Citroen C5 (2001 - 2008) - 04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Tue 3 Jun 2008 20:10
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - teddybear
My Front windscreen washers have stopped working suddenly.

Yes checked the water level. The motor appears to be working fine.

Have removed the hose from just under the washers and activated no drips or anything.

The rear wash works fine.

Strange thing is pulling the wash wipe stalk back activates the rear as well. Twisting the top of the talk round also activates the rear wash

Any suggestions please.
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Tue 3 Jun 2008 20:24
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - Screwloose

You need to get a dealer-level scanner plugged-in. The washers are activated by the body computer after it receives signals through the CAN-Bus from the Comms 2000 steering column ECU.

Either the signals are being wrongly generated; [Comms 2000s fail in droves] or corrupted en-route; or the BSI has scrambled it's software. [Or someone has messed with the wiring.]

The only way to tell is to plug-in and watch the progression of the command.
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Tue 3 Jun 2008 23:05
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - teddybear
Not sure if i really wanted to hear that.

I will ring Voiture Technique Services in Warwick which i use and see what they say. They have good diagnostic computers and years of working with Citroens.

I guess the Comms 2000 is expensive.

No one has been messing with wiring and was working fine the last time i used it.
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Tue 3 Jun 2008 23:24
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - Screwloose

They sound exactly what you need; if they're Citroen mystics, they'll probably know exactly where to kick it to make it work.

If needed; a Comms 2000 is around £175 - but for that, you get as many free replacements as you need, until you get one that works.....
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Wed 4 Jun 2008 17:53
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - teddybear
VTS want to replace the washer motor £75 all in, apparently they have seen happened before, going in tomorrow and a loan car to borrow. guess will see how it goes.

They are pretty sure nothing to do with Comm 2000 for this fault.
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Wed 4 Jun 2008 17:56
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - Screwloose

French cars and logic - complete strangers.....
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Mon 9 Jun 2008 19:08
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - teddybear
Washer Motor replaced all working.
£11 motor 1 Hr labour at £50 so around £65 quid. Not bad as had to remove front wheel and loosen bumper to access from wheel arch area.
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Tue 18 Aug 2009 20:58
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - skof2002
Just anote to add to this problem. My C5 HDI 53 Reg had similar problem. I blew down the opening and it worked.
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Wed 19 Aug 2009 22:22
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - davecuk
Just anote to add to this problem. My C5 HDI 53 Reg had similar problem.
I blew down the opening and it worked.

>>

I must admit my first guess was a bit of crud blocking the pipe and perhaps an airlock....especially as the poster stated they could hear the motor running.

Edited by davecuk on 19/08/2009 at 22:22

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Wed 1 Sep 2010 09:21
04 2.0 Windscreen Washers not working - RickH

Sorry to add to an old post but anyone searching on this might find it useful.

My 2001 HDi SX washer motor failed and I found that by breaking it open I could add a home made rubber washer (cut down grommet) and some light grease. This fixed it for 2 years when the plastic impellor snapped - £11 for the motor to fix it properly.

Also the Comms 2000 unit is a weird pig. Mine failed on fog lamps so I removed it and cleaned all the contacts and pushed all the little copper springs back a bit so they made more firm contacts. It really is a Heath Robnson of a device and it is no wonder they fail.

At 160k miles the contacts were very worn and the little copper springs extremely weak so I will be replacing it with a new one and keeping the old one for spares!

If you do the work yourself disconnect the battery before removing the airbag.

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