A few weeks ago I was driving along and the low washer fluid warning lamp came on. I joked with my wife suggesting that she'd forgotten to top it up, whereas I know perfectly well that I'd topped it up only a week or so earlier. When I got to the in-laws I noticed sure enough the bottle was empty, so I topped it up and thought no more of it. About 2 hours later my wife noticed a puddle just in front of the O/S/F wheel. I checked the washer bottle and it was half empty. When I got home I removed the bottle to see where it was leaking from. It's not a particularly easy task either, but I could not see anywhere obvious from where it might be leaking. I put it back and topped it up.

The following morning it'd lost nothing, and so I put it down to the pump seal perhaps being dislodged. For three days it didn't leak, until all of a sudden it started leaking again. It would lose about one drop per second. I decided to change the washer pump and headlamp washer pump seals. Again it seemed to do the trick, and for three days there was no leak, when after that it was leaking once more.

By now I was fed up with it and so I left it. The bottle drained to almost empty, and on a day when we were going out for a drive I topped it up. That was over two weeks ago now and it hasn't leaked since. I have a suspicion that it might be the washer pump itself that leak intermittently, but otherwise how do you explain that?....

Is there a pattern to it leaking? ie only in hot weather?

Is there a pattern to it leaking? ie only in hot weather?

No, nothing in particular. It just seems to leak when it wants to. Worse though, because of how and where it's situated it's virtually impossible to tell where it's leaking from, but as I said earlier I suspect it might be an internal seal in the washer pump. Since the pump cannot be overhauled in any way I'll change it for a new one if it starts leaking again......

Any way that you could try pressurising the bottle to see if there's a hairline crack somewhere?

I don't believe it. I last posted about this over 2 months ago and it seemed ok, and now the fookin' thing's leaking again after all this time.......

It might be worth getting a replacement from a scrap yard etc and be done with it!

It might be worth getting a replacement from a scrap yard etc and be done with it!

Yeah. It's odd it seems that with all the great things that Skoda have done with the Fabia and Octavia (I've had both) they just can't get a screen washer system that is robust - both my Fabia and now my Octavia are leaking. Depressing actually - plus all the other niggles like leaky door seals, flaky trim etc - I don't know whether I'll have another Skoda.

Edited 21 December, 200916 yr by rosss

Yeah. It's odd it seems that with all the great things that Skoda have done with the Fabia and Octavia (I've had both) they just can't get a screen washer system that is robust - both my Fabia and now my Octavia are leaking. Depressing actually - plus all the other niggles like leaky door seals, flaky trim etc - I don't know whether I'll have another Skoda.

You are putting enough screenwash in, to stop it freezing up and cracking the tank or breaking a seal I take it?

You are putting enough screenwash in, to stop it freezing up and cracking the tank or breaking a seal I take it?

I don't know about the OP but I am on my current Octavia. To be fair I did use Halfords -7°C pink screenwash though rather than the VW stuff.

Popped in to the local Skoda dealer today and got their 1L VW bottle of screen wash at £2.38 - I also got a free "dressing down" from one of their staff for my opinion that the washer system on Skodas (in my experience) is very fernickity. .... stating in no uncertain terms that it's not a problem with the car.....

All I know is I've had a Fabia which had the pump splitting on the washer bottle and now my Octavia washer bottle has had a phantom leak (not returned yet - fingers crossed). I have never had this type of issue on any other (of my many different) cars .... ever...

Ach well.