What's this all about?

I have now owned my Morris Minor for 10 years. When I aquired her she was in bits so I embarked on a long and endless journey of education about these wonderful cars - with the aid of my Dad and various other Morris Minor enthusiasts who are always willing and eager to work on the fabulous cars! I have much experience of using the various publications on offer when carrying out maintenance/repairs on Moffy. They have included the ever popular 'Haynes Manual', the Morris Minor 1000 Workshop Manual, and the Glovebox edition of the Handbook. But all of these don't seem to include stuff I have needed to fix/break/cry over during the years. Also they can be quite difficult to follow for a lay person who isn't a mechanic in their spare time! So I have finally got round to doing this webblog that will hopefully serve to provide information/source of amusement to anyone who is having similar problems with their MM with details and photos as I go about maintaining/improving(hopefully) Moffy.

Tuesday, March 6

Windscreen Washer Replacement

For about the last 3 years the system (such as it is!) for cleaning my windows has not been working properly. The windscreen wipers work fine - as long as I replace the rubbers every time I return home! – but I haven’t been able to spray washer fluid on to the windscreen. I did have a wonderful system that involved a squeezy bottle and winding down my window but it’s not recommended whilst driving ;)

I had several ideas as to why it wasn’t working but have finally had the time to investigate and repair it.

First job was to remove the Glove Boxes to gain access to the back of the Dashboard and the tubes.


After inspecting the tubes and pumping the pump I could tell that there were no blockages and the pump was pumping air out. It was not, however, sucking up any water. I needed a new pump so I decided I may as well replace all the tubing at the same time as it was looking a little the worse for wear! (Green and mucky to be precise, hmmm lovely)

I ordered: 1 Manual windscreen washer pump
1 Washer non-return valve
8ft of windscreen washer plastic tube

First I removed the tubes from the old non-return valve (in the screen wash bottle) and the jets (I thought removing them was difficult enough, but the joys of getting the new ones on was still to come…).
To remove the pump I unscrewed the bezel on the front and took it out from the back.

The next job was to attach the new tubing to the new pump and junction piece

I split the tubing into 4 parts. The 5ft length goes from the pump to the washer bottle, and the 3 x 1ft lengths go from the junction piece, to the pump and the jets.


Then I attached the tubes to the jets ........(Tip:a hair dryer/hot water are a great way to warm up the ends of the pipe and make it easier to fit them on).....

and fed the ‘OUT’ tube through the hole in the bulk head.

Hurray I can now have a clean windscreen! Although I have discovered that the junction piece leaks a bit so I’m going to have replace that, but still, a good days work.

Cost : approx £15
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Pretty easy – the most difficult thing is getting the new tubing on everything!
Injury Level: ½ a plaster - 2 scraped fingers – from getting the tubes on/off
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