I had a different kind of humming noise today.
Turns out the headlamp washer pump is really noisy and not spraying water.
A new pump from a UK Bentley spares place is £68 + delivery. A 'SAAB' pump off eBay is £13.39 delivered and yes, it is an identical pump apart from the colour.

I was a little surprised that there wasn't a compatible VW/Audi pump, the outlet and inlets are different, whereas the 'SAAB' one is the same.

Happy days!

Les.

 

Thanks for the tips Les. How did you find out?

 

Hi Lilo.

I simply searched for headlamp washer pumps on eBay after looking at a photo of one on Flying spares.
I looked for Bentley first, then VW/Audi but couldn't find one with the same inlet outlet setup. I then just looked generally at others and found the SAAB one.
Here are photo's of them both.

Bentley pump;



SAAB pump;

 

Actually, trawling through eBay was the way I found that the Vacuum pump was an Audi item.
A bit of lateral thinking always helps.

Les.

 

That's good to know Les

 

Thanks ales. It is amazing how manufacturers artificially mark up prices on their parts .

 

Hi, Les

you should open a Bentley shop in France....

 

I wouldn't want to pay the Cotisations Ulstrup.
Besides, France is so anti Entrepreneur it beggars belief.
I'll stick with running the Chambre d'Hote here in Ambrieres.

Les.

 

Great find!!!

 

Yes, thanks for the tip!

 

Well, I decided to swap the pumps today. BUT!!!
The SAAB pump is a little different.
The spade connectors are bigger and the outlet is a slightly bigger diameter.
It can be done by making new connectors and attaching the outlet directly to the rubber hose, bypassing the angled plastic piece. Probably only for the technically minded.

Anyway, after doing that, the pump worked but there was only spray at one headlamp. The other just dribbled water.
I blew out the jets but no joy. I changed them side to side and one side worked then stopped and then the other side worked. Weird!
I ran two wires to the pump from a spare battery to make sure the pump was primed, but that didn't improve things either.

I then set about trying to fix the original pump. I wired it up and sure enough it was noisy.
A quick squirt of WD40 had it working again so I refitted it but still had the same problem with just one jet working correctly.

I noticed that there are what look like small diaphragms on each washer jet assembly, so I'm wondering if one of them is faulty.

So, for now, I'm stuck.

Any ideas folks?

Les.

 

Hello Les,
While I do not have my GT up and running yet, it is my understanding that the HL washers are programmed only to spray one headlight at a time, it was for two reasons, first for safety as the HLW's work with the HL's on so at night, the idea is that there would always be one HL giving proper light output while the other has a diminished output by spray, the second reason I have read was that it was one at a time to have greater pressure to blast the debris off the HL, this IS how the headlight washer system works on my Audi A8L W12, one at a time with the HL's on.

 

Hi Johnny.

On the Conti (UK models) both work at the same time.
I had a word with my Indie and he told me that it would be the jet unit. It is something that he changes very frequently on these cars.
There appears to be a small diaphragm on the unit which allows pressure to build before triggering and firing a short burst of water. That's whats wrong with mine.

Fortunately, I found a new one on ebay and it's on it's way to me now.

I will update in a few days time. At least it's an easy job to replace them.

Les.

 

Correct, mine both works at same time too.