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Have a 420 where the flexible pipe from the washer reservoir to the t-junction has separated from the t-junction and the pipe has slid back into the engine bay. i am without any manuals but need to try to reconnect...
I assume i need to get beween the dashboard and bulkhead, but how...?
is it remove the dash roll top (and is that "easy"? Is there a "better" way?
I'll try to describe the arrangement on my Mk2. It might differ in detail from the 420 and it's possible some of the system on my car has been modified over the years. The tube from the washer bottle runs along the inner wing. There's a connection where the tube reduces in diameter just before it passes through the bulkhead very close to the inner wing. On the other side of the bulkhead, it runs behind the passenger glove box. The T where it divides is behind and slightly above the shelf below the centre, fold down instrument panel. It's actually just behind some flexible interior heater pipe. It might be possible to reach, with considerable difficulty, from behind the fold down panel - I can't check easily as, at the moment, I don't have access (cardboard masking and wooden bracing while repairing the chassis members of the floor). If you go that route, you'll have to work by feel and the T is close to the bulkhead.
It's likely the pipe route is similar in a 420. I've no ideas as to the best way to obtain access. I don't think removing the dash top/crash roll will be much help unless it makes it easier to get your arm inside behind the centre panel. Are you sure the connection is broken at the T? If your system is the same as mine, I'd suspect the connection in the engine bay where the diameter changes.
Last edited by Peter3442; Feb 21, 2022 at 07:55 AM.
I have an S Type and I think the set up is the same. The washer pipe and the base of the washer nozzles are to be found in a pocket between the dash and the bulkhead as you say. To get to it you either need a small Filipino boy with very skinny arms and an extra elbow half way up his fore arm or you have to dismantle the dash.
When I say dismantle I mean Dash top needs to come off, the glove box and liner needs to come out and if you want access to the drivers side then the speedo and rev counter section needs to come out. The parcel shelf might even have to come out. There is a hand sized gap that you need to get into up under the dash which the gloves box liner is covering on the passengers side. Taking the dash top off and the glovebox out is not difficult but it is time consuming. On the S Type there are four 7/16 nuts under the dash holding the dash top on. One accessed through the glovebox, two above the fuse box and one under the right side behind the speedo. Glove box wood has bolts either side and the liner comes out with the glove box facia. Speedo and rev counter is the difficult side to remove as the steering wheel needs to come off and all the electrics need to be disconnected.
Attached is a photo of my dash stripped completely and the arrows show where access is needed to get to the washer nozzles from under the dash. You don't need to go this far, this was just before the blasters when everything came off my car. Access cannot be gained from the engine bay or from the scuttle vent only from under the dash I am afraid.
If you're screen is bright enough, you can see the air pipe for the heater in Cass's photo. It's the dark pipe, running roughly horizontal, at the centre of the bulkhead, just below the steel panel that supports the dash. On my car, the T is behind that pipe. As you can see, if your tube broke at the T, then it would be quite a long length that's pulled through to the engine bay.
420 windscreen washers
