Wind Shield washer nozzles
 

For a long time my drivers side nozzles have been failing, to the point of nothing coming out, being an engineer I concluded that the pump had failed since the nozzle was at the end of the line, wrong.
It requires the removal of the bumper and headlamp to get at the reservoir and pump, not something I looked forward to. The next opinion was that the hose had come off to that nozzle, to get that out showed a tool similar to the cluster tool, I finally attacked it by pushing the pin all the way tru, I found one and the other by reaching into the opening, when I got the assembly off (dont remove the hose clamp) it pulls off the elbow. I got dirt, slime, and whatever, it would not clear by air hose or the invasion of needles from the sewing basket. After soaking it, blowing into it and sucking (terrible taste) and running a drill bit into it it cleared, more junk. I emptied the reservoir twice when the hose was off, and refilled it.
I re-installed the nozzle after installing the hose to make sure, the assembly of course is heated. The nozzles side in and up into the sheet metal and then those pesky pins are slid in.
I am so proud of myself, I did attract attention "why is that fool under the hood, and how do you get that hood to stand staight up, why not take it to MB".
South Florida condo living is nice, I miss my garage, I only moved my full triple decker "Craftsman cabinet" everything else went at the garage sale.

I'm having this issue on our W124.....I swapped in some new nozzles, they worked great, for about 2 days. Now they barely spray anything. I bet the tank is dirty inside and gunk is getting into the nozzles. I will be doing a cleaning and investigation here in the next couple days.... :D

Pump motor
 

Pull the feed line from the pump(s) and look into the pump nipple. Every pump motor I have has a plactic thingy inside it. Not sure of it's function, but when I get these motors from the PNP, this thingy is choked with slime. Therefore slowing or blocking water flow.

My problem isn't with flow to the nozzles. Its at the nozzles. If I disconnect the hose at the nozzles and run the pump I get huge quantities of flow gushing out.....but if I hook them back up, I get good spray for a moment, then it dies off again....I bet they are clogged up with something.

For any washer system service where debris is suspected, you should do a complete flush of the fluid. Any contaminants in the system will manifest itself at the nozzle end and drive you nuts. Separate the system into managable lengths and reverse flush all the fluid out of there. Quite often I run the garden hose into the reservoir and keep diluting the fluid until all contaminants are flushed out.

Washer fluid itself can leave residue which over time, 20+years, is enough to clog the system. Some say its best to just use water (distilled I suppose).

I've attempted to fix my wagon's rear window washer. Pump works, but no amount of needlework, etc has freed the nozzle. Next thing to try is remove the nozzle and see if I can get fluid on the nozzle end. Ever try removing the nozzle on a wagon? I have no idea and it's not a job I look forward to doing...

Washer clog
 

Open the hood and look to the area near the windshield (underneath)where the washer lines run. In some cars there is this thingy where one hose(probably the inlet) is attached. And two hoses come out the other side to the nozzles. Either this is a pulsator or somesort of pressure equalizer so each nozzle sprays the same. My thinking is this may be clogged as well. Try bypassing it or put in a good one if you have it.

On both of my SL's, I put in a filter between the pump outlet and the nozzles. The filter was a gas filter meant for lawnmowers, about $1.50. It took a little heating of the nylon reinforced hose to get it over the filter ends, but it works.

The nozzles on an 107 SL are aimable. There was a tool that may no longer be available, basically a collapsible radio antenna with a really thin high-strength pin sticking out of the other end. I made a copy of this with a cheap Harbor Freight magnetic pick-up with the magnet cut off, some JB-Quik, and a very small drill bit I got from HF also. This made a difference because in removing and replacing the 380SL's nozzles while repainting, I really screwed them up.

If I disconnect the nozzles from the tubing and run the pump, I get heavy duty flow from both lines....its just the nozzles that are clogged up. Saturday I will flush the tank and clean the nozzles out....hopefully that will solve it. I'll consider an inline filter at some point too. Thats a job for a warm day. I have no filter on my W126 though, and its been flowing just fine all 6 years I've had it.....do W126 nozzles fit on a W124? :D :D


Next time I make an order online I'll probably get a new check valve too. Or I'll be extra cheap and just put a T fitting in there. :D

I think the thing you see is a check valve, to keep the liquid from bleeding down. I do like the idea of installing a filter! The components on the 140 are definately from the era when engineers were not controlled by accountants.