Weak/low drivers side windshield washer squirts

baumgrenze said:

... I would have liked to have had a closer look at the flow splitter device that directs fluid to the passenger and driver side nozzles....
...I'm a retired chemist, not a physicist nor a hydraulic engineer. I have a vague recollection from elementary physics class over 50 years ago that a fluid in a hose experiences a pressure drop that is hose length dependent. Engineers, does it seem reasonable that the added 2-3 ft of hose to reach the driver side nozzle is really all that significant?....

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I can't answer the pressure question but if you wanted to try adjusting the pressure between the sides, you can get small valves fairly cheaply at a pet or aquarium shop, which have fittings that may plug right in to the existing rubber tubing.

No, it is more likely that the problem is insufficient volume from the pump which causes an excessive pressure drop through the hosing. The length of hose just exacerbates the underlying problem.

baumgrenze said:

I'm a retired chemist, not a physicist nor a hydraulic engineer. I have a vague recollection from elementary physics class over 50 years ago that a fluid in a hose experiences a pressure drop that is hose length dependent. Engineers, does it seem reasonable that the added 2-3 ft of hose to reach the driver side nozzle is really all that significant?

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It seems to be partially a problem with the direction of the flow, not just the volume. The dealer today installed the second new nozzle replacement and the service manager claims that it works just fine now. I will pick up the LEAF on Sunday morning and report back.

Thanks to Nightrider, TomT, and Nubo for prompt responses to my 'reawakening' of this irritating Leaf feature.

Has anyone traced the 'hydraulics' from the cowling to the pump and to the reservoir? If the pump is way down in front near the reservoir, that would certainly maximize the pressure drop due to hose length.

I did not comment earlier, but it seems to me that the internal diameter of the nozzle is perhaps too large for the application. With the Tygon tubing on the nozzle, water flowed readily through it with the head generated by a 1' length of hose. If the pump can generate a decent head of pressure, perhaps the spray through a smaller orifice would reach more of the windshield?

Has anyone leaned on a Nissan service department (or posted a question on a forum dedicated to another Nissan model, e.g., the Altima) to see if this problem is common to all Nissan sedans? Is it time to ask if JD Power are hearing complaints?

This is the time of year in Northern California when a driveway car has condensed moisture on the windshield in the morning. Mixed with the inevitable urban dust, it makes mud that needs to be washed away. That is why, despite a December delivery, I first began researching this problem now.

My thoughts for tonight,

My driver's side squirter has the same irritating lack of coverage.

If the pump is speced and sized correctly, it should not be an issue. I suspect that were are seeing another instance of Nissan cutting corners on the Leaf... The hose and nozzle considerations are simply masking the bigger problem. It's like having low water pressure and volume from the street at your home and trying to correct it with bigger pipes and smaller shower heads inside the house...

baumgrenze said:

Has anyone traced the 'hydraulics' from the cowling to the pump and to the reservoir? If the pump is way down in front near the reservoir, that would certainly maximize the pressure drop due to hose length.

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I picked up my LEAF from the dealership. The second replacement squirter nozzle (third nozzle counting the factory-installed original) is the best yet. Although not perfect, it squirts about 9 or 10 inches above the bottom of the glass. The factory one squirted about 6 inches above the bottom and the first replacement was worse: about 3 inches. No changes were made in the hose and pump during these repair efforts, so the problem seems to be the inconsistent casting of the plastic nozzle itself. I am going to live with this one.

Can the "squirt" hole be drilled out a small bit, at a slightly different angle?

Gary,

As I said, I believe part of the problem is that the designed opening is too large for the pressure generated by the pump at the delivery point.

I'm a gardener in retirement, and I appreciate that there is an art to the designing of a sprayer nozzle, and in its adjustment. This nozzle is not adjustable. I think it is probably not very well designed.

baumgrenze

bowthom said:

Hello,
Anyone else annoyed with the washer squirts aimed too low on the windshield? They don't appear to be adjustable so a shim might be necessary.

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Yes, I am more than annoyed. Anyone who lives in a cold snowy area understands that the windshield can get covered with spray and salt from the wake of other cars (as we're driving in the slow lane barely at the limit with cars whizzing by... ) and this can dry very quickly. At highway speeds the washer nozzles aim far too low and the issue is further exacerbated by the wind force driving the spray down ever further. It becomes a safety issue and can be very harrowing to suddenly have your windshield become opaque when you are trying to clear it and the wipers are smearing the dirt and drying dirty water all the while you are going through vast amounts of washer fluid desperately trying to get the upper part of the windscreen wet and clear enough to see through.

I was flabbergasted when, after two visits to the feckless dealership I finally found out that the washer nozzles are not adjustable. I feel not so alone after reading this thread (MNL comes through again!) but I may either try purchasing a few sets of nozzles from Nissan and seeing if any one of them are any better, or finding aftermarket ones that I can mount on the plastic hood cowl so they can spray on the upper 1/2 of the windscreen where it belongs.

This is really a very important safety issue. There are so few LEAFs in Canada, but reporting this to JD Power or Consumer Reports or some other watchdog/helper organization in the US might get some traction and visibility.

Truly annoyed (and sometimes frightened)...

baumgrenze said:

Below is a photo of the nozzle as seen from the business end. Note that there are tangs on the left and right sides that need to be released to bring the nozzle up out of the cowling. I use a long, fine flat-bladed screwdriver to release the nozzles, approaching them from the left and right sides. It probably helped that the car was in full sun on a warm day. The hose and the plastic parts were all maximally soft and less brittle.

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baumgrenze, how did you get underneath the nozzle to pinch the tangs? It's totally enclosed from below, and appears to require some major disassembly to get at them.

Who needs windshield washer fluid anyway?

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RedMapleLeaf said:

I was flabbergasted when, after two visits to the feckless dealership I finally found out that the washer nozzles are not adjustable. I feel not so alone after reading this thread (MNL comes through again!) but I may either try purchasing a few sets of nozzles from Nissan and seeing if any one of them are any better, or finding aftermarket ones that I can mount on the plastic hood cowl so they can spray on the upper 1/2 of the windscreen where it belongs.

This is really a very important safety issue. There are so few LEAFs in Canada, but reporting this to JD Power or Consumer Reports or some other watchdog/helper organization in the US might get some traction and visibility.

Truly annoyed (and sometimes frightened)...

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On the plus side, it really looks like Nissan's engineering staff is taking on-board what we LEAF owners talk about when it comes to many of these smaller deficiencies. So you may be sewing the seeds of an improvement for future owners. Not that it's much consolation to you right now.

RedMapleLeaf said:

baumgrenze said:

Below is a photo of the nozzle as seen from the business end. Note that there are tangs on the left and right sides that need to be released to bring the nozzle up out of the cowling. I use a long, fine flat-bladed screwdriver to release the nozzles, approaching them from the left and right sides. It probably helped that the car was in full sun on a warm day. The hose and the plastic parts were all maximally soft and less brittle.

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baumgrenze, how did you get underneath the nozzle to pinch the tangs? It's totally enclosed from below, and appears to require some major disassembly to get at them.

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It has been long enough that I do not recall exactly what I did. I just went out and looked. It was cold, so I elected not to stress the plastic but I took a photo.

1) Raise the hood.
2) Insert the screwdriver on the left and right sides of the nozzle in turn and move the handle outwards so that the blade pushes inwards. You can see an indentation made by my screwdriver at the insertion point.

The nozzle should release and pop upwards.

My analysis is that the spray is impeded by the rear edge of the hood. There is not a straight "line of sight" from the nozzle to the center of the windshield. The fix would be either to lower the nozzles, or cut a bit of the rear edge of the hood away, or adjust the hood slightly forward.

I'm going to have the dealer look at it, but I doubt they'll actually fix it. This is the sort of thing NHTSA is interested in (safety issue) so I encourage all of you to report it to them. Functional windshield washers are essential when driving on wet, dirty roads behind other vehicles. Without them your vision is quickly obscured. Once NHTSA gets enough complaints they'll order Nissan to do something about it.

hello from germany. my first post.

european LEAF do have the same problem. no chance to drive the LEAF in winter safely. my wife hates driving the LEAF when weather is wet: you dont see the street, especially when other cars approach you at night and even worse - the windscreen gets scratched.

due to the fact that these noozles are not adjustable i dont see a chance the water beam ever hits the windscreen. instead the underside of the hood is perfectly washed by the noozles, distributed all over the wipers, but not on the screen.

NISSAN will have to design 100.000 new noozles, a complete new plastic base frame or 50.000 new hoods and give us 50.000 new windscreens.

oh: you can pop out the noozles in a second. just slide a little flat screwdriver, or better two, under the noozle, coming from the windscreen side: no marks at all. it just pops out and you can lift it off (and try to replace it by other makes oldfashioned noozles which are still adjustable).

I've learned something new. My Nissan dealer's parts manager (one of the good guys there) looked into this and subsequently ordered two sets of nozzles. The first set was the original part number for the non-adjustable nozzles, and the second set was a 'new' or updated part number for an adjustable set that comes with a small adjusting tool, photo below. (I think the part number shown is for one nozzle plus the one adjuster tool.) You can actually adjust these nozzles, and I have tried this and it works. You can probably adjust the nozzle to where it shoots so high it goes over the car. HOWEVER, before you get too excited, as the previous posters have correctly stated, the real design flaw is that the trailing edge of the hood interferes with the spray if the nozzle stream is adjusted anywhere near the middle of the windshield. Finding it impossible to drive the car with the hood open, I now have mine set to where the stream just grazes the edge of the hood (closed ;-)), and it is better than the way the car came from the factory, but not by much. On a related note, I have also learned how to quickly 'pump' or pull on the washer stalk just briefly enough to engage the washer stream without starting the preset wiper cycle. This at least allows me to put fluid on the windshield and allow it to travel up the glass (while I'm travelling at highway speeds) to get washer fluid where I need it (before the wipers remove it and smear the windshield due to not enough fluid) and THEN engage the wipers. Not necessarily wife-friendly, but I'm not driving scared anymore. (Why car companies dumb down the user interface in the guise of making things simpler I'll never know. I want my washer SEPARATELY CONTROLLED from the wipers!!! The same for the ECO mode -- make the adjustments for braking regen SEPARATE from accelerator sensitivity AND from heater power. Crimeny.) Hopefully someone can take advantage of this info.
Cheers,
Renny

^ nice info. Thanks Renny!

I'm still not quite sure I understand the problem though - my jets hit somewhat low on the windshield, but in no way do they wet the hood.

mwalsh said:

I'm still not quite sure I understand the problem though - my jets hit somewhat low on the windshield, but in no way do they wet the hood.

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If you aim the nozzles too high, they hit the underside of the hood...

Googling the part number above (28949-1EA0A), that appears to be the P/N for the adjusting tool only from the pics that I can see. The nozzles themselves seem to start with 2893X on the Nissans I cross-checked as I can tell (LEAF replacement is 28931-3NA0A). The trick is finding a nozzle that is a direct replacement for the LEAF nozzle.

28949-1EA0A is listed as the NOZZLE ADJUSTER for recent model 370Zs - the LH/RH NOZZLE ASSYWASHERs are 28931-1EB0A / 28930-1EB0A - it doesn't appear that the RH nozzle would fit the LEAF for sure as the 370Z RH nozzle has an inlet and outlet port on it.

Would be nice if RedMapleLeaf could confirm with his parts guy which nozzle assy he picked out?

I'll try to get that part number for the adjustable LEAF nozzle by the end of the week.