Expert: A. Rowe - 12/24/2010

Question
Hey so my jeep keeps beeping and telling me the washer sensor is bad. It has been doing this since I got it and I always figured it was the washer fluid sensor until it told me one day that the fluid was low. I filled it up with fluid and that beeping stopped but it keeps telling me the sensor is bad when obviously it works. Any ideas?

Answer
Hi Janae!

Sometimes the float that controls the sensor goes bad or get stuck. Especially when you run empty on fluid. I believe that there is only one sensor for that and it is a two wire 'on/off' switch. If it stopped 'beeping' once filled, the sensor should be working. There's a SLIGHT chance that the computer is tricked if the sensor is only slightly bad. Taking it out of the bottle and 'working' the float up and down a few times may fix that. You didn't specify what model Jeep you have. If you have a rear window washer you could have a second bottle (and another sensor). However, the systems in '94 are fairly primitive compared to 'newer cars' and aren't 'picky'. Normally when those kinds of sensors act up they don't confuse the 'warning lights'.  If you don't have a second bottle for the rear, there's two things you can try. 1. Since it's an on/off switch, you can take the connector off of the sensor. I'm not positive, but I think it's a normally 'open' switch, so you'd have to take something like a paper clip and 'jump' the connector (on the harness side). It will bypass the switch and tell you for sure if that sensor is the problem if everything acts normal. I don't THINK the computer in '94 Jeeps keep a history of that, but if all else fails, you can try to disconnect the negative battery cable for a few minutes to erase trouble codes.


----Aaron