My WRX 2.5 has pop-up washers for the head lights. They were working last week. Now they're not.This causes an MOT failure. I checked the fuse and it looks ok. Are there any known issues with them? Any suggestions for what I can check please? Thanks ☺

never had issues with mine - as it is both motors defective there may be a relay between the fuse and the motors that has failed

Well, not sure what it was.

 

The headlight washers were not working... they are supposed to come on a few seconds after pushing the washer button if its held in. So, they were definitely not popping up even after 20 seconds of holding in the washer button.

 

Inside the cab, I took out both fuses for windshield wiper washer (15), and rear wash wipe (14) - which mine does not have because its a sedan WRX. I suspected it may be fuse 14 therefore. But, there was no fuse problem with either when I electrically tested both.

 

I then went to the front fuse box in the engine compartment and checked all the relays, just pushing them in slightly to see they were home and located properly. They were all connected...

I checked the headlight washers and suddenly they were working! I can only hope this fixes it for a while.

So, I reckon it was a simple loose connection on a relay, but I don't know which one because the car manual shows what the fuses are, but doesn't show what the relays are. Doh!
 
It will help all if someone here has a WRX and WRX STi fuse and relay diagram :) With Thanks.

What year was it again? Glad its fixed though

As far as I'm aware washers only work when the lights are on.

Fixed for now... suspect it won't stay that way if its a relay connection. I need to find which relay it is to check the connections  really... It's a 2007 (57) WRX 2.5, not STI. :) Thanks

ok, I found a diagram of the relays - it's under the fuse box cover! Obvious and should have looked there. Now, I still don't know what relay it is though or if it even uses one? Can't see it... what's a SBF or ALT-Def or any of the others? There's lots of acronyns here which mean little to me because I'm not an electrician lol. See attached photo. Anyone know please?

I have one of these broken on drivers side, why is it MOT fail if they are not working? Don't even know how they are activated!

If washers are fitted to headlights then they have to be both working for a MOT pass. Same if you have headlight wipers. Usually the plastic pop-up fitting breaks which means getting a replacement. As for the relay, I still can't trace it out yet.

On 3/6/2015 at 1:40 AM, Scooby Pete said:

As far as I'm aware washers only work when the lights are on.

I registered on the forum specifically so I could thank your for this post! One of the covers fell off and I spent ages trying to get the washer to extend but it wasn't working! I presumed the electrics had gone faulty (its a 2008 model). Started to look at the electrics when I read your post. Turned on headlights and bam! washers extended! Thank you!