Only one windshield washer spout working
 

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is in the right forum, and if its not please move it to where its supposed to be :)

Anyway, I drive a 1998 Honda Prelude and I moved to Montreal from Vancouver in July (brought the car with me). As its known, the climate in Vancouver is a little warmer than Montreal, which is probably why I didnt have a problem with my car there.....

The issue is that the left hand side (driver side) windshield washer spout doesn't work. Only the right one does. Isn't that odd? How can one work but not the other?

I opened the hood and looked at the tubes....the tube is coming from the drivers side of the engine bay, and going up on the hood towards the spouts. There's a Y connector that splits the tube in 2....so one goes to the passenger side, and one to the drivers side. There are no leaks or anything in there. We know the pump works and we know that the fluid goes through the Y connector, but for some reason, it doesnt come out of the drivers side spout.

Could it be frozen you think? But the windshield washer fluid should act as as anti freeze, so really, it shouldn't be frozen?....

I'm confused....

Has it happened to anyone before? Any suggestions on how I can fix this ASAP since I need to use the fluid everyday (salt, snow, ice residue on windshield).

Thanks for your help! Much Appreciated!

I have a similar problem. I think the nozzle needs to be cleaned out.

get an old toothbrush with soap water and clean out the nozzle....shouldn't really be that hard

if not remove the nozzle and blow air through it

Hey.....

So I looked at the situation again, and now the right hand side nozzle doesn't work. I don't *think* I hear the pump anymore (I dont remember how loud it was before...I hear a sound, but its really faint) when I trigger the windshield fluid.

I even removed the tube from the Y connector and tried again, and no fluid came out...which tells me that it has nothing to do with the nozzles.

Its like -14 in Montreal right now...could it be that some fluid is frozen in the pump? I bought some more washer fluid today (works at -40 temp) and refilled the resovoir. I used about 3/4 of the bottle.

I park in a heating parking garage overnight, so I'll try again later tonight since I've already parked my car for the evening, or in the morning tomorrow.

Has this ever happened to any of you? How much does a new pump cost...and I won't be able to install it myself...and since I'm new here, I'll have to resort to Honda cause I dont know of any other shops :( that sucks.

Any ideas guys?

Thanks a lot!

Generic washer pumps are like $12 at CDN Tire. Not sure if they fit Hondas. You could try a wrecker.
The pumps are mounted on the bottom of the washer bottle, if you plan on replacing it.

Did you have a non-winter washer fluid in the washer reservoir previously? If so, it might have frozen the pump. See if they pump works after parking it in a heated garage. If so, purge all the old fluid and put in your new winter washer fluid.

Are you sure they are not frozen ?