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I frequently wake on Sunday morning excited to fix the latest issue on the XK8's (or to drive, more exciting). I have never had even a scintilla of excitement over dealing with the d@mn headlight washers (aka bonnet/hood washers, aka 'what the heck were they thinking?'). I have disabled all of these useless bits of electronics and plastics.
A couple of week ago, I was greeted with a huge vertical spray on activating the windscreen washers from the driver side front of the hood area while driving at high speed. Hmm, why did that happen? Oh yes, replaced the driver side engine fuse box with slightly less broken plastic and forgot to pull the fuse!
Hmm, where's the mirrored cover? Likely smashed to tiny bits on I-40. Also, one of the paired nozzles appeared to be missing, producing the vertical geyser which was the only entertainment I've ever had with the washers.
In any case, making a short story even longer, I visited ebay and bought a new mirror. New mirror arrived and I pushed the mirror into place while pulling the head out using my 'washer snoot puller tool'. Consistent with all the other aging plastic, the bit of plastic at the tip of the washer snoot (that holds it in) broke.
Broken headlamp washer (i.e. ridiculous waste of engineering and production and maintenance effort) snoot tip.
After pondering filling the hole (and most of that side of the bumper) with several dozen pounds of silicone caulk, and completely discarding the notion that I was going to buy a replacement useless washer at vast expense to get that tiny piece of likely also frangible plastic, I realized that humans are tool-making beasts, and that I might be able to make a replacement plastic tip.
So, I designed a new tip based on what I had of the old tip, printed it it on the 3D printer in polycarbonate, cut off the old tip, screwed the new tip . Note that I wasn't desperate enough to pull one of the others to see how close my design actually matched the original unbroken design. In any case, success! Holds quite well, especially if the washer never pushes out again.
Zipped STL file included for any who want to go this route. Better than trying to play with adhesive caulk (or buying a replacement washer).
Removed broken bits, drilled/tapped hole to screw in new bits. Fixed! Installed, I hate installing these things.
Just like you I thought a lot about how absolutely over-engineered/complex this headlamp washer system is. Your fix is a thing of beauty - absolutely over-the-top (in a good nutty way) and totally in line with the X100's OTT head lamp washer system.
While I was going the latest upgrade/fix of the front suspension, I had the inner line out of the fender. Lo and Behold! There is the washer pump on the left side. I simply unplugged the pump for the headlight and I won't be washing my hood/bonnet at the same time. I can't see it from the driver seat, of course but I'll assume it's not extending anymore since it's unplugged. TM
06-19-2021, 12:26 AM
Godforsaken headlamp washers
