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Vehicle washer tank miracle

svetz

svetz

Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
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The water tank reservoir for my car's wipers is leaking. Turns out replacing it is an ordeal (e.g., the front bumper and other junk all has to come off).

Long shot... but figured I'd ask if anyone knows of a miracle fix. It's buried pretty far in there, can barely see any of it from the top.
 
I have had luck removing the inner fender liner to access a cracked water tank and repair with silicone from the hardware store. If you can access, be sure to clean the surface well and scratch it up with sand paper or similar for adhesion.
 
Where is the crack? Side? Bottom? How big is the crack/leak(drips out,drizzles out, pours out as fast as I pour water in ...)?
 
dweick said:
Where is the crack? Side? Bottom? How big is the crack/leak(drips out,drizzles out, pours out as fast as I pour water in ...)?
Click to expand...
No idea, can't see a thing. It's about a drop a second.
 
Never mind, i think i was remembering this wrong...

I was assuming it pulls from a hose on the cap...
 
Last edited:
Crazy idea #1
Fill the tank with sealant while blowing air backwards from the wiper's hose to insure the pump doesn't clog, then pump it back out from the top and let dry/seal.

Crazy idea #2
Rent an endoscope to find the problem and fix it like a ship in a bottle with JBWeld from the top using the scope and not-sure-what as tools.

MisterSandals said:
Ghetto fix:
Can you line the inside with a plastic bag? Fill the bag once tucked inside reservoir and it should fill out to the inner shape. Put cap on and trim bag, leaving some material for repeated handling.
Click to expand...
In the image to right, the black thing at the bottom is the pump, but otherwise, I really like the bag trick.		1618347269854.png
 
Deduction: The hole/crack must be at or below the tank sensor as the "empty" light comes on. Could be the pump seal too I guess
 
My wife bought a used Honda from a friend that had run it into a curb. The dealer replaced the wheel and tire and did an alignment but the washer bottle would not hold water and the dealer wasn't interested in fixing it. I dreaded dealing with it because the bumper cover had to come off to get to it. At the next oil change I started pulling fasteners and it turns out pulling the bumper cover was easier than I thought ... mostly plastic clips and fasteners. I only had to loosen up the bottom and passenger side of the bumper cover to get to the bottle.

Even better, I didn't even have to remove the tank, as the hose connection on the bottom of the tank had cracked and fallen off from the impact. I would have had to wait 3 or 4 weeks for the part to come from Japan, so I glued it back together with epoxy and let it sit over night. Snapped it back onto the tank and it hasn't leaked a drop since.
 
I did find that the clips can be fragile once they are 3 or 4 years old. Honda dealer had them in stock because some of them have to be removed to do an oil change and the service techs break them a lot. (I no longer let them do the oil changes as I found out they left out about half of the clips on the bottom and also didn't tighten the oil drain plug, but that's another story)
 
I drove the car up on ramps to gain some room and had nice smooth concrete to work on. And I am still fairly mobile. I would not want to do this job on grass or dirt or gravel. You might also figure it could take more than a day if you have to order a new tank. I was lucky in that the wife was out of town for a few days, but if I would have had to order the tank, I would have had to put the car back together until the parts came in. (The joy of owning the only Honda that was still made in Japan!)

I will say again, I was lucky the tank wasn't broken.
 
For idea #2

Edit: see the “cleaned” url below.

My unclean version originally posted here was a bloody crime scene mess.
 
Last edited:
curiouscarbon said:
...wow only 30 usd for a maintenance endoscope...
Click to expand...
Thanks CC & @JoeHam! I didn't realize they were so inexpensive now.
And it comes with those accessories at that price? Hmmm... wonder how well it would work
in a tank rather than a pipe. Guess I need to explore some youtube videos.
1618398929420.png​
 
Last edited:
Q-Dog said:
... the hose connection on the bottom of the tank had cracked ...
Click to expand...
I suppose it might not even be the tank. Perhaps an Endoscope would be a good investment for this and those other hard to look into locations.
 
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