How do you remove the windshield washer jets without breaking them?
My car still has the chrome jets, and I want to remove them carefully as I understand they are NLA.

Big bonus if the gas tank does not have to be removed first.

Maybe they're not NLA. PP has them for $17.75 ea. I'd still like to keep mine, they are in good shape. Is there a retaining clip under the cowl that keeps them in?

Hi Jeff,

Take wire cutters or cutters and just cut them. By a new pair from Pelican in either the chrome or black (whichever you prefer) and add it to my bill. Talking with other body shops and when I painted my car, you cannot get them out without deforming them with the tank in or out. And if you try to pry them up, you end up bending the cowling as it is very thin there.

Bill P.

When I pulled mine out, there was no retaining clip, and it doesn't look like there was ever meant to be one. All that holds them in is an "inverted cone" (fat side up) molded into the sprayer. Mine had obviously been removed at least once before I did it, and enough of the cone had been chewed off that they came out pretty easy. If yours have never been removed, I don't know how you could get them out without risking bending the cowl. If you are intent in trying, if I were doing it, I would use a heat gun to soften them up, and a quick squirt of silicone spray right before you tried to push them out. Safety would require you to lift the tank first, which is starting to make $35 for new ones look pretty good.

If they've been in the car for 30 years, they ain't gonna come out without a fight. The new ones just push in and 'pop' into place. Here's a pic that shows what they look like underneath.

So I cut them under the cowl and they should slide out the top?

fortunately, this is one part that IS the same as on older VWs ...
go to your local VW/bug shop and buy the brand new chrome ones for about $5 each.

that's what i did. perfect fit and very nice look ...

no clip, they just "pop" in. no gas tank pulling either.
Andy

Thanks Andy!