My headlight washer jet covers not going back in!!

Probably grit and dirt stopping it. It's only raised by the pressure of the water. It has its own separate high pressure pump - no electrics involved.

I had this problem with mine, unfortunately lube didn't work and I needed a new jet - about £160 fitted -but fortunately the RAC warranty covered it. I took the plastic cover off until I got the jet replaced as it looked like it would blow off, a replacement needs painted I think. I reckon they are a pain, just make a mess of the bonnet so put a switch in the earth so I can turn them off, they are on the same relay and fuse as the windscreen washer motor so that was the only way I could think of to do it. If I hadn't had the warranty I wouldn't have bothered getting it fixed and would just have pushed it back in (although they may be a legal requirement if you've got xenon headlights and an mot failure - hence the switch!)

Mine was he same, there is a second pump for the headlight jets which seems to have a higher pressure than the screen one. The water pressure pushes the jets out and springs pull them back in, if they are even slightly out of true or contaminated they will stick out. It would be worth trying a good soaking with silicon spray and a clean out to see if that works.

The return springs are strong so if you're pulling it out probably best to get someone to operate the washers and grip the shaft - this sounds so wrong - to stop it going back in. The plastic cap is just held on with some small plastic clips and comes off quite easily, it'll probably just come off in your hand or break if you pull that.
If you are not fussed about having them I would just push it back in and pull the earth wire from the pump, it's inside the nearside wheel arch cover in the engine bay, reservoir has 2 pumps on it, I can't remember which one is the screen and which one is the lights, but that would disable it. Don't know what kind of lights you've got, if they are manually adjustable that will probably be OK, if they are xenons you might be taking a chance at mot time, although mine just passed and I'd forgotten to switch the washers back on.

Pump facing the front number is for the lights. It's easier to disable via vagcom. I would take off the bumper and have a look rather than forcing anything as they won't be cheap to replace if damaged.