It always happens...

[Alan Drover]

I hadn't used the screen washers on my Series 3 for a considerable time and when I tried the pump ran but wouldn't pump. I checked for blockages and that the pipe in the reservoir was below the fluid level but nothing. Eventually I gave up and ordered a genuine pump from Dingocroft. I still tried many times but nothing. The new pump was due for delivery pm 25th July and in the morning I tried again and the pump note changed and screenwash came out of the washer jets. I can only assume there was an airlock and my repeated efforts eventually cleared it. Now I have an expensive made in the UK Trico washer pump as a spare.

[Wittsend]

That's the way the world works.

On a similar note: Today I went round to my son's to collect my camping gear for the club rally. Can't find my fold-up table. I will order one tonight, it will be delivered in 24 hrs and then my old table will turn up.
Watch the ads for a camping table for sale 

 

[Beowulf]

With long periods of not being used, some antifreeze solutions can somehow solidify or become very sludgy at the jets, making it hard for the pump to overcome.

I`ve found using a very small sowing needle on the jets will remove the muck

[Alan Drover]

I'll excercise the screenwashers regularly from now on even if the screens are clean.

[diffwhine]

On the old Trico pumps, the impellors can seize as well.

[Alan Drover]

The pump ran ok without any problems, but the note indicated it wasn't pumping (until the day the replacement arrived). I can only think it was an airlock.
The old and new pumps are the same, STC 575.

[whitehillbilly64]

Don't overlook your local Auto shop for Spares.
I took the old Washer pump to my Local Repco store here in Aus.
An over the counter aftermarket one was matched.

whitehillbilly

[Theshed]

Had a similar issue when I bought my Dad's little used Mondeo.
Turned out the pump was gunged up with a jelly like substance, which I think started life as screenwash ?
Cleaned out pump and filter, all good.

[Alan Drover]

I use Autoglym screen wash which doesn't gunge the tubes like the previous stuff I was using. I had to pump a lot of clean water to shift it.
Diffwhine, I thought the impeller might have seized but the way the pump ran and didn't get hot after it had been running for some time made me rule it out.
Thanks whitehillbilly, I  have got bits from a nearby motor factor for the Land Rover like oil filters and an ignition coil previously but didn't think about it with the pump.

[Exile]

The moral here is that if you rarely use your Land Rover in the rain, in Winter or on mucky roads, don't fill your washer reservoir to the brim, and leave most of the fluid in there for years.

Part-fill it, and if you take the vehicle off the road for a while, drain it.

I have learnt this the hard way.....


I have found this little tool handy:

https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637177188/washer-jet-tool

[2286]

So pumps themselves depending on the make and type.

Can suffer with water from the impellor chamber getting in to the motor and corroding the steel laminations. 

Cause them to be less powerful bind or cease solid.

As DW mentioned trico they used a moulded rubber hub and paddle that wears or breaks down and whilst it still stirs the fluid it does not have sufficient force to send it up the lines.

My main suspicion when you said S3 was the jets.

They have a brass eyeball that can clog and block but not corrode.  This is housed in plastic outer seen on the bulkhead.

The main problem is that this in turn fits into an aluminium part that the nut screws on to and the pipe plugs into.  This corrodes badly, closing up to the point of cutting off flow.

They are some look alike jets that are all plastic. 

I fitted a twin jet mounted through the spare wheel bolt on the bonnet.

Modern pump differ in that they are mounted low down and rely on head pressure rather than pure prime and pump of the older type.

The trico paddle is listed as a spare part in the land rover works manual but I have yet to find a stockist.  That is that does not require taking out a mortgage.

[Alan Drover]

The jets are clear. They are the later Defender type and don't corrode like the Series 3 ones do.
Everything is working and there's a good strong jet of fluid from both nozzles. I can only think there may have been an airlock.

[TimV]

I had the washer stop working on my Euro Box, it was green slime in the washer reservoir!

Cleaned it out, then put some disinfectant/bleach in it which killed the bacteria. The pump was gunged up as well, but cleaned up with bleach.

[2286]

The jets are clear. They are the later Defender type and don't corrode like the Series 3 ones do.
Everything is working and there's a good strong jet of fluid from both nozzles. I can only think there may have been an airlock.

Some systems used to have a foot valve on to stop bleed back once primed.