Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 15:46:38 -0800
Reply-To: Coby Smolens <cobys@WELL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Coby Smolens <cobys@WELL.COM>
Subject: Re: Blue hair gel in my windshield washer!
In-Reply-To: <v04220801b4f06ffe74c3@[134.87.58.139]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Easy fix for the stouthearted:
Imagine that the little stainless nozzle in the black plastic housing is an
eyeball. Get yourself a good quality push-pin - the kind with the longish
pin and the nice metal head. Insert the pin into the "pupil" of the eyeball
just far enough to be able to rotate it all the way to one side and pop it
out of the socket (eeeeeeuuuuuuwww!). Do one side at a time. When the
nozzle's out turn the key on and hit the washer switch. It'll gush out
anything in the line that couldn't leave via the little hole in the nozzle.
Clean the nozzle off then pop it back in and aim it, using the same
push-pin. Keep the push-pin in your glove box.
Coby
Valley Wagonworks
"Intimately acquainted with VW Vans since 1959"
Volkswagen Bus, Vanagon, Westfalia and Eurovan
Repair and Service Specialists
1535 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo, CA 94933
Voice:(415) 457-5628
Fax: (415) 457-0967
http://wagonworks.com
mailto:contact@wagonworks.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Tobin Copley
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 2:06 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Blue hair gel in my windshield washer!
Hiya folks!
I bought my current bus in the LA area a couple of months ago. When
I got it, the windshield washer pump didn't work. I recently pulled
a good one out of a wrecker, swapped it in and now have a working
pump.
While doing the swap, the I noticed the fluid in the reservoir (which
was full, BTW), was the blue "summer/bug detergent" stuff. And there
was this coating of blue hair gel type stuff along the entire bottom
surface of the tank. Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch think. Gucky. I'm
assuming this stuff is precipitate from the washer solution, and the
solution in that tank could have been sitting in there, unused, for
*years* for all I know. I cleaned the gunk out of the tank.
After swapping the pumps, I reinstalled the tank and all, filled the
reservoir with plain water (just to test), and hopped into the
driver's seat to activate the windshield washer.
My pump merrily buzzed away for 15 seconds of so, maybe getting the
water up to the nozzles. Then one or two big gucky splats of thick
blue hair gel gunk on the windshield (out of both nozzles), a few
pitiable splots of water, then nothing. Pump motor still buzzing
away, but nothing more coming out of the nozzle.
I figure that blue gel stuff has clogged up the plumbing between the
pump and nozzles. I'd prefer not to remove all the plumbing to clean
it out, since it looks pretty hard to get at. Questions:
1) Ideas of cleaning solutions I could put in the reservoir to
dissolve this blue gunk in the tubing?
2) Directions or tips on removing and reinstalling the tubing between
the pump and nozzles? I have no clue how those tubes are routed.
Bentley is of absolutely no help in this regard.
Thanks!
T.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada tobin.copley@ubc.ca
'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell =============
'99 daughter Margaret /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi O|. .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT 7,400 km ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/
