Windshield Washer Problems....UGH

[josephwillidog]

Hoping someone could help me with this...
First off, I'm in Utica NY, so theres hella snow up here. It's pretty much a necessity to have your washer fluid operational to keep the snow and salt off...ok. A few days ago, the fluid stopped pumping, so I stopped by Autozone (2fast 2furious BWAH HA HA) and got some more, thinking I was just out.

This is where it gets interesting:
After popping the hood, I immediately notice my dipstick for my engine oil is like hanging out of the engine and just hanging on by an inch or two... :eek: ok not good, I guess wallyworld didnt put it back in securely, and so there was some oil in the engine bay and on the upper part of the hood. :mad::mad: I thought that the dipstick knocked the little splitter thing for the washer fluid off, so I reattached it and tried to use the fluid, it worked for a second or two, but stopped. I popped the hood and reattached it and repeated the whole process numerous times... Basically, I think some oil got on the splitter and soaked through the hoses, making them too "lubed up" or something to hold onto the splitter when there is pressure on it for more than a second or two.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this? Maybe clean the hoses and splitters with rubbing alcohol or Goo Gone?

One thing I DID learn from this is to always double check the dipstick after getting it changed... :o

Thanks for the help!

[AkronSi]

Originally posted by josephwillidog
One thing I DID learn from this is to always double check the dipstick after getting it changed... :o

I think you learned another thing too. Don't go to wal-mart. I'd never trust a company that treats their emplyees like second-class citizens.

But, back to your problem. I'd think that rubbing alcohol would work better than goo-gone. You might want to try a good citrus degreaser like Simple Green (although not citrus I think), Greased Lightning or something else. Be sure to try to clean off the inner part of the tube as best as you can. You might need to get those little pipe-cleaners that we used to use in grade school to make stupid craft projects.

[josephwillidog]

Thanks AkronSi, I actually trimmed some of the extra hose, so pipe cleaners shouldn't be necessary, but yeah, I'm thinking baby-wiping the hoses should help the problem. Duct tape didn't work. :D

[AkronSi]

Good luck, I know you'll be using those wipers a lot this winter being in NY.

[oogy-boogy]

If all else fails, get a couple of zip ties and put them on the end of the tube that meets the elbow. That should hold it on for ya....

[josephwillidog]

Damn Oogy Boogy, THAT's an idea... I'll have to try that. Thanks.

[oogy-boogy]

Originally posted by josephwillidog
Damn Oogy Boogy, THAT's an idea... I'll have to try that. Thanks.

No problemooo....;) :D

[josephwillidog]

So, its actually gotten above freezing in upstate NY. Now my washer fluid works like a charm...WTF? Well, the only thing I can guess is that I originaly had regular "Sunny Florida Type Fluid" in my car instead of "Industrial Strength Permafrost Fluid" (Thanks a lot Uncle Sam) so I guess the remainder of the non-winter fluid froze in the lines, increasing the pressure and blowing off the little splitter. Bottom line, SiFreaks, If its cold as balls where you live, change your windshield wiper fluid to the winter type... Unless of course you want to experience what I did. ;)

TROGDOR!!!