Home Made Washer Bottle

Home Made Washer Bottle

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Discussion

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

169 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Hi all,

I'm making a home made washer bottle for my car out of a mini water cooler style plastic canister. Looking for some advice on how I can:
  • Make a hole that will fit the washer pump - ~ 4mm. I was thinking of using a soldering iron to melt the plastic?
  • Make a hole to locate the low level sensor ~ 30mm. Was going to use a hole saw or a flat wood drill bit.
  • What to use so that they can be held securely in their holes without leaking, but is not permanently bonded. Will a hot glue gun do the trick, or will that be too weak?
Pic of the bottle I'm using cool


tapkaJohnD

1,941 posts

204 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Presume your connections are through the bottle, not the cap?

You may be able to find a tank connector to fit, like this: https://www.twowests.co.uk/tank-connector-with-bar...

Then, as long as the pump isn't hanging on the connector but mounted to a bracket, with a flexible pipe between, yiu should dbe fine.
JOhn

Davie

4,745 posts

215 months

Saturday 3rd February 2018
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Open grommets with a smear of sealant?


GreenV8S

30,194 posts

284 months

Saturday 3rd February 2018
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Making it work once shouldn't be too hard, but making it durable is going to be a challenge. Production bottles are made out of quite thick and tough plastic that looks like nylon, with cast-in spigots and bosses for anything that needs to seal to them. The bottle you show looks much thinner and less substantial, and I wouldn't count on the bottle itself surviving the heat, dirt and vibration of an engine bay long, let along DIY sealed fittings remaining water tight.

You might be able to get away with a bulkhead connection for the water outlet, since it is small and the bottle looks flexible. I'd want some thick rubber seals on either side to avoid stress points on the bottle that could lead to premature failure later. For the level sensor I think your best bet would be to glue a reinforcing layer to the area where you want the openings, and then build whatever mounting your level sensor is designed for into that.

It looks to me as this is going to be quite tricky to do and probably not very reliable afterwards. I suggest you reconsider whether you can reuse an OEM washer bottle instead, or an aftermarket washer bottle as sold for the kit car market.

RLK500

917 posts

252 months

Friday 16th February 2018
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I would just get one of these :-

https://www.jjcraceandrally.com/search/washer+bot

They work a treat.

CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

198 months

Friday 16th February 2018
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RLK500 said:
I would just get one of these :-

https://www.jjcraceandrally.com/search/washer+bot

They work a treat.
Yep there are a few different shapes and sizes available on the web, not expensive, it really doesn't seem worth faffing around trying to make one.