The little nobbily thing which squirts out water is still on the bonnet, but I can't work out how to get it working... IF it even works. I was thinking that maybe the water reservoir was removed since I can't seem to locate that either. Help a noob? :P

i think its the knob that turns on the wipers - push the center of that

they normally never work

you pull the wiper switch but you will find it wont work even its its new and primed with water

Thanks for the help, just discovered that it's only a hood ornament seeing as it's not attached to anything. Oh well!

Hey mine worked for 2 days. Before the rubber diaphram I think "disolved " and leaked black water all over the bonnet

put in an aftermarket washer bottle and pump and have a push button separate,then hook it up to your original squirter thingy

Ha! i have those hood ornaments too! I was exited about having washers when i bought the car... devistated when i found them to be a fraud!

I always use a hose or wait till it rains

When it rained I found out my wipers were an ornament

me too, the passanger side doesn't even touch the windscreen and the drivers side is loose causing it to just flop around in the middle of the windscreen...

Mine are not that bad the first wipe knocks the top off the drops, as it returns it smears the rest over the screen.
God I love these cars

I'm not sure about this, but is it one of those washers that works off the pressure in the spare tyre?

I've never had one that worked.

I replace them with an aftermarket washer bottle and a press button switch that releases when not pressed, rather than switches on until it's switched off, on the dashboard.

Could be worse. Imagine buying a kombi, filling the washer bottle with water, pumping it up to whatever psi it is, jump back in the drivers seat just a moment before the hose blows off and deposits a litre of water in your lap.

nice

mine did the same thing first time i used them
nice pin hole in the hose going to the steering column

The 6-volt Beetles used the wiper switch as a pump. You had the grab the knob, and pull it out several times to squirt the water. The switch had a rubber bulb on the back - it should still work if it isn't torn. One hose goes to the bottle (behind the spare tyre), and the other goes to the nozzles. It worked OK when new, but getting very old now.

VW parts shops used to sell stock-shaped moulded washer bottles with built-in electric motors, that exactly replace the stock bottles. They can easily be wired up to a switch under the dash. Those loose bladder-shaped aftermarket water bags are ugly.

The later system, with the air pressurised bottle that had to be pumped up with a tyre air hose, never worked well. They always got leaks somewhere. I replaced everything in my Kombi and couldn't get it to work. Eventually I fitted an electric washer pump from a Mk1 Golf to the Kombi's bottle, and rigged up a microswitch in the steering column stalk to operate it - much better. Now I only have to fix the leaking hoses - no fun in a Kombi.