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Washer fluid pump failure, front & back

140K views 118 replies 68 participants last post by  dag69 
#1 ·
Hi,

My 2003 Element EX front washer fluid pump has failed three times in the past two and half years. There was no problem with the rear pump. Has anyone faced similar problem? Eventhough he dealer has replaced the pump free of charge, I still feel frustated. Any input or feedback is appreciated.

snbharathi
 
#31 ·
Thanks Adrian, I was planning on trying the liner trick to see if that would do it or not.

I just placed the order for the pump as well as Washer Tank bushing and gasket. The last two items are item #'s 6 and 17. I ordered these just in case I need them. For a few dollars I thought they would be worth getting as well.



 
#33 ·
Just had my pump replaced yesterday,it was definetely pooched but managed to get it replaced under warranty.I watched the tech get to the pump by removing the inner wheel well liner like Adrian said and the whole job shouldn't take any DIY's more than an hour or so it looked fairly straightforward.
Now i have juice again,i was getting sick of following the snowplows and having a dirty windshield.
 
#34 ·
how i fixed my winshield washer fluid problem

Hey,

Didn't read whole post, but tail end suggests this may not have been tried...

I had run out of fluid one day so I picked up some more, but found I wasn't getting any fluid to come up still... thinking I had a bad washer motor or blown fuse, i checked the fuse first. Then I thought about the possibility that either gunk from the bottom of the washer fluid resivoir was clogging the pump. So I disconnected the hose and blew till I head some bubbles (I think I heard bubbles and could generate enough with my own lung capactiy... it was awhile back). I didn't want to spray compressed air in fear that I'd blow a hose off.

Then I considered that perhaps the pump just needed to be primed. It's like a fish tank filter... without some water to start the process, the pump can't "suck".

I got some water in there and suddenly my washer fluid was working again....

Here's what to do:

Get some water into your resivoir if there isn't already, then disconnect the hose from the nozzle underneath the hood, then squirt some washer fluid back down the hose with a spray bottle. Spray quite a bit.

Then try it, it might just work.
 
#35 ·
I finally had the time, daylight and temperature to tackle this repair! yeah. :)

First things first... I didn't take any pictures. Second, this can't be done by only removing the wheel liner.

What I did was loosen the wheel liner and remove all of the fasteners on the passenger side. I removed all of the clips from the top and half the bottom. This allowed me to create enough room to work so I could actually reach in and remove the old broken pump.

** Warning contained below **

Don't do what I did and pull the old pump if the reservoir is filled with 1.25 gallons of washer fluid, it will actually spill all over you, the street and your tools! lol

End warning

Once the fluid was all done pouring out I was able to more easily swap out the 2 pumps. I am glad I purchased the new gasket for the pump as the old one was stuck to the old pump and wasn't worth the hassle of removing. I pressed in the gasket into the reservoir tank then pressed in the new pump. I then connected the 1/8" hose that leads to the windshield sprayers. Connected the clip for the electrical connection. Poured in about 2" worth of washer fluid to check for leaks.

Turned the E on and with the wipers flipped up off the windshield I tried the sprayer... IT WORKED!!

I never tried blowing through the hose to see if something was clogging it or anything like that. Once I disconnected that little hose the fluid began pouring out of the pump too! lol I figured it was just as easy to replace the pump and see if that did the trick. In my case it did.

Hope this helps someone else with the same issue. :)

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone.



 
#36 ·
spare parts on board!

Hey guys, my washer pump went out last month also. Tried all the tricks, no luck getting it to come back to life. I pulled the front cover and removed the tank after draining it. The rear washer pump is located on the back side of the tank and it is actually the exact same part as the front one. I just swapped the two pumps and the front one works great now. I do not ever recall using the rear washer in 3 years so I probably won't miss having it operational. Just a note for those fellow E owners on a tight budget like me!
 
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#37 ·
#38 ·
Windshield washer pump repair.

Hi everybody,

Last week, my front windshield washer pump went out on me. A bit of a hassle but not too bad I guess, considering it's the first time in 101,000 miles !

Anyway, I come to the EOC site, do a little searching, and find what I need to know before I attempt the DIY. First off, there are many threads regarding this topic, some a little more accurate than others. After reading a few threads and checking out some front bumper removal pics, I decided I would do it myself.

I just did the job today, it took maybe an hour at the longest. And I didn't break a single snap fastener either !

I read one or two posts saying you don't have to remove the front bumper, but that you can get to the pump by loosening the wheel well lining. I'm 5'7", 170 lbs. and have small hands and I couldn't get to it that way. Really, I can't see, after doing the repair, how ANYBODY could replace the pump that way. So, I took the front bumper off.

If you're looking to do the removal of the bumper, run a search and pull up the fog light installation pictures, there's a real good illustration of the process there. There are at least 10 or more snap fasteners you have to remove, and 6 screws. 4 screws are under the car, and 1 in each wheel well. I think you'll need a 10mm and a 6mm socket, I can't remember for sure of the size.

As far as removing the snap fasteners goes, my best advice is to take your time ! Use a small flat screwdriver to pop the middle up, then work the whole thing back and forth until it comes free. These things are known to break kinda easily, and they're not too cheap, about $3.00 a piece ! They don't work too well broken either.

Now, here's the best inside tip I think I can give ya if you're gonna do this repair. You really DON'T have to take the bumper completely OFF the car. I almost did this when I realized that, UNDER the car, there are 4 snap fasteners that actually HINGE the the bumper to the frame so that the bumper swings down ! I was able to work around it, and the bumper didn't get in my way during the job. I just put a piece of cardboard on the driveway to protect the bumpers' surface. I think it also made it easier for me to get everything to line up again when I was finished. I could see this as being pretty handy if you had the car up on a lift working on the radiator or condensor. I don't know if Honda designed this on purpose or not.

Once I had the front off, the repair was super easy. Drain the washer tank, literally pull out the old pump ( it's just a press fit ! ) press in the new one with the new gasket, and connect the water hose and wiring harness. That's it ! When I went to test it, at first I wasn't getting anything out of the nozzles, there must have been a big air gap in the line. After a while, I had washer fluid spraying !

A few more things. You might want to replace BOTH pumps while you got the front off, the rear washer pump is located BEHIND the washer tank. You'll have to remove the washer tank from the frame to get to it. I probably should have done this but, oh well ! I decided NOT to buy the Honda pump, my dealer wanted $78.00 for one ! I bought one from a local parts store for $25.00 ! The only difference I can SEE on the pump I bought, is that it doesn't have the locking clip for the wiring harness to lock on to. I also see I should invest in a grill screen for my condensor !

Just by chance, if you need to replace your horn, it's located on the drivers side in almost the same position as the washer tank. You'll have to take off the bumper to get to IT too !

I hope this post might be of help to someone who's thinking of doing this themselves and saving some cash. My advice, read a few posts from other members, get to know a little bit of what you're going to attempt, and just jump in. I have a few pictures of the job (always helpful ), I'll try to post them as soon as I crop them down to size.

See ya !
 
#40 ·
Windshield washer pump gets no power

My front washer pump stopped working like it has happened to many others. Today I tried to remove all the dielectric grease because that has helped some people. I have a volt meter so I figured that instead of cleaning all of the grease out I would stick in the probes to verify that the pump was getting power. There is no electricity on the wires that connect to the front pump. My rear pump is working and confirmed that the plug for the rear pump gets electricity. I wired the front pump using the plug for the rear pump and nothing. This means that the front pump is dead and gets no electricity. The fluid lines work fine since I ended up switching the lines for the front with the rear. Now I can get water in the front by using the switch for the rear windshield. All of my wipers work so it shouldn't be the fuse for the pump since it's one the same fuse as the wipers. Does anyone know if I can test check the voltage somewhere "upstream" of the pump? I read all the previous post releated to this but no one has had this problem.
 
#42 ·
My rear pump is working and confirmed that the plug for the rear pump gets electricity. I wired the front pump using the plug for the rear pump and nothing. This means that the front pump is dead and gets no electricity. The fluid lines work fine since I ended up switching the lines for the front with the rear.
Am I reading this right? To me it really sounds like you have a bad pump.

Did you power the front pump with the wiring for the rear pump and it still didn't work? or am I totally mis-reading your post?
 
#41 ·
Under the Middle of the dash ! See Photo. C501 is the plug. that goes to the multiplex control unit. It's the white/Green wire coming off of pin # F6 in the under dash Fuse/Relay box.

Dom
 

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#44 ·
It sounds like the op is saying that the front pump tests bad because it won't work when activaded by the rear wires/switch, but the rear pump works fine.

When the rear pump connected to the front wires/switch it won't work either.

(Kinda what I get from the post)

Therefore....the switch/wires to the front pump don't work and the front pump itself won't work. _____________________________________________________________

I find this odd.....not impossible, but not likely either. From experience, I know testing wires/switches to a little bitty pump on the front right corner of a car w/ the switch located in the cabin is difficult.

The pump is prolly bad (as per testing) so it'll need replacement anyway. After installing new pump check the wires/switch connections to that pump. Pay carefull attention to grounds. :wink:

Good luck.

Will
 
#45 · (Edited)
Thanks for the replies.

My pump is bad because it will not work when it is connected to the front or rear electrical plug. Common problem and I agree with everyone on this.

The wiring for the front fails to provide electricity. I tested this using a volt meter at the terminas on the plug. I also tested the rear wiring to make sure that I was measuring voltage the right way. The first time I made a mistake and used AC instead of DC. The fact that I get a voltage reading from the rear wiring leads me to believe that I should also see a voltage reading for the front wiring if I use the same method.

Everything for the rear works: pump, wiring, and tubing. For now, I switched the tubing between rear and front pumps.

I plan to replace the front pump but that won't solve my problem since it will not get electricity. I will try to measure voltage from pin # F6 on plug C501 under the dash like Dom.five suggested.

Should I splice the wire leading to the pin to connect the positive on the volt meter with the negative touching the car frame?

Edit: I think I will retest with the help of another person. To test I inserted the leads on the volt meter into the plug, positive to positive and neg to neg. I placed the volt meter on the hood and went inside to activate the switch. It is possible that a kink in the wires prevented a reading so I will try again.
 
#46 · (Edited)
Edit: I think I will retest with the help of another person. To test I inserted the leads on the volt meter into the plug, positive to positive and neg to neg. I placed the volt meter on the hood and went inside to activate the switch. It is possible that a kink in the wires prevented a reading so I will try again.
Yup.


Been there....screwed up like that. :wink:

I know testing wires/switches to a little bitty pump on the front right corner of a car w/ the switch located in the cabin is difficult
You might wanna plug the rear (working)pump into the front switch/wires and give that a try....blue juice squirtin' out is better than seein' a voltmeter/test light.


Will
 
#48 ·
easy shmeazy

I was kind of worried at first, removing the front bumper seems intimidating. When i went about removing the bumper i removed all the screws and clips but realized that i could get to the pump without taking it off. I just kind of squeezed in there by partially removing the left side enough to fit my hand through. luckily the installation was as easy as punching it in there. the worst though was once i replaced the pump, me being the genius that i am didn't check to make sure it was in all the way, so after replacing the bumper and filling it up it all just leaked out and i had to do it all over again....:sad:
 
#50 · (Edited)
It does not sound like it's possible for them to die at the same time. Make sure you have washer fluid in there, NOT just Water! The pumps may be frozen.

In the under dash fuse box fuse 9, It's a 10 amp, does the rear wiper/washer.

Fuse 20, a 20 amp, does the front.

When you take the cover off there is a diagram showing you the proper one to look at.

Dom
 
#51 ·
Washer Motor/Pump tips

Hey guys...I'm new here and glad to be a member. I have found this site to be extremely helpful in diagnosing issues with my "E". I have an 04 "E" that I purchased new, it now has 66K. Last week I filled my washer fluid tank and got about 10 secs of use then nothing.... After reading the thread I realized I was not alone with this problem. I was curious so I called the dealer...$148 to replace this motor, ouch! Why would anyone put the factory pump back in???? I purchased a Trico pump at Auto Zone for $18 bucks and replaced it 45mins. The key is to remove the front bumper cover, be careful with the clips (use tweezers to lift them up about 18). 4 bolts and 2 screws. The only issue I had was pushing the new motor/pump into the tank. Here is an easy tip for pressing it in - remove the rubber bushing from the new motor and put it in the tank first. Then put a bit of dish soap on the part of the motor that you push into the rubber bushing, this lubes it up and it slides right in. FYI.... once you connect the harness try the motor before putting it all back together and be patient there is air in the line.
total cost = $22.00 after tax and another gallon of fluid.
 
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#52 ·
Hey guys...I'm new here and glad to be a member. I have found this site to be extremely helpful in diagnosing issues with my "E". I have an 04 "E" that I purchased new, it now has 66K. Last week I filled my washer fluid tank and got about 10 secs of use then nothing.... After reading the thread I realized I was not alone with this problem. I was curious so I called the dealer...$148 to replace this motor, ouch! Why would anyone put the factory pump back in???? I purchased a Trico pump at Auto Zone for $18 bucks and replaced it 45mins. The key is to remove the front bumper cover, be careful with the clips (use tweezers to lift them up about 1. 4 bolts and 2 screws. The only issue I had was pushing the new motor/pump into the tank. Here is an easy tip for pressing it in - remove the rubber bushing from the new motor and put it in the tank first. Then put a bit of dish soap on the part of the motor that you push into the rubber bushing, this lubes it up and it slides right in. FYI.... once you connect the harness try the motor before putting it all back together and be patient there is air in the line.
total cost = $22.00 after tax and another gallon of fluid.
I had to replace my front washer motor pump and went with the Honda part. It didn't cost me anywhere near $148... I paid around $45 for it from Majestic Honda online.



 
#53 ·
"Free Reair to Windshiel Washer"

Guys I just wanted to put this out there. i just fixed my front windshield washer and It cost me "0" in parts. It was just before the big snow here in Mass and I needed to fix it after partially removing the front right wheel liner and diagnosing the problem I simply switched the front and back washer hoses. I had to cut a tie down on the hose to do it, and I need to put the rear washer on to get the front to work but it got me throught the storm. I now have time to go get research and get a "frugal" replacement pump with no pressure.
I was looking up pumps on line and found this thread.
 
#54 ·
Windshield Wiper Pump Gone Dead?

A month or so ago I went to give my front windshield a squirt and found that they weren't working.

The back one works fine.

However the front one won't put out any fluid.

I checked the hose and made sure there were no kinks. Shy of disconnecting it and hitting the line with compressed air I'm confident that it's clear.

It's not dispensing fluid onto the ground when I try it so I'm pretty confident that it's not an issue with continuity in the line.

Are there two fluid pumps on the Element? If this is the case I can see where if one went bad the results would be as I'd described.

However if there's only one then I'm going to be looking at replacing all the hoses to the nozzles and possible the nozzles themselves.

If anyone has any point where I should start I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.
 
#55 ·
washer pump

wanted to thank the forum for giving me the confidence to remove the bumper and replace my washer pump with the $18 one from autozone. That did not fix it. I bought two new nozzles, that was the fix. I'll keep the orig pump as backup. I think they froze during an early hard frost. Just to add to the database the fact that if the washer motor runs and you get no stream, don't forget the nozzles. :)
 
#60 ·
Alright, so yesterday I removed (partially) the front bumper and replaced the windshield fluid pump for $15.99. :D I did it all by myself.... except for when my husband decided he was going to 'help'. By that I mean, he proceeded to unplug the pump. Fluid came shooting out and all over me. :mad: I then sentenced him to cutting wood to build me a desk in the shed. Leave the car stuff to ME!

If I can do it, anyone can. Saved me approx $120!
 
#61 ·
Just replaced my 2004 E front windshield washer fluid pump this morning. Ridiculously easy. 12 of the plastic pins on the top with the radiator cover, 2 screws in the wheel well, 2 pins and four bolts on the bottom. I left 4 pins on the bottom which allowed a hinge for the bumper to drop over on the ground. I put a couple buckets underneath the bumper so it did not drop all the way.
Replacement part at Auto Zone was $18 plus tax. Only concern is the replacement pump does not have the electrical connector lock so am concerned that the connector will vibrate loose. I put a electrical grease on the terminals and mastic at the base of the connector to help keep it sealed.
I will see what happens after a few months.
 
#62 ·
Done!

Yet another great thread on the EOC! Like others before me, I swapped out my dead washer fluid pump on Friday afternoon. It was VERY easy - thanks to all the great information found here.

The dealer wanted - get this - $228 to replace it. It took about an hour of my day and a $17.82 part to get it done myself. I can't even begin to express the great amount of satisfaction it gave me.

Thanks everyone - cheers!

-D
 
#63 ·
Windshield washer repair

Reviving an old thread as a first or second post. Oh well, it might be helpful. My squirters stopped working a while ago and I finally got around to fixing them before winter. I didn't need to remove any part of the bumper, just part of the wheel liner. The front pump is the one toward the outside front of the car. It just pops out, disconnect the wires and hose and reverse the process. Mine looked REALLY bad. The top actually pulled off when I was disconecting the wires, and they weren't even corroded on there.


The part was $17 at Auto Zone and the repair could be done in less than an hour if you know it's the pump (and which one it is) and have the new one ready. I pulled two bolts from the bottom of the bumper and a enough of the body clips to get the room I needed (maybe 6 or 7). Good luck.
 

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