I bought my 2005 XF this past summer, and one of the little problems was a pond of blue liquid appearing under the right fender. Because the antifreeze is also blue, this was disconcerting. But I determined that it was washer fluid, and after pulling the wheel and liner, I saw that the tank was leaking at the bottom where the weight of the tank and fluid is supported at one point, and there's molding-seam in polyethylene tank there. Not a great design ...

If I had to do the job again, and didn't stop to take pictures, etc., the whole job would have required about an hour. But plan on at least two.

Here's what was needed for this morning's tank replacement:

Washer reservoir/tank ( MB 1708690320 or DC 5096729AA), $22.13 via Mike at OE Discount Parts
Cheap! Thanks Mike! {Your results may vary ...}

One gallon of new washer fluid, an already-empty gallon jug for any old fluid, and a funnel

10mm socket wrench, and a T25 Torx (R) socket or screwdriver (might as well buy a whole set of Torx sockets (1/4 inch drive) if you don't already have one)

A large washer, possibly a "fender washer", with an inside hole just larger than 0.5 inch

A putty knife or something similar

A large, ugly Doberman

* * *



Above is the "before" picture. The washer bottle is under the rear half of the right (US=passenger's) side's fender.



Here's the new washer reservoir. Excellent packing job by Mike. Was dusty, so I rinsed out the tank and wiped off the outside. The new tank comes bare so you have to transfer everything from your original bottle. There's a chance that some of your old rubber mounts and grommets are bad, so order them too, in advance, unless you are a risk-taking penny-squeezer like me.



Here's the XF jacked up with an HD floor jack and a jack stand. Not seen are the wheel chocks around the left-rear tire. The right rear tire lifted off the ground too while jacking. *** Warning *** The FSM says _not_ to jack using the underside of the control arms, but I did anyway (using a block of wood to spread the load). *** Use extreme care in jacking/supporting -- "don't do this at home" if you are not qualified/experienced/... since death or injury is likely! ***

Note the tire/wheel put under the rocker -- an old last-resort safety measure.

Next, using the 10mm and T25 Torx sockets, remove the inner fender liner -- there's four 10mm nuts and four Torx screws. There's also two 10mm bolts from under the front of the rocker (these bolts go straight up {vertically} through the bottom/back portion of the liner).



And you thought I was kidding about the big ugly Doberman! {R.I.P. in 2013, natural cause}



Here's the liner disconnected, and hanging down. Note the red-handled putty knife that was _carefully_ wedged between the liner and the soft-plastic rocker cover. Start from inside and work your way out to about the mid-point of the curve of rocker cover. Then _gently_ pop out the short, round edge of the liner so that the whole liner can lean forward over the rotor.

There's no need to pull out the liner further. And on mine I couldn't easily -- it is hanging up on something in the rocker (possibly another bolt?).




Open the hood and remove the bottle's inlet neck. There's one 10 mm nut holding it to the inner fender wall. Then pop the neck extension out of the top of the tank. Rotate the filler neck back and up out of the way.

Remove the _one_ bolt holding the tank in (10 mm, bright zinc color on mine). Then lightly tug the tank forward to loosen it from the bottom and back rubber mounts.



Above is the old tank pulled out -- carefully, and it is a tight fit.

The wires and the washer hose just pop out of the groves in the side of the tank. Drain the tank into a suitable container (I plan to reuse the old fluid, but in an old car).

Disconnect the fluid level (float) switch's wires on the right/back of the tank, via a flimsy pressed-in lever. Then carefully pull out the float switch, and remove its grommet from the tank. _Carefully_ pop up and out the washer pump -- it goes straight up (I wedged between the tank and the base of the pump, and prayed ...). I left the pump's hose and wires attached.



Above's the new tank, with the salvaged mounting insulators, hole grommets, and float switch going back in. Not shown is the top cap that must also be transferred, nor the plug in the front/bottom of the tank.

I decided to use a _little_ Permatex #2 gasket sealer on each through-the-tank-wall grommet. Will likely destroy the rubber parts, if removed again. It's up to you.

Make sure you reinstall the float switch so that the float can rise. To help, there's a flat side on the switch's black housing that faces the tank.

Install the pump, attach the wires and hose to the tank, and put the tank back in the fender.



Here's the lone support for the full tank! Note the added metal flat-washer (inside diameter of the washer just over 0.5 inch) to help spread the weight over more of the tank's bottom. This is where the original leak occurred on my old tank. Also note the old, dried washer fluid (blue) -- I didn't try to clean it up.



Here's the new tank, filled with one gallon of fresh fluid, and not leaking! :-) Liner put back in (getting the edges under the fender lip can be tricky), wheel on, and it was off to visit two local car shows. No XFs there, but one show had several Vipers.

 

Thanks. Great information and pics. Hope I never need to use it, but it's good to know it's now there.

 

I converted this post to a PDF file. CLICK

 

Good write up!

 

good job thanks,, jim

 

You too can get yourself a Doberman, ugly or otherwise, via:

http://www.dpcarescue.com/

Mine doesn't get to ride in the XF, however, due to the nice seats.

 

Mike's price for the tank is now $77. At least I know I can replace it myself thanks to you guys.

 

excellent write up and sweet looking dog. Thanks for posting.

 

Great write up with good pix.

I had the same issue with a leaking Washer fluid tank on my Daughter's Pontiac.

I waited a few months for a backordered tank from the Pontiac Dealer, and finally gave up.

I ended up pulling the Tank, then hit the outside seam with nice shot of hot glue, waited for it to harden, and then reassembled.

It's been over five (5) years and it's holding strong.

This approach may be worth a shot for cost containment, before replacing the tank wholesale...

 

Thanks for the write up. My reservoir is leaking. I have had a lot of cars. This is the first to have a water tank leak. Most of the other cars have been older than this one also. Is this some kind of defective tank? Will I be replacing a defective tank with another defective tank? $12 would seem OK, but $70, especially if it is not a very good tank, seems like a stretch. How many people out there have had leaks?

 

If like mine, it's due to a poorly designed lower mount by my Deutche Bruders. They ain't perfect. See earlier in the thread about the washer I used to hopefully prevent the problem from recurring on my XF.

 

Nice to see "How To's" with the pictures.
Some of us need all of the help we can get!

 

Thanks, I ordered mine. $22.50

 

joejones, where did you order your reservoir from for $22.50?

 

OE Discount Parts
did not call, just filled out form online

 

I'll be darned: I had been searching for the XF serial number for the reservoir at OE Discount Parts and the price was $77.16. When I searched for the MB serial number, I found the $22.50 tank. Ordered!

I did notice that my tank cracked after filling the reservoir full. With the new tank, I'm just going to add a quart over the low-fluid level warning point.

 

What's the serial number for the reservoir? Looks like I'll need to be replacing mine too..

 

The number is in the first post of this thread.

 

Wow, just skipped right over that. Thanks!

I think I'll have to replace mine when I redo my brakes in a couple weeks, but I had no idea how to get to it. Appreciate the tutorial.

 

We had a leak also . appeared to be fluid pressure pushing up past the grommet where the pump enters the tank. tried various glues under the grommet but would not bond to tank. used hot glue gun, and replaced pump with inexpensive universal part for good measure. pump required slight mod: cut off a bracket. did not see any crack in tank. so far, so good