The beginnings of my Headlight Washer Retrofit!

So I recently completed an HID projector retrofit on my 2000. As we all know HID bulbs produce a crap load of heat at the bulb, however the beam does not "project" very much heat like a halogen beam does.

For those of us in the North this can lead to a huge problem as the headlights are much more likely to ice/slush over. It's not so bad in western Canada where it's only dry and cold, but as soon as you hit Ontario where ice melting agents are applied to the road, it makes things a lot worst when the weather is crap.

This is probably why headlight washer are mandatory in much of the UK and Europe on HID equipped vehicles.

I took a wander through my local pick 'n pull and found a 97 Mitsubishi Pajero with a simple headlight washer system.


The profile of these should sit pretty well on the top of my fat lip bumper!





It looks like a very simple system! Shouldn't have many clearance issues.




This truck had a dedicated tank for the headlight washers stuffed in the passenger side inner fender, so I pulled everything out including the motor and tubing. The biggest problem I see right now is to find a solution for the reservoir. I don't really want to mess with the current reservoir in the truck, and there isn't much space under the hood to cram in a dedicated reservoir... hmm

I plan to wire in a dedicated switch to use these independently of the windshield washer. When I got home I tested everything out with a battery. The pump is leaking, but I should be able to source another no problem.

The best part is that I walked out of the scrap yard with this complete system, the rear fascia surrounding the license plate, and a bunch of odds and ends for only $37!

Even worse with the add on bulbs in halogen housing. The system is not designed for the bulbs, so the extra air just eats up any heat produced. We see the same thing down in the lower 48. Especially tail lights....total block out from snow off the roads. Freaking insanely unsafe!

This was my projector retrofit. Nothing fancy..didnt want anything super ricey. I do A LOT of driving, so this is by far the most beneficial mod IMO.







My only gripe is the shadow that is produced behind the shroud makes it look a little bug eyed.

That's a pretty awesome find! Those couldn't have a better mounting system, and look to be super easy to retrofit. Cool project [emoji1360]

CDNsldr said:

For those of us in the North this can lead to a huge problem as the headlights are much more likely to ice/slush over. It's not so bad in western Canada where it's only dry and cold, but as soon as you hit Ontario where ice melting agents are applied to the road, it makes things a lot worst when the weather is crap.

This is probably why headlight washer are mandatory in much of the UK and Europe on HID equipped vehicles.

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I drive to Nevada from SoCal a lot and going through the mountain passes in the winter my projector-equipped headlights get glazed over with salt, dirt and road film easily and become almost completely ineffective. I carry a spray bottle of windshield wiper fluid and pull over to host them off.

I will be looking to do a similar project soon. Thanks for posting this. Subscribed!

I go on a lot of snowboarding trips come winter here in Colorado. My headlights get so covered in dirty water and dirty road slush that it's like I don't have any at all! Very excited to see what you're doing here!

octanejunkie said:

I drive to Nevada from SoCal a lot and going through the mountain passes in the winter my projector-equipped headlights get glazed over with salt, dirt and road film easily and become almost completely ineffective. I carry a spray bottle of windshield wiper fluid and pull over to host them off.

I will be looking to do a similar project soon. Thanks for posting this. Subscribed!

Click to expand...

Yeah, in my experience when HID ice over they are much worse than dirty halogens....especially when its snowing. Worse than high beams. Just illuminates all the snow and is very blinding.

Ive done a fair bit of searching and have never seen a retrofit done on a vehicle that hasn't had the option of being equipped with them. Most people just complain that they waste washer fluid, and turn dust to mud and make their vehicles dirty.

Gotta brain storm some ideas on where I can add a second reservoir, as I don't really want to modify the current one with a third pump although it might come to that.

Following!

It's actually law here for all HID vehicles to have self levelling and lens cleaning.

I also like the retrofit kit with the old reflector still "Chrome" - it looks more factory.

CDNsldr said:

Yeah, in my experience when HID ice over they are much worse than dirty halogens....especially when its snowing. Worse than high beams. Just illuminates all the snow and is very blinding.

Ive done a fair bit of searching and have never seen a retrofit done on a vehicle that hasn't had the option of being equipped with them. Most people just complain that they waste washer fluid, and turn dust to mud and make their vehicles dirty.

Gotta brain storm some ideas on where I can add a second reservoir, as I don't really want to modify the current one with a third pump although it might come to that.

Click to expand...

This may be a long shot but you could tap into the rear washer reservoir. It's in the driver side rear panel. Or there might be room to mount on between your grill and core support. Or maybe inside the fat lip bumper itself?

I was looking at this on Amazon for my other truck

ACI 99300 Windshield Washer Pump https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00495UQT2/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_GurFybBESN022

TorqueOfTheDevil said:

It's actually law here for all HID vehicles to have self levelling and lens cleaning.

Click to expand...

octanejunkie said:

I was looking at this on Amazon for my other truck

ACI 99300 Windshield Washer Pump https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00495UQT2/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_GurFybBESN022

Click to expand...

That looks like a pretty complete kit. I was juggling the idea of using a system like that, however I suspect headlight washer system produce a lot more pressure and flow than the windshield washer pumps....this is simply judging by the size of the pump and lines. Id guesstimate the lines have an I.D. of nearly 7/16 and the pump appears to be about twice the size of a normal washer pump.

The way I see it is, headlight washer systems in vehicles without headlight wipers need to be designed powerful enough to actually blast off the grime and slush, not just wet it down and let a wiper do the work.

All this interest has definitely motivated me to figure this out! Will post updates as I go.

Tinigunner11 said:

This may be a long shot but you could tap into the rear washer reservoir. It's in the driver side rear panel. Or there might be room to mount on between your grill and core support. Or maybe inside the fat lip bumper itself?

Click to expand...

On the Pajero the reservoir was mounted inside the passenger inner fender, and the tank is nicely formed to fit in there. The filler neck is actually a second piece formed at a right angle which protrudes into the engine bay through the side wall. It's bolted to the main tank with a O ring to seal.

Im thinking it might work to mount it in the same spot on the 4runner. All that should be in the inner fender is the intake elbow at the front and the motorized antenna at the rear. I'll rip out the antenna motor if I need to as she don't work anyways. lol Can hopefully find a spot in between the cruise control and abs module to drill out a spot for the filler "elbow".

Photo of the tank for reference.

Have any of you with this problem tried to use Rain-X on your headlight lens? I haven't had this problem in the US but I have in Brazil, unfortunately I didn't have Rain-X there. Always wanted to try it...seems to me it would help the crud not stick.

TheDurk said:

Have any of you with this problem tried to use Rain-X on your headlight lens? I haven't had this problem in the US but I have in Brazil, unfortunately I didn't have Rain-X there. Always wanted to try it...seems to me it would help the crud not stick.

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I rainx my headlights fairly often..whenever I do my windshield and the rest of the glass.

I'm sure it offers some improvement. But much like the windshield, when you're getting sandblasted in the cold, sloppy weather it doesn't seem to be enough to keep them debris free. Look at the area of your windshield that your wipers don't sweep...your headlights will be like that except worse as the are lower down, not as angled so they don't deflect anything, nor do they have the cabin heat to keep them defrosted.

I can definitely see the need for this. I have been in a half dozen storms where I periodically had to get out of the vehicle and clear the headlights by hand to keep moving, and I still have halogens.

It would be more effective to retrofit wipers off a saab/mercerces/bmw/etc, I think. There is plenty of room under the headlights and the wiper could easily be mounted on the filler panel.

Unfortunately 3rd gen glass has the "triple nipple" that would interfere with the swing of the wiper blade. Maybe you went through this thought chain before landing on the idea of washers.

CDNsldr said:

...I suspect headlight washer system produce a lot more pressure and flow than the windshield washer pumps....this is simply judging by the size of the pump and lines. Id guesstimate the lines have an I.D. of nearly 7/16 and the pump appears to be about twice the size of a normal washer pump.

The way I see it is, headlight washer systems in vehicles without headlight wipers need to be designed powerful enough to actually blast off the grime and slush, not just wet it down and let a wiper do the work.

Click to expand...

Larger ID hose would indicate more volume, not necessarily more pressure, but you make a valid point - it's all pressure-dependent.

I'd be interested to see a pressure test of the two different washer systems, headlamp vs. windshield. I suspect this could easily be done with a combo vacuum/fuel pressure gauge.

BigFishAllDay said:

I can definitely see the need for this. I have been in a half dozen storms where I periodically had to get out of the vehicle and clear the headlights by hand to keep moving, and I still have halogens.

It would be more effective to retrofit wipers off a saab/mercerces/bmw/etc, I think. There is plenty of room under the headlights and the wiper could easily be mounted on the filler panel.

Unfortunately 3rd gen glass has the "triple nipple" that would interfere with the swing of the wiper blade. Maybe you went through this thought chain before landing on the idea of washers.

Click to expand...

I did consider the wiper solution, however the added complexity of fabricating mounts for the motor and the uncertainty of if there was enough clearance for the motors led me to land on the washer only system. I was eyeing up a Volvo at the scrap yard that had a wiper system. Those systems do still supply fluid to the wipers, so it's not like that part of the system is eliminated. Washers only might be an 80% solution, but that fabbing seems much more simple.

I have heard of people grinding the nipples off.

I spent the better part of the day tinkering on this washer retrofit.

Had to cut out a little more sheet metal than I was hoping for...and Im currently unable to re-install the cruise control module due to the location of the filler neck. Might have to fab up a skinnier elbow.

Anyways, on to the good stuff!









I was unable to thread the plastic collar on to the underside, due to one of the bumper support brackets being butt up against where I drilled, so these are more just "pressed" in right now. Will have to grind out more metal to get them secured properly.







The driver side nozzle has a lot of bubbling rust under the rubber, so its deforming it and not allowing it to sit nicely on the gasket. Im going to check ebay and see if I can get some replacement nozzles for a decent price.





And video!

https://youtu.be/Cu6ysjvfqOc


Not sure how to imbed the video, but Im sure you all are bright enough to follow the link

The fender liner was a little difficult to get back in. It is tight up against the bottom of the reservoir. I was unable to get the hole lined up from the grommet directly behind the pump.


They are aimed a little low... with a small screwdriver I aimed the little nozzles as far up as they can go. I may drill the holes a little farther forward to try and correct the trajectory, but they should still work well as is.

This pump spits out a ton of volume! Much more than a standard washer pump. I bet it would drain the entire tank in around 30 seconds.