And Another Case of Wet Feet !

[Pat Mustard]

This morning a young lady called to my house to show me her newly aquired E70 (2008) and to ask for some advice on a " little " problem she had encountered. When I asked what this was she told me her windscreen washer wasn't working despite having put nearly 5 gals in the reservoir . She couldn't see a leak anywhere but noticed her feet were getting a little wet.
OMG ! Here we go again. Do I tell her what has happened , send her on her merry way to Mr BMW where she will get the biggest ride of her life or do the good samaritain and help her. Having seen this problem numerous times before and having said numerous things under my breath about what I would do the little pri.k that decided it was good practise to route the water pipe for the rear window through the interior of the cabin amongst all the cables where there are numerous electronic modules and to then put a push on connector joint half way back under the carpet just beggars belief.
Anyway, decided to help her out as I'd done it 4 times in the past and know my way around in there. Any of you fellow E70 owners that have suffered the wet footwell will know what a royal pain in the ar.e it is to fix.
For anyone who doesn't know the hose in question begins it's journey at the reservoir behind the front right wheel. It then goes through the sidewall and then through the bulkhead behind the pedals. It then travels towards the pass side behind the centre console and then down the pass side under the seat and into the rear left pass compartment where the push in connector is located. Out of the 4 I've encountered only once had the connector popped. Normally it's where the hose enters the bulkhead that the problem is.
Anyhow she left the x5 and went home. First job is to remove the passenger seat in order to move the carpet out of the way for inspection ( the drivers seat also needs to be removed to facilitate drying out the under carpet). Next remove the door rubber and trim and voila first thing to see was her 5 gals of washer fluid. At least an inch deep throughout the cabin. After lifting the carpet you will find several bungs in the floor and remove as many as possible to drain all the fluid .
Lift the carpet next in the rear pass footwell and locate more bungs and inspect the hose where its joined here. If the joint is ok don't even bother looking for the broken hose ! Just order a new one ( part no. 61687300356 ) this is a new hose section from this joint to the connector at the reservoir.
At this stage with new hose in hand I usually route it across the rear of the engine bay and not through the drivers footwell as originally  routed. Next remove the pollen filters and down on the right you will find a cable entry through the bulkhead where you can make a small hole in the plastic to shove the hose through followed by a dab of Tech 7 to seal it.
Now you can run the new hose along with the old hose and clip it with small cable ties. I usually fish the hose along in the door channel so  if it let's go again at least the cabin won't flood. When connected to the push in connector I tape it up and shove it down through one of the bung holes just to be sure.
Unfortunately you still have a soaked under carpet and unless you want to remove the centre console leave it be. Loads of old newspapers and a blow dryer will dry up most of the remaining water followed by a dehumidifier when everything is back together.
End of rant.

[Emigrant]

Sod that for a laugh. If this happens to me, I'm capping that off and be done with it.

[X5Sport]

Sometimes I do wonder what goes through the design teams’ brains when they do this sort of thing.  Could be worse, they might route it via the headlining!

My first car was a VW Type 3 (rear engine job) and the washers were air powered off the spare tyre (under the bonnet) with the control being a needle valve on the steering column wiper switch.  One very cold winter morn, the pipe snapped at that point and dumped 3-litres of very cold washer mix in my lap!  No one at college believed my story.  It was an uncomfortable day with a wet crutch!

[AdamsX5]

[quote="Emigrant"]
Sod that for a laugh. If this happens to me, I'm capping that off and be done with it.
[/quote]
Same here, who uses the rear wiper anyway. Had one on my Honda CR-V never even replace wiper in all the years I had it. Probably do same for the E70. I Just use the windscreen heater and wash car if it’s dirty.


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[AdamsX5]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Sometimes I do wonder what goes through the design teams’ brains when they do this sort of thing.  Could be worse, they might route it via the headlining!

My first car was a VW Type 3 (rear engine job) and the washers were air powered off the spare tyre (under the bonnet) with the control being a needle valve on the steering column wiper switch.  One very cold winter morn, the pipe snapped at that point and dumped 3-litres of very cold washer mix in my lap!  No one at college believed my story.  It was an uncomfortable day with a wet crutch!
[/quote]
I feel for you man .. Oouch.


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[Pat Mustard]

Unfortunately the E70 rear wiper feed works on gravity as well as with the pump. If the hose frays or splits it will fill your cabin whether you use the rear wiper  ior not. Tell tale sign is if your washer fluid reminder comes on more frequently .

[marti]

What a stupid design that is, glad my X6 doesn't have one

[Pat Mustard]

While waiting for the new hose section to arrive I decided to have a little peek under the manifold. Flaps seized solid and half of one missing. EGR choked up as well . 3 x dead heater plugs and the main lead to the glow plug relay disconnected. Frightening thing is that this E70 has a full bmw service history.

[henrym3]

Which makes you wonder why people put such stock in a BMW service history when buying used?

[Horizon]

No glow plugs, no DPF regen, wonder if the DPF has been stripped out

[Pat Mustard]

Very,very true about FSH.  I'd prefer to buy a car from an entuasiast owner any day because odds are it was looked after properly.

[s2tephen]

Hi
I have a 2012 X5 E70 3.0 xdrive.
The rear windowscreen washer is not working.
Pump has been replaced.
Does this have the same connector fitted as you have mentioned or is it 1 pipe from front to back.
The carpets on the passenger sides do not appear to be wet.
How do I remove the deflector on the rear third light to see if its blocked there.

Many thanks

[henrym3]

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e70- ... er/G0CtoLb
Try that

[Wayfarer]

What a fantastic source of information, that ideally needs flagging for all bmw users on the forum, maybe make it a “sticky” so easily findable by all members rather than hidden away in a post, presumably that is possible.

Thanks for posting, a lot of info on all of the bmw range