XSeries-forum

Heated windscreen washer jets and door mirrors. Automatic as some suggest on Youtube or activated by a means with which i am not aware.

Car is covered in snow and I don't want to 'interfere' with it until I'm ready to try out the Scorpion winter tyres in the snow and slush before it all melts

I checked the manual and wing mirror heating is automatic for an e70 any, washer jets are the same .I often wondered about the mirrors but never managed to check till now . Hurry up man snow will be gone soon

Hmm automatic triggered by what though?

Wonder if its the outside temp display which has been triggering a lot recently .

EDITED - Checked the TIS and the outside air temp sensor sends its data to the instrument cluster unit. At an air temp of 3°C or below the cluster sends a command to turn the mirror heaters on.

The one you need to be careful with are the headlight washers (where fitted) as the covers can freeze in place. The water pressure then pings them off and the latches attaching them to the jet snap. The covers are cheap enough but need painting, and that can be pricy!

Has to be outside temp sensor can't see what else it could be , put strengthened screenwash in last night but I try to avoid using headlamp wash by turning of the lights before washing the screen on startup if possible as apart from losing the covers it just wastes a lot of screenwash

X5Sport wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 5:29 pm EDITED - Checked the TIS and the outside air temp sensor sends its data to the instrument cluster unit. At an air temp of 3°C or below the cluster sends a command to turn the mirror heaters on.

The one you need to be careful with are the headlight washers (where fitted) as the covers can freeze in place. The water pressure then pings them off and the latches attaching them to the jet snap. The covers are cheap enough but need painting, and that can be pricy!

All very clever isn't it, but another thing that doubtless no owners can DIY fix should the need arise.

I have to confess though, it is rather clever tech isn't it, impressive stuff. It reminds me of the E53 Webasto auxiliary heater system that could be activated by remote. How does that sit now in our uber PC world where idling an engine, albeit a smaller secondary motor is basically verboten?

Go on fitting one and call it something clever…then sell lots of electric or hydrogen vehicles to offset the carbon….

I always liked the idea of those little undercar webasto heaters , a mates e39 530d had one and another workmates 730d has one too , looks like your car is on fire on a cold day if you pull in the gas station though

The Touareg I have in Greece has the same webasto motor but isn't remotely controlled. Its not necessary there though. 15° in my part of Greece today, -2° here today, -6° last nite.

What am I doing here

Not the best time to be here for sure
well I jinxed myself windscreen washers not worked in 3 days now , rear washer working fine though so it's not frozen in the bottle . Can hear the pump run but either it's broke or the piping up to the jets is frozen , been -5 day and night last 2 days
Oh and asda screenwash only good to -5 neat Useless
I hope the pump isn't broken as the sideskirt and wing need to come off to get to it I did notice it has been more feeble this last while not going up the windscreen as far as usual so maybe it's blocked with gunge as well .

Could be bacterial growth in the tank or pipes. For some reason BMWs are prone to it. The only cure I’ve found is to use genuine BMW fluid but bulk buy it from Parts. It comes in 5L and 25L containers which makes it much cheaper. Smells nice and contains alcohol coz it’s flammable! It goes down to much lower temps as well.

As i posted recently regarding no water to the windscreen, despite exclusively using BMW washer fluid in the water bottle in my ownership it was truly gunged solid. The car has only had one previous owner so why the problem arose I don't know. What I do know is the £300+ repair bill isn't a smile inducer.

X5Sport wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 5:29 pmThe one you need to be careful with are the headlight washers (where fitted) as the covers can freeze in place.

I have a feeling that they can be coded out/off. Just remember to reactivate them at MOT time. Once I get into coding, it's something I have on that particular to-do list.

It's the damp conditions but if you don't use screemwash all year round mould can certainly grow in the tank , Strange it's the only pump I can't do without Have a wet cloth now to wipe windscreen every 10 mile or so .It's to warm at the weekend so we shall see if it starts working again , was in the car about 6 times today getting stuff in the boot and high discharge warming too so "currrently" on charge oh and it's snowing now
I have ordered a cheap pump as no point taking anything off if you don't have one to fit as its a pig of a job , going royal mail so should be here for 2023

I used to take the plug of headlamp washers on my 330d and put it back for mot only ,saved any hassle but it's buried in the wing of an x5 so you can't ...

x5sport do you remember what price the drum of screenwash was ? only hassle is nearest dealer is 35 mile away so not handy . I haven't had an issue till now so it's maybe just an age related failure like everything else after 160k it seems this year

Sorry, it’s been a while since I bought some though I’m running low now and once it thaws this weekend the car will just get filthy! I think it was somewhere between £12 & £15 for 5L. 50% mix is good to -12°C. Haven’t bought 25L for a while - it since the E53 as that had something like an 8 litre tank from memory?