Windshield washer leaking at nozzle; fluid in rubber channel Options

[Marcel Aircooled]

Just have my 73 914 for a month and learning every day. I noticed a few times that there was some fluid/water at the nozzles of the windshield washer system even though I did not use the system but did not pay much attention to it. Yesterday it was quite warm here and I parked my 914 in the sun and when I moved it I saw a wet spot were I had parked at the right front. I also noticed some spill at the nozzles again and did some further inspection. Looking at the front trunk I found that water/fluid had run into channel for the rubber and after removing the rubber I found that it was wet at many spots and some water had build up in the corners. It looks like this has been an issue for quite a while already because the paint was coming loose in the channel and some rust has formed. Maybe has to do with pressure building up in the washer tank due to the heat? So now I removed the loose paint from channel and will use some rust converter and paint the channel again.

Here's the channel with the paint removed



My question is if this leak from the nozzles is common and if there is a (easy) fix? I don't want to have the same rust issue returning obviously. Here's a pic of my washer set up



It looks like it works with a pump and not with the pressure from the spare tire. I can empty the washer tank to prevent from leaking now but prefer a solution where I will be able to use the window washer system. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

[SirAndy]

It looks like it works with a pump and not with the pressure from the spare tire. I can empty the washer tank to prevent from leaking now but prefer a solution where I will be able to use the window washer system. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Am i correct to understand that your system has been converted to use an electric pump?

If so, the tank needs to be vented. If not, it will build pressure when getting warm to the point that fluid could drain out the nozzles. It also means the pump will have a hard time pumping fluid since it will have to work against a vacuum in the bottle.

The /4 bottle with its check valve in the cap was never designed to work with an electric pump.

See this tech article for my (admittedly crude) solution to that problem:
http://www.914world.com/specs/tech_el_washer.php
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