DrSmile

As my windshield washer pump was DOA only a few short months after a broken headlight washer pump leaked fluid all over the ground, I decided it couldn't hurt to take it apart and see how it failed.

The broken part. The only inkling that something has gone awry is the rust ring at the base.

<img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/njdsm2/pump1.JPG">

By pulling the top off the pump you can expose the motor inside. It looks like this

<img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/njdsm2/pump2.JPG">

Note the corrosion. Basically it's a $1 toy car/airplane motor that has no gaskets or seals of any kind. I also noted no seals of any kind on the black housing, even where the motor shaft goes into the pumping assembly. The design predicates drainage through a hole at the bottom of the housing

<img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/njdsm2/pump3.JPG">

Obviously this did not work too well on this particular assembly, and I suggest that the same result may be found by others on their cars.

The kicker is that the motor didn't actually fail. It seized from rusting. After spinning the motor shaft around a few times with a plier and applying some lithium grease, the pump is all fixed!

Hopefully someone else finds this info useful, it may save you the $15 for a new pump.

FixedWing

The small hole is actually to allow cooling air into the motor. The real failure is of the seal. That's why fluid leaks into the motor and corrodes it. Fluid should never get into the motor in the first place. If you were to fix it you would need to fix that leak.

Stephen

BluDemon

hummm... my head light washers stopped working.... I could have the same problem