Headlight washer/sprayer leaking (1 Viewer)

[bloc]

I tracked down a washer fluid leak under the DS corner of the front bumper today to the headlight sprayer on that side. I've seen mention in this section of seals that go bad and need hydration or lubrication..

Those that have fixed this.. what have you done? Is the mentioned seal on the line going in to the assembly or along the part that extends?

Thanks

 

[bloc]

Got the DS one out and partially disassembled.. so far it seems to be holding. PS one had some blue staining on it so it'll be getting the same treatment soon.

Turns out you don't need to remove the front bumper.. But first, you need to remove the body-color cover over the top of the sprayer. Use your fingernails or a plastic pry tool and lift it up, then grab it by the black nozzle part and you'll see the tabs that hold the cover on.

By carefully bending the top away from the headlight and manipulating those catches the top will lift right off.

Then to access from the back. Remove the plastic upper skid plate wing on that side, loosen the torx screws and plastic pop up rivets that hold the fender liner in the front half of the fender. Then you can get in (at least on the DS.. my PS has a box over the fog light that might get in the way) and are faced with this.

The black/gray cylinder with white tip is the back side of the sprayer assembly. I've already pinched off and removed the line. Just squeeze the wide parts of the oval retainer and it will pull off. If your washer fluid isn't empty or you don't pinch off this line, you'll have a steady stream of washer fluid running out. Find a way to catch it without contaminating, or just pinch the line. It is soft rubber.

You can also see the 10mm bolt on the top providing support. You can get to this with an open end wrench with the handle pointed toward the radiator.. the shorter the wrench the better. Just get it loose then you can pinch the lower part of the bolt and rotate it most of the way out. But, before you finish, you need to loosen the tab on the outside of the bumper.

The right side here is static, but the left side can be pulled inward and the whole nozzle rotated inward behind the bumper.

Get that bolt out and the nozzle on the bench.

 

[bloc]

Whole nozzle (~$200 per side)

Evidence of the leak

Also you can see the four tabs that anchor the white end cap to the assembly.

 

[bloc]

So those four tabs make it convenient to get the white end off. Just rotate the end 45 degrees and the tabs will slide sideways out of their slots, and you can pull the white end off.

Before

After:

The spring anchored into the white cap is what retracts the sprayer nozzle when it isn't being used. Get an o-ring pick and catch the spring so it doesn't retract into the assembly. Also in this picture you can see the oring that seemed to be leaking on mine

That black oring was mashed flat for me. Looks like nominal dimensions were 20mm ID x 23mm OD, 1.5mm cross section. Unsure of material.. but it's just washer fluid, shouldn't need viton or anything crazy.

Not having a spare o-ring, I elected to clean it up and use some very thick silicon grease I have around.

If you want more room to grease the piston seal for the washer sprayer shaft you can cut a small chunk of metal to hold the spring and remove your pick

Now you are looking at the end of a piston and seal that slides inside that cylinder and uses the pressure of the washer fluid from the pump to protrude the sprayer.

IF that is leaking too, it can get past this then to the shaft seal further up.

 

[bloc]

Shaft seal is inside the little window

My leak seemed to be coming from the white cap at the bottom, though if you pulled on the sprayer and pushed any direction fluid would start leaking at the shaft seal too. I think in normal operation the shaft seal is just to keep dirt and crud out.. the white cap and piston seal do all the work to keep the fluid inside the unit. And on mine, I think I got it done.

If the passenger side is substantially different I'll post pictures. As mentioned I put a little heavy silicon grease on the end of the cylinder and reassembled.. holding so far.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[CharlieS]

$200 per side!!!! Holy moly.

There is also a quick disconnect between the body and bumper that you can undo. It is easily capped (with a Redarc SBI12 plastic terminal cap, lol) to prevent draining of the coolant while you do this job.

Nice work on the fix!!

 

[ontopofm]

If anyone need their fixed. I ordered these arms on Amazon for $43 each and they’re actual Toyota parts. Shipped out from Rosemead, CA. Surprised there.

Amazon product ASIN B07VGS1V8M

 

[bloc]

If anyone need their fixed. I ordered these arms on Amazon for $43 each and they’re actual Toyota parts. Shipped out from Rosemead, CA. Surprised there.

Amazon product ASIN B07VGS1V8M
View attachment 2364864

View attachment 2364865

Great work digging this up!
Once they are in please post that they worked as confirmation. I didn’t dig up the OE part numbers but those seem to have a different hose inlet. But if the rest fits still a good find.

And by the way the drivers side repair is holding well, passenger side never seems to have fluid hanging off it despite the little bit of blue evidence so for now it is getting left alone.

 

[BluffCruiserDC]

Did this work? I've got the same problem. I guess for $40, I'd might as well just go ahead and get it.

 

[bloc]

Did this work? I've got the same problem. I guess for $40, I'd might as well just go ahead and get it.

Worked great, no more leaks.

 

[bloc]

If anyone need their fixed. I ordered these arms on Amazon for $43 each and they’re actual Toyota parts. Shipped out from Rosemead, CA. Surprised there.

Amazon product ASIN B07VGS1V8M
View attachment 2364864

View attachment 2364865

Did these end up bolting in?

 

[KLF]

My DS nozzle was leaving a puddle on the garage floor a few weeks ago. I put a cheapo HF line clamp on it for now. $200 to fix it puts it in the "I don't need it that badly" category. For $43, I suppose it's worth it.

 

[bloc]

My DS nozzle was leaving a puddle on the garage floor a few weeks ago. I put a cheapo HF line clamp on it for now. $200 to fix it puts it in the "I don't need it that badly" category. For $43, I suppose it's worth it.

My fix cost nothing, though I did already have the heavy silicon grease on hand. Totally worth a shot.

 

[KLF]

Agreed, thanks for posting this very detailed repair, I'll give it a go. I suppose it the grease doesn't work, there's always RTV. Or JB Weld.

 

[bloc]

Agreed, thanks for posting this very detailed repair, I'll give it a go. I suppose it the grease doesn't work, there's always RTV. Or JB Weld.

You'd have to be very careful about where you applied it.. if any squished inside and got to the bottom of the piston, which sits flush with the bottom cap when the sprayer is retracted, I could see it causing problems. But if you avoid that there's no reason it wouldn't work well.

RTV would be preferable to JBWeld.. in large part because it wouldn't totally bond the parts together. I'd think you could still get the lower cap off if it was just RTV blue or similar.

 

[ontopofm]

Did these end up bolting in?

Perfect fitment confirmed. Actual Toyota part

 

[bloc]

Perfect fitment confirmed. Actual Toyota part

Thanks for posting!

 

[KLF]

@bloc

In the garage today, had to pull my intake off to fix a chewed harness . So, while the truck is down, I'm gonna attack this repair.

I have my DS nozzle out and on the bench, cap is off. Your instructions were very helful! The only thing I will add is I removed the DS front wheel to get access for pulling down the fender liner. What kind of grease did you use? I have Sil-Glyde, and I also have a very waterproof, very thick Green Grease. I may just go with some RTV, just to be sure it seals, this thing is not fun to get out.

 

[bloc]

@bloc

In the garage today, had to pull my intake off to fix a chewed harness . So, while the truck is down, I'm gonna attack this repair.

I have my DS nozzle out and on the bench, cap is off. Your instructions were very helful! The only thing I will add is I removed the DS front wheel to get access for pulling down the fender liner. What kind of grease did you use? I have Sil-Glyde, and I also have a very waterproof, very thick Green Grease. I may just go with some RTV, just to be sure it seals, this thing is not fun to get out.

I’ll have to get the name of the stuff when I get home tomorrow. It was just a tube I ended up with from a previous employer, could be specialty stuff. That said I’d think any silicon faucet grease would work.
As said above rtv might work great but if you’ve had it apart you can probably tell getting it into the right spots without getting it anywhere else might be tough. But possibly worth the trouble.
Sorry to hear about the harness.. I get nervous about that every time I go to the mountains. I’ve actually started packing a handful of mouse traps in my camping gear to try and clear them out some and keep away from the truck each night.

 

[KLF]

I’ll have to get the name of the stuff when I get home tomorrow. It was just a tube I ended up with from a previous employer, could be specialty stuff. That said I’d think any silicon faucet grease would work.
As said above rtv might work great but if you’ve had it apart you can probably tell getting it into the right spots without getting it anywhere else might be tough. But possibly worth the trouble.
Sorry to best about the harness.. I get nervous about that every time I go to the mountains. I’ve actually started packing a handful of mouse traps in my camping gear to try and clear them out some and keep away from the truck each night.

Thanks. I went ahead with using RTV, after some thought. What I did was pull the plunger up and stuck a finish nail across to keep it extended an inch or so. Then I *very carefull* put a schmear of RTV down in that groove where the O-ring sits, using a cotton swab. Put it all together, and I'm gonna let it sit overnight like that to make sure the RTV is cured, then put it all back together. If it's still leaking, I'll just get a new one.

The one posted above has a 6 week delivery time now. I also found this one:

Amazon product ASIN B07ZHS73MZ
A little more $$, but it can be here in 3-4 days.

The harness thing is really annoying. I have an idea I'm working on tonight that will hopefully deter them from coming back. Meanwhile the ultrasonic devices are in the trash, the snap traps & peanut butter are coming back out.