Hi guys. I am just about to pick my Octavia Elegance 56 reg from dealers which i am very excited! The question is does Elegance have headlamp washers and how do they work, as me or salesman couldnt work out. Thanks

My 2007 (56) Elegance estate did. They operate with the screenwashers when the (head?)lights are on. They come on for first wash and every fifth wash after that. Turning the ignition off resets this counter.

Hope this helps,

Sam

Great, thanks. I think when we tried to operate the headlights werent on lol. Will try them on the pick up of the car.

As above, all UK spec Elegance MkII Octavia's get the headlight wash feature.

If they don't work as described by Sam then check the fuse. During the winter the plastic caps can freeze to the bumper popping the fuse.

As above

useful tip #1

if you have your lights on but don't want to wash the lights, only the screen, a split second pull of the wash stalk, then pause then pull the stalk again washes the windscreen only.

useful tip #2

If a gang of yobs deliberately crosses the road in front of you causing you to slow, turn on your lights, when passing the hoodies, pull the wash stalk towards you, hold it there and press the left pedal.

As above

useful tip #1

if you have your lights on but don't want to wash the lights, only the screen, a split second pull of the wash stalk, then pause then pull the stalk again washes the windscreen only.

useful tip #2

If a gang of yobs deliberately crosses the road in front of you causing you to slow, turn on your lights, when passing the hoodies, pull the wash stalk towards you, hold it there and press the left pedal.

The best is the second tip lol. Might be very useful especially in Leeds. Also any tips re idiots in posh cars i.e. crappy BWM's, they are doing my head in.

With VCDS you can adjust how long before they activate and how long they operate for. Mine were set to a 50 millisecond delay which meant they always operated when the lights were on, I changed it to 2 seconds which is better.

This is on a pre FL car, I don't know if the FL is the same.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

As above

useful tip #1

if you have your lights on but don't want to wash the lights, only the screen, a split second pull of the wash stalk, then pause then pull the stalk again washes the windscreen only.

useful tip #2

If a gang of yobs deliberately crosses the road in front of you causing you to slow, turn on your lights, when passing the hoodies, pull the wash stalk towards you, hold it there and press the left pedal.

Every day is a school day! Thanks for useful tip #1 as I don't always want to clean my headlights as it uses a shed load of washer fluid. Thanks again for the tip!

Cheers

FP

+1 for altering the time before they activate. Especially for anyone who attempts to keep the car clean, the standard setup not only unnecessarily messes up the front of the car with washer fluid, it is also very wasteful and you drain the bottle much faster. Mine is set for 2500ms (2 1/2 sec) before they activate on both cars, and the time for which they actually work is set for just one second.

[snipped]

It's one of those things that I have been tempted to deactivate completely with VCDS, but also one of those things I've never got round to actually doing!

I set mine to 1.5 secs.

One of the issues around deactivating completely would be the MOT (once the confusion settles). If they're fitted they have to work. My concern with changing the activation time is how long the MOT tester will pull on the stalk before deciding if they work or not?

Maybe if FordFan (or other MOT tester) is reading..........

I was going to ask about the deactivation. Its bit pants if it will fail MOT. I dont really need them unless get xenons fitted.

If HID/LED headlamps are fitted and a cleaning device is fitted, then the cleaning device has to work. There are a wide variety of cars out there all with different ways of operating things, MOT testers do not know how to operate everything on every car. If you've changed the activation conditions for the washers, let the tester know under what conditions they operate, or demonstrate to the tester that they work.

Useful tip #3

The ideal time to wash your headlights, windscreen and rear screen etc is when you are being dangerously tail-gated on a motorway.