Front Windshield Sprayer Problem - 2005 Mazda 3

Question

Driving home the other day, my front windshield washer sprayers stopped working. At first, just the passenger side nozzle sprayed, which led me to believe it was just ice on the other one. However, further down the road neither of them worked.

Some notes:

• Rear washer works like normal. Fluid sprays out normally.
• I can hear the pump turn on when I try to use the front sprayers
• Front drivers side nozzle has absolutely nothing coming out of it
• Front passenger has the smallest dribble coming out when I activate the washers.
• Fluid is topped up and was never empty - The bin doesn't seem to be leaking.

Any hints? I still need to check all of the tubing from the front, but I'm not exactly sure where it goes once it exits the hood. It goes into the fender area, but its hard to see.

Is there two washer pumps? One for the rear and one for the front?

Answer 1

There are two pumps, a front and a rear one. As you have water attempting to come out of the jets and you can hear the pump working the first thing to do is remove the front pump and clean its filter. The filters on screen washer pumps can become clogged with a soapy goo. Once the goo is removed from the filter you should find everything back to normal.