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Renault Laguna II - Phase 1 - Bodywork - Turning off or repairing Xenon headlight washer jets

42K views 67 replies 23 participants last post by  stretchnvern 
#1 ·
Renault Laguna II - Phase 1 - Bodywork - Turning off or repairing Xenon headlight washer jets

Is there a fuse (or something) you can remove that will disable the headlight jets on my Laguna II?

Whenever I use the windscreen washer at night it triggers the jets for the Xenons, and 50% of the time one jet sticks halfway up. I've tried lubricating the 'stalks' with silicon grease, which works for a while, but the problem reappears again sooner or later.

I've now got to the stage that I try to put off cleaning the windscreen at night in case I'm left with the jets sticking out of the bumper for the rest of the journey... not very safe!

Any help appreciated.
 
#4 ·
Laguna II Owner said:
Sport Tourer is right - mines 2001 priv and they pop up and down but I repeat that think the problem is the return spring in this members case..
I drove one for over three years and never noticed! I just assumed that they were fixed, seeing as they stuck out of the bumper so much and looked like they could achieve a perfectly good aim at the lights from there. Still, I suppose you don't get to see them 'do their thing' when you're sitting in the driver's seat.

I'll go and hit myself with the fish of stupidity now.
 
#5 ·
I only knew because my daughters wanted to stand in front of the car and watch me wash the headlights - they got really excited when the washers "popped" up washed and then went back down again.
Being the kid that I am I then had to go and watch while my eldest daughter washed the lights.
 
G
#6 ·
Uncannily I did exact the same thing with my two lads..

I like the stupid fish bit but honestly it took a 6 year old boy to tell me what they did first time around and I had the car for 3 months already.. ;-)

Although not recomended I have adjusted their aim with a small modification + I use them as a useful tool for soaking anybody who decides to sit too close at my rear ( read generally mr or mrs 1.2 clio, pug or whatever racer, mr or mrs white van man or any bmw driver ).

This is really sad but it works as people generally pull back without flashing their lights or getting angry as they do not realize..
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the responses.

Laguna II Owner - I checked out your post regarding fuses, and unfortunately it looks like I'm out of luck on that front. Regarding the return spring, I'm not sure if it's that as the jets sometimes stick at their full extent, sometimes half-way down, and there's definitely springing resistance if I try to pull the stalks up myself. It does feel as if there's a build-up of grime in the cylinder the stalks retract into that's preventing them from operating smoothly. The silicon grease gets round that for a while, but eventually it wears off.

Getting it fixed under warranty's not an option unfortunately - just over 3 years old. :mad:
 
G
#8 ·
Well it would seem that a new cylinder would be your answer have you inquired about costs with your renault dealer ?

Failing that try our link section to find some good suppliers of "recycled" scrap renault car parts..
 
#9 ·
dkmulvey said:
Thanks for the responses.

Laguna II Owner - I checked out your post regarding fuses, and unfortunately it looks like I'm out of luck on that front. Regarding the return spring, I'm not sure if it's that as the jets sometimes stick at their full extent, sometimes half-way down, and there's definitely springing resistance if I try to pull the stalks up myself. It does feel as if there's a build-up of grime in the cylinder the stalks retract into that's preventing them from operating smoothly. The silicon grease gets round that for a while, but eventually it wears off.

Getting it fixed under warranty's not an option unfortunately - just over 3 years old. :mad:
My wifes car now has the same problem have you found any other repair?
 
#13 ·
Have the same problem

Hi I have the same problem, ie both washer "stalks" stay extended after washer has been used. I'm going to try silicon grease as a first option. (cos it's easy) and see how long that lasts. But I'll monitor this thread for any other solutions - glad for any tips other than "buy a new one"!

It may be that Renault admit to a design fault and retro fit an upgraded part (there is a precedent, for instance when the Espace clutch pedal had a design fault) Ooh look there go's a flying pig ..... :devil:
 
#14 ·
Silicon grease does help for a while, but eventually (a few months down the road) it wears off and you have to reapply it. After the 3rd or 4th time of doing this, you do start to get :censored:-off with the :censored:!

Funnily enough though, in the recent cold weather they have started to behave again without the use of any grease.
 
#16 ·
Horatio said:
I drove one for over three years and never noticed! I just assumed that they were fixed, seeing as they stuck out of the bumper so much and looked like they could achieve a perfectly good aim at the lights from there. Still, I suppose you don't get to see them 'do their thing' when you're sitting in the driver's seat.

I'll go and hit myself with the fish of stupidity now.
I would probably have driven mine for three years before I noticed the pop ups but seeing your post I checked mine and sure enough they are a source of amusement to anyone who sees them. I have had my Laguna for 4 months now!

I think Renault have a policy of trying to fit every electronic gadget to their cars they can find in the hope they will soon go wrong so bumping up their profits, they do not really clean the headlights, if you washed your car just by spraying a hosepipe over it it would not be any cleaner when it dried out!
 
#17 ·
just to let you know i have just picked my laguna II from renault main dealer for the same problem the drivers side head light washer stayed up and the passenger side wsher did not come up at all , so in it went , they told me that the warranty did not cover this as they are liable to wear and tear so £ 130 out of pocket and they are now working, hope this helps
 
G
#18 ·
Ouch - yes the info is very helpful if you can you provide the part numbers listed on your bill together with a breakdown of the costs for referance...

Btw the pressurized headlamp washers are a european wide legal requirement for any vehicle fitted with Xenon headlights. As is the requirement for a beam aim self leveling system which is also included in the Lag II higher spec models with xenon's..

If anyone beleives their system is not washing the headlights correctly then their must be a fault somewhere as mine almost strip the paint off the car and are very effective at keeping winter road salt grim from dimming my beams on long motorway journeys..

The only prob I have ever had was a loose colour coded cover which with a little of infamous careful wiggling snapped back into position..

Seems silicon is the best bet for a temporary fix if £130 is too hard to swallow..
 
#19 ·
Some things never change.

Not strictly on-topic, but to do with the headlight washers - I've just gone out to my car to put a fridge on the back seat (don't ask) and noticed the ever so familiar puddle of screenwash collecting just in front of the NSF wheel. Yes, I've gone and parked it with the driver's side slightly elevated and it's 'peeing' my screenwash all over the tarmac.

I had this problem fixed on the old car at least twice. Call me an optimist, but I wasn't expecting to have to go through it all over again. Still it's reassuring to know that if Renault's build quality can't manage to be good, it can at least manage to be consistent. (That's not entirely fair, but I liked the sound of it.)

And I'm still looking for the cup holder.
 
#20 ·
Apologies for raising this topic from the dead again, but I just spotted a post in this thread by L2O showing the following diagram:



Going by this, it looks like that if I remove relay R6 I can disable the headlight washer jets. Is this correct, and if so can I expect any nasty side-effects (for example, Serv lighting up on the dashboard or something else not working)?
 
#21 ·
Sticking Headlight Wahser Jets - WD40 IT

This may have already been discust, but if your headlight jets are jamming, spray the shaft with WD40 and this will free the jets again. Worked for me as I am not paying renault £80 per hour to do something simular.
Hope this info is usefull to someone.

Bigstu
 
#22 ·
My car has been back to the same dealer three times now (once for service and twice for the locking wheel nut recall... but that's a different story) and on each occasion, I've mentioned the puddle that forms when you park the car off the level. The dealer claims that they can't find the fault, even after topping up the washer bottle, yet when I parked the car up last night, it started doing it even on level ground.

They swear blind that they've never seen this before, in spite of my old car doing it twice (from new, and again after they dropped the subframe to change the clutch) and us having another one on the fleet with exactly the same problem. Though I wasn't using this dealer when I had the problems with my old car.

Has anyone else had this problem with leaky headlamp washer plumbing, or is there something really freaky going on with my Renaults and those around me?
 
#23 ·
Horatio said:
Has anyone else had this problem with leaky headlamp washer plumbing, or is there something really freaky going on with my Renaults and those around me?

No sorry, ours is dry as a bone on level and sloping ground. The only water dripping from our car is from the air conditioning condenser - obviously this is worse in hotter weather.
 
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