E46 Windshield Washer Pump DIY

I bought the Autozone pump, twisted the perpendicular lead so that it was parallel (inline) with the other lead. I then dremeled off the leads so that they were the same size and spacing as the old pump and used current connector on the car. I dremeled off the housing on the old pump too and then put it into the old connector to improve the fit slightly. I abandoned the bracket that holds the connector and just plugged onto the connectors. The tabs are thicker on the Autozone pump and it makes for a very tight fit on the connector.

No problems so far!

I got a Siemens pump from http://www.autohausaz.com for $20.58, so far so good. However, their grommet image on the web is a mismatch.

BTW: no need to dump washer fluid on the ground, just have to have 6 ft long 0.5 inch hose and you can siphon it out.

Great write up. I bought the replacement pump and grommet on e-bay with free shipping. The fix is even easier to do than it sounds.
Thanks

Awesome post! I thought about replacing the pump but my pump works so I just bought the grommet at the dealer for $4.79 knowing I may have to go back. Good decision. After I replaced the grommet, it stopped leaking! The dealer tried to convince me to buy the pump and get the job done at the dealer for over $130+. Thanks again!

Ok, after I replaced the grommet, it leaked again. I think it has a lot to do with their poorly designed pump/grommet as it was still leaking with new pump from autozone. So I decided to replace the BMW grommet with the grommet that came with the autozone pump. Now it's tight and doesn't leak. Use the grommet that comes with the pump from the autozone. It does not have the screen like the bmw grommet but it seals tight.

Almost 5 years later and this DIY is still helping thanks! Took 15 minutes and that was it.

well autozone was already closed .. and I wanted to fix my car.

I took out the pump with the understanding "if I break it .. I will be visiting autozone tomorrow"

So after some finagling I was able to separate the upper half of the motor housing from the bottom half (it just snaps together). Inside was a DINKY little 13V DC motor ... REALLY dinky .. something you would find inside of a cheap radio shack toy.

I slid out the motor to take a peak at the shaft, bottom of the motor, and the shaft seal. The bottom of the motor casing was a bit corroded in some places .. apparently this has been leaking longer than I knew!! But it still worked fine and i couldnt see any damage to the inside of the motor windings .. so i just cleaned it up a little.

Next, looking down into the bottom half of the pump housing , I see a little rubber shaft seal, about 7mm wide and 5mm tall. This is the worn out piece in everyones leaking pump. Mine fit somewhat loosely around the motor shaft. Still had some friction .. but not enough to seal perfectly.

After the seal is removed you can see the DINKY plastic rotor. Really I would feel funny charging someone more than $.50 for that piece of plastic.. BMW really likes their markups .. this thing shouldn't cost more than $2.99 retail

I then looked inside the bottom of the pump housing and saw the remains of a spider cocoon. Cleaned that out and guess what..... nothing else inside. There is no "atmospheric pressure regulation" or anything .. the square hole is simply a weep hole so when the seal is leaking, the motor doesnt get bathed in windshield juice and short out or something.

SOOO I took some thick waterproof grease I have lying around, and put a thin coat on the shaft of the motor, bottom of hte motor casing where the shaft enters, and the top of the rubber shaft seal.

I then returned the shaft seal to is centered resting place, slid in the motor making sure it keyed into the rotor, and popped the pump housing back together in a vice.

Reinstalled and no more leak!

Definitely a waste of time if you got the $14 and an AutoZone near by .. but if you want to get all DIY ... take a thin flatblade screw driver and crack the pump apart. Grease the seal and put it back together.

Depending on the quality of grease, the failure state of your seal, and kind of fluid that yo yuse .... you should be good for a while

Those that switched fluids and started a leak ... its clear why when you see that little shaft seal. Soft rubber that can be softened by alcohol easily. They didn't design these pumps to last forever ...... thats for 2 dollars and 99 cents sure.

son of the biscuit

my wife almost killed me for changing oil and brake fluid on my own

that is awesome

Originally Posted by wardly

A few of you commented on the fact that the Autozone pump did not have as much pressure and you took it out. The same has happened to me--it seems to work but it certainly doesn't shoot the water as high up on the windshield and a lot ends up on the hood.

If I want to take this out and return it and get an original part. But using those scotch locks on the wires--can I just take these off or am I going to have to cut the wires and reconnect them to the original connector?

For those of you that the Autozone pump worked--did you not have the pressure problem?

Thanks!

Autozone pump does lack some pressure.. but it's designed for a little less viscous liquid.
i mix 80% washer fluid & 20% water, and it shoot with much more pressure than the oem.

I could hear the pump going so I checked the fluid.

Hmm, lots of fluid.

Pulled the line out by the hood and pumped. No fluid.

Time to take everything apart.

Pulled the tank and being a thrifty guy, I emptied the blue liquid into a basin, so as to reuse it.
It came out with a sickening flup containing what appeared to be either very old Chinese cloud ear mushrooms or a dead jellyfish with a bit of primordial slime in a pretty but unnatural blue liquid.

I pulled out the grommet/filter which was enrobed in goo.

Cleaned it under running water, poked around with a toothpick till all the nasty was gone, soaked it and the tank with warm water and some bleach. It was pretty nasty.

Thought about buying a new grommet/filter but the grommet's rubber material was still soft so I didn't need to replace it. If it gets stiff and powdery or brittle - definitely spend the $5.

Coated rubber with some petroleum jelly and put it all back together.

Works good.

I think it may be prudent to flush that tank and clean out with a bleach water mix once every 6 months or so.

Make sure to flush the tank of all bleach smell - it's probably not a good idea to be spraying bleach onto the car.

I hope that slime didn't travel up the line to the hood and the jets. that filter is there for a reason.

awesome/easy fix and dead on. I did not crimp down the splices hard enough first try, but given another squeeze and all was complete!

Mine turned out be air in the line as others had described. Here's a tip however to do the job as easy, painless, and clean as possible. I simply used a brake bleeder bottle I had from when I last changed my brake fluid. If you don't have one, you can pick one up at any parts store for <$10. I then disconnected the washer fluid lines from the jets under the hood and connected my bleeder bottle and hose. I could then work the washer lever myself and work the air out of the lines. My washer jets are now spraying like new!

kinda confused as to if i need a new windshield washer tank or pump, it doesnt work at all but within the past few days, it keeps leaking fluid but there is no visible crack...anyone know where i can look up how much a new tank is??

it is the 3-series (06 325i). looking at the fill tube it disappears under what appears to be part of the wheel well. can't really see the washer tank. how difficult is this washer motor to replace?

Thanks, i bought mine at autozone and followed the directions you posted works great

Hey there - so I've been through this post and additionally through the Haynes manual, but I'm having a tough time actually locating the old pump in my engine. It seems like it should be in or around the fluid reservoir, but my hoses seem to lead toward the front grill/radiator area of the car. I've only recently acquired this car, so I haven't thoroughly gone through the engine yet.

Before I go and pull apart the front bits, can someone verify where I should be able to locate the pump?

Thanks!

Joe

Originally Posted by josephpeay

Hey there - so I've been through this post and additionally through the Haynes manual, but I'm having a tough time actually locating the old pump in my engine. It seems like it should be in or around the fluid reservoir, but my hoses seem to lead toward the front grill/radiator area of the car. I've only recently acquired this car, so I haven't thoroughly gone through the engine yet.

Before I go and pull apart the front bits, can someone verify where I should be able to locate the pump?

Thanks!

Joe

Nevermind - I can't believe how easy it was (in the 3 passes I previously made, I DID NOT see that thing sitting there attached to the reservoir - bingo!!).

*Cleaning the crust out of the ends was another task, but I managed to get it squirting again.

Moved to seperate message.
-Gerorge

Good day,
I am right in the middle of refurbishing my washer system, 330i 2003 approx 65,000 miles. All units are standard as I have forgotten my metric stuff due to 16 years of sunny weather.

At about 50,000 my grommet went and I used DUCT TAPE (thank you Red Green). The solution worked great.

Technical Details I have learned

Washer Nozzles HT Left Hand (LH) E51 & Right Hand (RH) E52
- activate at 37 degrees F
- Wires to both sprayers are 0.5, Brown (Pin 1) and Green/Yellow (Pin 2)
- Connectors are LH X105 & RH X106, these connect at X219 then travel via a Brown 2.5 wire to Ground X490
- Bentley Manual schematics RH on ELE-119 & LH on ELE-120 [these are titled Splice Connector (X219)]
- Data from electrical connectors BMW 8 385 385, AMP 1-983658-1, 1-985 182-1
- Hose length between two nozzles is 17 ½ inches

Washer Pump M4
- 8 362 154, Made in CZ, 008 017 12V, PA6 GBGF10
- Wires are Black (Pin 1) and Brown 1.0 (Pin 2) which leads to Ground X166
- Pin 1 is closest to squared end of connector
- Connector is X107, BMW 8 364 516, PBT, .8199, 14725
- Bentley Manual schematics ELE-60 and ELE-134
- Voltage across pins is to be 12 volts or greater

Washer Fluid Level Low Sig S136
- Wires are Brown/Black 0.35 (Pin 1) and Brown/Green 0.35 (Pin 2)
- Connector is X10046 See ELE-273
- Ground is X10012 See ELE-159, ELE-149
- Be sure to check area were connector meets sensor (90 degree bend) for cracks

Fuses
- F49, F52, F59, First two on ELE-133

Good Luck with your work.
Take care,
Ringting

Worked like a charm! Got the Taap aftermarket pump for $19.99 at Autozone. With my 8yr old's "help" it took me about 30 minutes. A significant amount of time involved attempting to remove the washer fluid level sensor. I pulled as hard as I was comfortable w/ and it still wouldn't come out. After some time fiddling w/ the catch, I couldn't figure it out either. Luckily, there was enough slack in the sensor wiring for me to complete the pump swap w/o disconnecting it.

If it matters, dealer quoted $300!

Although it was leaking, my windshield washer pump was working till last week. Last week I changed the gasket for the reservoir. During the process, I accidently dropped the pump into a pool of water where its electrical connector got wet as well. Then I put it back and tried to use couple of days later, it did not work.

Therefore, I just got the Tapp from Autozone. I connected the red and blue to the brown and the black to the white and blue with prying the cables that came from Tapp and inserting them to the electric plug directly. (not cut the original cable yet). I can hear the noise of the washer pump motor when I try to spray fluid to the windshield, but nothing is coming out from those small pipes (the spray was working last week). What can be the problem? Do I need to connect the cables directly? or anything else can be the problem?

Thanks.

Welcome penet05! I'd suggest checking out posts #22 (prime the lines) and #60 (filter clogged) on this thread. I didn't have either problem in mine but I'd suggest priming the lines first.

Good luck!
-g

yeah !

did it today ... perfect and simple ! ... dealer wanted 150 dlsl for the same work .. wow !

i also replace the gaskets on the transmission fluid and coolant sensor everything in less than 30 min

next project is to restore fogs .. by the way the rain x doesn't work at all !

Awesome DIY. Its been a few years since the origial post and its still helping people. Thank you for the post.

I used the autozone pump. It works wonders, all you really haveto do is adapr the cables for the new pump and thats it.

Another Thank You from me as well.

Although, I will have to say that the Autozone pump is an inferior product that only sprays about 6 inches up the windshield.

It's no big deal for me because I keep our cars clean, plus it never rains in Houston anymore. However, you more northern folks that depend on your washers should probably get OEM or try something on Ebay. For me, as long as I don't see that light on my dash, it's all good.