelly washer water" problem, nor have I ever needed to flush the tank. I just top it up with a water/washer-fluid mix, generally every couple of months but more frequently in winter. The only smell I get is the mildly pleasant perfume smell of the washer fluid itself. Either the OP's GF and her dad very rarely use their screen washers, or there's something nasty in their tanks.

In message , snipped-for-privacy@DENTURESsussex.ac.uk writes

I think lack of use may be a problem. My (ex) g/f had an L reg Astra, and one of the two jests stopped spraying. I knew she rarely used the washers. When I foolishly decided to investigate, the plastic pipe had hardened, so when I removed it to check if it was blocked (lots of dirt and bits in the tank) it wasn't possible to get it back on the joints.

I replaced it with some new plastic pipe, and that was a hell of a job to feed and fish through the bodywork.

Girl friends with old Astras are best discarded. :)

In message , snipped-for-privacy@DENTURESsussex.ac.uk writes

Or they aren't using a decent alcohol based washer fluid.

As a side question, does anyone know the best way to fit a replacement BMW 3series to the Astra washer jets?

On somebody elses insurance policy off the road?

Thanks for all the replies.

Haynes suggests removing the radiator grille and bumper to get to the tank, which seems like a lot of hassle. Can't you get at all the bits by just driving it up a ramp? I was thinking of pulling off the hoses to let it drain down but having read your comments above, I wonder if I should avoid this? Should I just put a hose in and let it overflow, as some other posts have suggested?

Indeed. I had the same problem (smell from the washer jets) on a Peugeot 405 I once bought that had been standing for a few months. All I did to fix it was pour a capful of disinfectant into the washer bottle and squirted it for about 20 seconds (to flush it into the pipework). Two days later the smell had gone. Being disinfectant rather than say bleach, and a small quantity, I thought it wouldn't damage anything and it didn't. Might be worth a try to avoid pulling the front of the car apart to get at the tank!

HTH...Nick.

Yup, drain out excess, refill with neat washer fluid & a capfull of jeyes fluid.

Thus spake Gordon H (Gordon snipped-for-privacy@g3snx.demon.co.uk.invalid) unto the assembled multitudes:

On of my ex-GFs had a Mk3 Astra :-)

My current GF has a Corsa, but neither is giving any trouble at present :-)

I do notice though that the smell from my Astra's coolant expansion tank is a bit like someone's old socks.