Windscreen / rear screen / head lamp wash

[A Blair]

On the way back from Stirling my washers stopped working.
No fluid level alarm.
Stopping at a garage I bought 5 litres of screen wash and emptied it into the washer reservoir. No joy.
On returning home I took a 10mm socket to the reservoir. Two bolts. Unplugged the level sensor electrically. Siphoned the tasty washer fluid out. This took 10 minutes in all.
The three pumps pull out the sockets leaving me free to remove the reservoir.
Wich pump is wich I have no idea but they made noises when operated.
Once out I filled the reservoir and the pump outlets did not leak. Pulling out a filter gave a gush of water and revealed the problem.
I put the dirty filter back in and
Popped a dishwasher tablet with hot water in the reservoir.

Watched a football match on the tv and came back.
Used my alloy wheel detailing brush to scrape the inside of the  reservoir, gave it all a shake and water gushed out. Removed all the filters and gave them all a good clean and popped them back in.
The front and rear screens are now instant and powerful. Very happy. The reservoir alarm also works.
The headlight washers need more work as they are not working. That will be another post including a shot at cleaning the lenses with a proprietary product.
Tip.
I spied a pair of tights on the washing line. These have a great filtration level when pouring the screen wash back in. Not so great if your partner catches you using them.

[X5Sport]

You need to be careful with certain screenwash concentrates as they allow bacterial growth - as you have found - whereas whatever it is that BMW put in their mix prevents it.  I now only use BMW concentrate (bought in 5L containers) and have never had the issue recur in more than 10 years and 3 BMWs.

[snrbrtsn]

The high intensive headlamp wash only works every 5 squirts of the screen if the headlamps are on

May be worth checking before hand
The 5 squirt count can be adjusted - using Carly or other coding software
But nevertheless great result to a common problem, dishwater tablets or false teeth tablets do work wonders

[Kleynie]

My headlight wash is every other squirt if the headlights are on.  Maybe it varies between models.

[snrbrtsn]

I was scratching my head thinking it’s also connected to light position, whether in Auto or II
Could be entirely wrong

[A Blair]

Thanks chaps.
How I dislike the BMW tax on their products. However it looks like BMW screen wash could be the answer. Certainly not a hard / soft water issue.  So after the reservoir shows low BMW screen wash it is. Any cheap sources anyone?

Reference the 5 x pulls of the windscreen or less to bring on the headlight wash. I will give it a trial. With the three washer pumps does anyone know for certain which is the headlight wash pump. I have two small at the back and a large one at the side. I suspect it is the large one at the side. This is my first X5 and third BMW. I never worked on the other two. This one is far more interesting.

Also searching the forum, and I admit I am rubbish with search strings, has anyone cleaned their plastic lenses with grit and polish using the 3M / Meguirs / Auto glym products.
It is something I will try as I am handy with a polishing machine through experience.

[snrbrtsn]

Realoem.com, should give you many answers 
Nothing to suggest I’ve got the correct model, however below is from an E53
Part 11



However here’s your curve ball that’s perhaps not factually correct, best method would be the squirt test & disconnect wiring plug due to my lack of certainty!

[A Blair]

Thanks for that snrbrtsn,