Washer Fluid Reservoir Leak
 

Car came up telling me I was low on washer fluid this morning. I had filled it up about a month ago and barely used any. I assume it’s leaking, but I don’t see any obvious signs of a leak like wet spots on the inside of the engine bay or puddles underneath. Apparently the prev. owner said that this was an issue before. Is this like a common issue or not really? And how would I figure out where it’s coming from, and what’s the best solution? Thanks for the help!


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It's really common for the washer pump grommets to leak. If you dry things up nicely around and under the pumps it should become obvious if there isn't already traces of color.

And that is attached directly to the bottom of the reservoir right? I’ll take a look in a little while

Mine recently failed and dumped over a gallon of fluid. I pulled the pump out of the grommet and it game out with virtually zero resistance. I wrapped the pump with Teflon and will fill the reservoir to see if it holds. I may re-do the fix with some heat shrink tubing if I don't buy a new grommet/filter. Since there are three I'm more likely to patch with Teflon vs. replace I've done that in a few places on the two e53 we own.

This has to be the 32nd post on this easy to solve problem. See postinghttps://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...s-leaking.html

Next Posting

This is one topic has been posted over and over again. Simple solutions posted before are: purchase two aftermarket pumps motors, get the rubber gaskets with screens for all three pumps, pull the bucket out of the car after disconnecting the pumps from the washer reservoir, this will give you the room to disconnect the electrical connectors and the hose lines. Take the bucket into your sink area and clean out all the junk in the bottom. Then replace all the seals, pumps and re install. Leave the headlamp pump alone and in the car.
The pumps are high failure items as they leak internally and as mentioned the seals dry out and leak. If you follow this path your repairs will be a one stop to solve all your issues.
Note: if you are missing the filter screen little insert at the fill area of your reservoir, buy one now or you will have pressure leaks in the future now that you sealed all the other leaks. The fill screen allows the bucket to vent properly or you can drill a hole in the top of cap. Your car your choice.

Link to ECS to see all that are your choices on parts as you maybe missing a few items due to tech abuse and previous owner neglect.
https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E53-X5...Washer_System/

I also thought the pump and o-rings where the problem until I replaced the entire assembly (pump, seals and filter screen) and it still leaked out. After that I really watched it and found the leak turned out to be the small hose that connected to the pumps. It is a tight fit but had to trim off a few inches of the tube running into the firewall before the leak stopped.


But this is only 1 of our 3 e53s that have had that issue. So I don't know that I myself would call this a common problem. But it appears StephenVA has better numbers on that.

So after pulling mine out the pump on the inside by itself appears to be blocked off. Why would this be/which set of washers does this connect to? It also has a wider shank than the other two pumps


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Aghh... Mine is used for chemical cooling. It’s modified, but it still functions as a window washing reservoir. I would not be happy if I dumped two gallons of boost juice.

Thanks for the info.

The larger pump is for the headlight washers.

Cheapest fix for the venting at the cap is to drill a hole. That's what I discovered I had to do after I replaced my reservoir cap and it fit tighter than the original. The air in the tank would heat up and expand and push the fluid out through the windshield nozzles. Annoying.