Fancy a Pint?

[ChimpOnGas]

Screen wash...... when did you last flush your reservoir?

Mine was left untouched for many a year

Which do you prefer, a pint of this.....





Or after a good flush..... a pint of this?



Here's what came out after filtering the incontinence of my regularly replenished (but never fully flushed) reservoir though some kitchen roll....



For sure that's the sh*t that clogs up your washer hoses and jets

And if you've ever been in that boat you'll know preventative maintenance is way better than trying to unclog bunged up TVR Chimaera screen wash hoses, I got lucky unblocking mine with the help of a bast from my airline, followed by the essential remove and and flush my filthy screen wash reservoir.

I recommend you all do the same.......... before it bites you in the arsh

[rigga]

Had to replace the washer pump a few months back as it packed up, pretty sure it was due to the screen wash solution that had been in there for several years (Golf mk2 if anyones interested)

[dhutch]

Same issue with the 330, inlets to pump where totally blocked. Fortunately they have a gauze. Ended up putting sand in it and shaking it about to get all the green lumps out of the corners.

Daniel

[pb450]

OK, good point Dave. How easy is it to remove the washer bottle from the car for cleaning?

[rev-erend]

Pint of WKD.

Nice.

[dhutch]

rev-erend said:

Pint of WKD.

Nice.

Just needs some Port in it.....

[ChimpOnGas]

pb450 said:

OK, good point Dave. How easy is it to remove the washer bottle from the car for cleaning?

Depends if you have a Mk1 or Mk2 Chimaera, my car is a very early Mk2 which makes washer bottle removal much easier.

In the Mk2 you remove the front number plate for easier access and reach in, the washer bottle is slipped onto a 'V' bracket, the back face of the bottle itself having been molded to work with the 'V' bracket.



You just lift it up to free it from the bracket, you can then manipulate the thing much easier but you won't be getting it out from the nose of the car as it's too big to pass through the larger upper grill aperture on the Mk2 Chimaera. If you did want to completely remove it from the car you'd need to remove the radiator, but this is largely unnecessary in my experience.

I have really good water pressure on my hose, so I simply pressure washed and rinsed the thing out three or four times in situ until it ran clean, I properly blasted the inside going right into the corners of the bottle with a strong jet of clean water and this was enough to make a huge improvement. To clear the blocked washer hose plumbing I disconnected the two ends at the wipers and blew it through with my airline of relatively low pressure all the way through from the disconnected washer bottle end. I didn't want to use too much air pressure as I feared blowing apart one of the inaccessible barbed connectors which would have been a disaster, as it happens I got lucky and the two hoses spat out the goo onto the screen

I then reconnected the hoses at the wipers and slid the bottle back down into to the 'V' bracket, at this point I wasn't happy with the way the filler hose connected to the bottle, which was executed with TVR's typical love of silicone sealant! So I remade a better connection molding a nice collar using epoxy putty, which much is stronger and better sealed than TVRs silicone effort. Back inside the engine bay I removed the filler lid and used a dab of superglue under the top of the filler tube to hold that end in place too, because I'm cheap I then re-filled the bottle with my filtered screen wash, lib back on and the job was complete.

The whole thing took about 45 minuets tops, and should mean I avoid the pain of getting to all those inaccessible hoses that can easily become blocked up with the kind of disgusting black snot I found floating in my washer bottle. A small preventive maintenance job you will definitely regret not doing if you're unlucky enough to suffer the quite common terminal blockage of your very inaccessible Chimaera screen wash hoses

I hope this post saves someone that pain

[pb450]

Thanks Dave,
So the filler hose is connected to the bottle with sealant then? I note your solution with epoxy putty, which I assume holds ok, when in place. I further assume you have to 'feel' your way round this job, as I can imagine that you can't actually see what you're doing from most angles. Sounds like fun!

[ChimpOnGas]

pb450 said:

Thanks Dave,
So the filler hose is connected to the bottle with sealant then? I note your solution with epoxy putty, which I assume holds ok, when in place. I further assume you have to 'feel' your way round this job, as I can imagine that you can't actually see what you're doing from most angles. Sounds like fun!

Yes, to some degree it's a feel thing mate, but totally doable