[3t3p]

Any ideas? Cracked feed pipe? Water barely makes it onto the lowest part of the windshield.

I can hear the pumps whirring away. Full of fluid in the reservoir though I don't think the low indicator sensor is working!?

Thanks

[doughboy]

Algae / mould / sludge in the bottom of the water tank.

This has happened in all my bmws,e90, e91, f06 and f87. Its the perfect place for algae, nice and warm and the translucent plastic allows light in.

Mercedes and VW I know of have black tanks, maybe coincidence but no light means no algae.

I remove the hose from the washer nozzles and spray it out on the road, fill the tank with really hot water, blow air in the pipe to dislodge the mould, run the pump, repeat, and keep going till it clears, then a spot of bleach with the screenwash in the tank now and then to kill the algae. You'll see black bits come out and that musty mould smell with the hot water.

Other options is remove the tank and clean but that's a hassle.

The modern screenwash additives don't seem to kill the algae like they used to.

[fleetfoot]

My 10 year old e92 had a similar problem recently. I had just added new fluid, and I think that stirred up the algae in the tank/tubes, which clogged the tank filter. I took the whole tank out, and there was a TON of crap in there. It took multiple flushes with hot water, Dawn, and vigorous shaking to get it all out. It was a hassle, but totally solved my problem.

[3t3p]

Thanks chaps.
I'll have a look at disconnecting it myself.

Thing is I filled the tank up how can I empty it short of pulling on the washer function the whole time?!

Wonder if a silver kill coil would work. Used to be used in water cooled PC's but somewhat fell out of favour!

[fleetfoot]

I just let it all run out the bottom of the tank and tried to catch it, but that was messy. But it’s just water/alcohol so no big deal. Here’s my more detailed notes for my e92. I’m not sure how the setup on the m2 compares.

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=30278064

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by 3t3p

Thanks chaps.
I'll have a look at disconnecting it myself.

Thing is I filled the tank up how can I empty it short of pulling on the washer function the whole time?!

Wonder if a silver kill coil would work. Used to be used in water cooled PC's but somewhat fell out of favour!

If you need to empty it you can syphon out easy with with a piece of hose. That syphon hose will also help you to break up and suck out the gunge as a start.

To get the tank out is a faf, wheel of, arch liner out etc.

I just used hot water with household detergent and ran the pump continually with the line disconected under the hood so it doesn't block the nozzles, just spraying out over the driveway.. When it blocks, just blow back up the pipe end to break up the blockage and keep spraying. 2 or 3 tanks full it was clear but tank smelled of mould.

Then i filled tank with water and bleach left it over night then sprayed that out as above.

Now every few refills i mix in a small cup of bleach, no more trouble.

[3t3p]

How do I even get a tube in to Syphon? Mine has the weird textured black rubber part to reduce splashing a bit like a urinal?!

Does that lift up?

How does light even get in the engine bay for algae to grow?!

[doughboy]

I had some clear fliexible 8mm (maybe 6mm not sure) hose in the garage, i just pushed it in through the filler hole.

Never tried taking the splash matt thing off.

There's always light in there, lots of gaps all over the place.

[3t3p]

Cheers for that good ideas all round

[Maynard]

I'm told that any of the orange washer fluids will somehow interact with pump materials to gum things up with a kind of rubber sludge. Specifically it is the silicon in RainX or similar products - apparently it is common enough issue that for both of my F-series they made a big deal out of warning about it and telling me if I clogged it b/c of that, they weren't going to fix it under warranty.

Of course, if you are getting gobs of musty mold, that's more likely; but if you have orange fluid and no moldy smell then you may need a new pump too, and pulling the reservoir will save you the time of trying the flush and refill.

[3t3p]

Most recent fluid is one made here in NZ. It's sold widely but no idea as to its quality. It just guarantees 'absolutely no webbing' !