DIY- Disabling the head lamp washer pump and capping it off

[TXRedDevil]

Just wanted to add to the tech here on how to disable the headlamp washer. On my newly acquired ZHP, the driver's side was leaking like a sieve when I filled up the reservoir. I used it once or twice to see how it works and I'm not impressed by the way the nozzles completely soak the hood in the process.

After reading some advice on this forum as well as others, I wanted to add missing detail and document here: Here's the diagram:



You can do it electrically by unplugging the harness at the front-most pump that's attached to the reservoir. I had an extra door grommet, so I replaced a piece of rubber I had between the harness ends that was later thrown away by the body shop and reattached. After inserting the grommet, I slightly re-plugged the female part in (not fully seating) and electrical taped it together to prevent separation and prevent dust from getting in:





I will have to figure out how to plug the hose now, but for now I plugged the small black u-shaped clip onto it (not shown clipped on):



To add redundancy, I capped off the outlet barb coming out of the pump with a 3/8" vacuum cap:



The reason why I decided to cap it off is that I recently had some work done on my ZHP and the mechanic and body shop guys saw to it to remove the rubber I had inserted into the male end of the harness and plug everything back in. I filled the reservoir up half way and heard the fluid leaking at the driver's side near the driver's head lamp.

[Oli77]

That is harder than electrically disconnecting it but is a surer way to make sure it won't leak (until your mechanic decides to "fix it" for you, that is).

[TXRedDevil]

Oli, thanks for the feedback! The hardest part about capping it was removing that little black clip from the male outlet from the pump. Not a whole lot of space to work with. Once off, pulling off the pump and affixing the cap was the easy part.

[cakM3]

I had my car coded so that the headlight washer was turned off and then replaced the windshield washer reservoir for a part that was not part of the cold weather package and then removed all the parts used for the headlight washer setup on my car. Including the lower headlight trim pieces.

What you did will work if you want to reverse everything down the road but in my case I won't be using this setup on my ZHP so I went for the more permanent route.

[BADCLOWN]

Nice write up, thanks for posting it.

I personally have never had headlight washers on any car I’ve ever owned or currently own. I personally think they are a bit ridiculous/pointless

[TXRedDevil]

I had my car coded so that the headlight washer was turned off and then replaced the windshield washer reservoir for a part that was not part of the cold weather package and then removed all the parts used for the headlight washer setup on my car. Including the lower headlight trim pieces.

What you did will work if you want to reverse everything down the road but in my case I won't be using this setup on my ZHP so I went for the more permanent route.

I thought I had read that you could code to disable it. Thanks for re-confirming! I'm having a lot of trouble getting my scanner to work w/ my cheap ebay laptop with Win 7 to pick up the drivers.

As far as what I did here, yes, I did that so that the potential next owner (if there is one!) could reverse it.

[TXRedDevil]

I personally think they are a bit ridiculous/pointless

I agree. Not to mention, in inclement weather, I wouldn't drive my BMW but take my 98 4Runner instead.

[BADCLOWN]

3rd gen 4runner is so good. I had a 2000 and a 2004 before getting my (current) 2017 Pro