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A Fault I Could Do Without In This Weather


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Guest Visa10E
Posted
I keep getting the orange service light and the message 'top up washer fluid' whenever I pull the stalk back or switch the engine on, even though I know full well the fluid is topped up. At first I thought it was the sub zero temperatures causing it but thats not the case. Ive read somewhere that disconnecting and reconnecting the battery or switching the ignition off and on repeatedly can solve minor gremlins such as this can anyone offer any suggestions?
Posted
  Visa10E said:
Ive read somewhere that disconnecting and reconnecting the battery or switching the ignition off and on repeatedly can solve minor gremlins such as this can anyone offer any suggestions?

 

I'd check to see if the float (or whatever drives the sensor) is sticky, and if the wires to it are connected properly.

 

Only after that would I get as radical as disconnecting the battery.

 

An ECU is seeing a short or open circuit, or a high/low resistance value somewhere, it may be that the ECU is right but what is feeding it is wrong.

Guest Visa10E
Posted
Cheers have you got any idea how or where to access this? Im not mechanically minded you see. Why is disconnecting the battery a 'radical' move has it the potential to mess the car's electrics up of something? I was going to try it at the weekend regardless
Posted
If I have read this right, the wiring diagram in the French manual I've got, shows a single wire going to the sensor, possibly from fuse no. 4. It should be on the washer bottle and being only one wire is most likely providing an earth through the water. If this is the case, then earthing the wire would remove the warning indicating a sensor or bottle earth fault. Inserting an earthed wire into the water in the bottle would rule out a bottle earth fault. I think access to the bottle is through the wheel arch liner.
Posted
disconnecting the battery is a drastic way to clear such a minor issue because this resets all the computer to factory setting and you have to do a drive cycle to reset it and you could loose the radio code if you don't have it, most common cause for this is sticking float/sensor and down to excess grease/dirt building up on the unit which makes it stick
Guest Visa10E
Posted
Well the dirt thing certainly makes sense as I have lost the cap for the washer fluid it hasn't been on the car for 6 months or so, I must have put it on incorrectly. As for messing around in the wheelarch - I haven't a clue! I'll have a poke around at the weekend, there's just no sodding daylight at the moment!
Posted
its a common fault as the glycol antifreeze breaks down it leaves an oily dirty residue over the years and without having the coolant cleaned/flushed it builds up then you get these problems ;)
Posted

basically glycol has oil in it so a baby poke would be of no use as it needs a flushing compound to clean the full system ( personally I would pull the wire because I service it regularly so I know the bottle is full ) I don't need sensors to tell me that ;)

 

G12 red is what Audi use and its long life plus it lubricates the pump so you get what you pay for

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