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Date:         Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:31:12 -0700
Reply-To:     James Lowe <james.lowe@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         James Lowe <james.lowe@COX.NET>
Subject:      Rear Window Washer
Comments: To: William Alexander <william@idzyn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Windshield Wiper Washer in the rear - did you have the sound of a pump and just not spray?

William, Exactly, the pump was ON but nobody was home. The tank had algee growing in it that clogged up the system. To repair this window washer unit I did the following:

1) Remove the tank and pump assembly from the van. You'll have to pop off the interior panel to do this. (The panel clips were re-usable so this was relatively painless.) The tank is held in with two phillips head screws and you'll need to unplug the pump electrical and the water hose. The hose was stuck on the tank, so I cut it off as close to the tank as possible then used a razor blade to get the hardened hose of the tank nipple.

2) Slide the pump up and out of the tank. It is held in by a rubber grommet at the tank and compression from the plastic tank.

3) Clean the algee from the tank. I used Simple Green and threw a small rag inside and shook it real good (rinse and repeat as required).

4) Remove the interior panel from the rear hatch. These clips were not re-usable, so I had to buy 18 from my local True-Value hardware store @ 49 cents each (9mm). If yours won't pop off, drive a thin bladed putty knife between the panel and the door to cut them, otherwise you'll break the thin partical board paneling. With the panel removed you can squeeze the back to the nozzle/ sprayer thingy and push it out to the exterior. If your hose is stuck onto the nozzle cut it (again, close as possible to the nozzle so you won't have to buy more hose & coupler). Clean the nozzle with a pin and compressed air.

5) Reinstall the tank and fill with water and some Simple Green or bleach and run the pump from the drivers seat letting the solution run through the hose and onto the ground or into a bucket until the tank is empty. This should clear out any loose algee or gunk from the hose.

6) Reinstall the nozzle and fill the tank with windshield washer solution and you should be good to go.

Note: After putting everything back together mine plugged up again so I pulled the tank a second time and forced compressed air into the nozzle. This cleared it up and its been working great ever since.

You can probably can skip the steps of removing the rear hatch panel by simply blowing compressed air into the nozzle after you disconnect the tank and clear the gunk that way. But, I would a least clean the tank.

Good luck Jim Lowe '87 Syncro GL

(I don't think algee would have grown if the tank had been refilled with washer fluid instead of water.)


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