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VE Washer not working

El Trisco Smythe

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Hey all,

I'm having an issue with my 2011 Series II Sv6. The screen washer isn't chucking any water out but the pump is whirring like mad.
I checked the pipe before it gets to the jets and there's no water getting that far so I'm guessing it's the pump/bottle/filter.
Having searched around the forums all morning the closest I can see is for earlier models explaining how to access the filter but that doesn't help with my car.
I found some good instructions on removing the front bumper and that shows the water bottle assembly but doesn't show the pump/filter.
Has anyone had this issue themselves and know how to get to and clear the filter? I really don't want to have to remove the bumper and bar to find out it's not there.

Any help would be massively appreciated!
 

Sean880

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If it is a 2011 car then you have a valid new car warranty. So it should be off to Holden to have them fix it for you.
 

bandit10

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fill the washer bottle up with water then give it ago again :rofl2: :smoking:
 

callan91

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Grab some welding wire and ram it down the washer nozel hole. Sometimes with bore water etc you get a calcium build up in there or just ****. Happened to my old falcon and a few outboard motors we had. seemed to work fine after.
 

stubec16

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Some early models cracked the washer bottle and would just leak out the fluid, but I think this was fixed before 2011. Might be worth a check though.
 

El Trisco Smythe

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Thanks all for your replies.
Obviously my first thought was indeed to fill it full of water, and given that this still didn't produce any squirting on the screen I concluded that the washer bottle was indeed not empty. And given the lack of a puddle on the floor I knew the bottle wasn't leaking. I had already checked the nozzles and knew that water wasn't getting that far so ramming wire down them wouldn't make any difference. It's also worth noting that they're more of a slit than a hole.
You're right about the warranty though, but that would mean the laborious process of waiting to get my car looked at and my local dealer trying to charge me for something that I didn't need or ask for (had this on a recent service that ended up costing $1000+)

In the end I pulled (not literally) the front bumped off, which was a lot easier than I expected.
027plq7q95eh


And pulled out the pump (resulting in a rather large pool of water) and the problem was pretty obvious
0mofb8j0qqo

Gunk from the screen wash!

I think that having had the bumper off, it might be possible to access the pump by removing only the grill trim, which is a separate piece on the SV6. Although I didn't test my theory at the time.
The good news is that my washer jets are now working like new again and although I did scrape two knuckles during the procedure I think this was a lot less painful that trying to get it resolved via my Holden dealer.
 

stubec16

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I did scrape two knuckles during the procedure I think this was a lot less painful that trying to get it resolved via my Holden dealer.

That is good news.
At my place the job is ever done until knuckles are scraped.

Should have suggested this, but I recently fixed some washers on another car by blowing some compressed air 'back' down the little hoses until bubbles came out. Blew out the blockage, but probably only until the next time it gets sucked up.
 
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