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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Replacing a Windshield Washer Fluid Sprayer Nozzle - How To

My Father and Step-Mom (distinction only as she is like a mother to me) helped me get a car a few months back. It is SO wonderful and I am SO grateful for it. I give gratitude for it each time I get in to go anywhere. Here is a post that I shared about it


When I got it, I didn't need the wipers but later, when it snowed, there was dust on the car just as there is in the pictures I took today. The snow leaves streaks and when the wind blows during the storms, it leaves a coating of dust as I live next to a dirt lot. My car usually ends up looking like this after every storm. 

When I needed the washer fluid, the one on the passenger side didn't squirt. I made mud with the one from the drivers side and I did notice when I was driving the car home for the first time, the cars coming at me on the other side of the highway would cause a weird streaking of the lights on my windshield. For the first few car fill ups at the gas station, I kept washing the windshield really well. 

The car still had that streaked lights on the windshield so I got out some window cleaner and cleaned it again over and over hoping that whatever was causing the problem would clean off. It wasn't until that day when I needed to clean off the windshield that I realized that the glaring and streaking on the windshield I had was due to the washer fluid not working and the dirt had scratched find lines into the windshield which aren't all that noticeable when driving during the day but when lights hit it at different angles at night, it causes refraction so the light streaks.

Once I realized what the problem was, I got under the hood and looked at the washer fluid tubing and it was hanging kinda loose and I could clearly see that there was glue in the tubing so it was obviously broken and someone tried to fix it without much luck. 

I contacted my mechanic and he said that he has glued them in the past but didn't know about buying and putting new ones in. I pondered if I could maybe glue a little straw to the inside of the tube that was damaged and see if I could get it to work better. I didn't think it would be a good fix and I am not one to fix things half way as I like to do things right so I thought I would continue my search. I contacted the junk yard asking about them or hoods for the car not knowing if / how I would need to replace them. The junk yard said they didn't have any and so I then went to a parts store and asked them if they knew what to do.

One guy at a parts store said he heard you can buy them at the dealership and thought that a pair would be about $5 if he remembered right. He told me to contact the local dealership. I went to the dealership the next day as I was to head up to visit Princess One and didn't want to risk heading the five hours with no windshield wipers in case of a storm.

They didn't have one but contacted a dealership in a town on my way to her home. I went to the wrong place at first as there were lots of dealerships in that area but finally found it. I ended up paying just over $20 for the one little plastic part. The works where I purchased it let me put it in and then ended up helping me but I am grateful he did as he had a little screwdriver that I needed to get the broken off end out of the rubber "t" that heads up to the sprayer nozzle.


I just wanted to share this information with you as I had to search so hard to find one and obviously my mechanic and the junk yard men didn't know about buying the plastic parts. You can get generic ones online and put them in yourself and have matching ones. They cost so much at the dealership and they only had one anyway but they do look a bit different but not enough that I want to spend another $20 on a matching one as I am the only one who will probably notice. 

I am just grateful I have a working car and that I was able to fix that issue relatively inexpensively but wanted to share it in case any of you ever have a similar issue! 

Have a Blessed Day! 

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