Windshield Washer Issues: Upgrading the Nozzles and Fixing the Bottle
Joe Angell
The first episode of The Refixening covers the washer bottle repair and new washer nozzles. This video also covers replacing the door pistons and horns, and re-fixing some exhaust leaks.
Let’s see… the washer bottle was leaking, the pump failed, and the nozzle was plugged. Time to fix all those.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases (learn more here), so if you want to support me, that’s a good way to do it.
Leaking Windshield Washer Bottle
My washer bottle was bone dry due to a leak along the seam on the bottom. I discovered this soon after I filled the bottle with a full gallon of fluid, and found it on the floor a few hours later.
All the rivnuts were long stripped on the bucket under the washer bottle, and I was relying on a lone zip tie and the lip of the fascia to hold the bottle in place. I cut that, removed the cap for the bottom from inside the trunk, and dropped the bottle. To do all this on the lift, I put the car about halfway up, allowing me to keep the trunk open and access it through a four-step ladder. I sat on a rolling mechanic’s stool while working under the car, which is a lot easier than crouching the entire time.
After maneuvering the U-shaped washer bottle out of the fender, I found a very slight crack along the bottom of the bottle. It was lightly seeping, but that was enough to drain the bottle within an hour or two.
I considered replacing the bottle, but they are not generally available from DeLorean vendors anymore, so you have to hope you can luck out and get one used. I decided to try repairing it instead.
I unplugged the connectors and hoses and sealed the leak with a 09100 Permatex Plastic Tank Repair Kit. This is a two-part epoxy that hardens as a rubbery material. The instructions suggested drilling a small hole at either end of a crack to keep it from spreading, but mine was so slight that I skipped that. After letting it sit for a day, I filled it with water as a test, and it didn’t leak at all.
I put it back in the car only to discover that the pumps didn’t work. Given how much of a pain it is to get the bottle back in the car, I really should have thought to test this first.
This really works, at least for me.
Trying to get the tank out of the car.
The repaired tank.
Failed Windshield Washer Pump
After taking the bottle out of the car again, I bench-tested the windshield washer pump as well as the headlight washer pump I’d installed previously. Both were dead and didn’t react at all to power. I ordered a new pump and adaptor from DeLorean Texas, and a new universal pump for the headlights from Amazon.
I replaced the pump, made sure they ran, and reinstalled the bottle into the car. At that point, I discovered that no fluid was sprayed on the windshield or the headlights.
I took the bottle out yet again and diagnosed this new problem. The headlight washer problem was that the hose I’d run through the top of the bottle was too high and wasn’t reaching the relatively small amount of fluid I had in it. I just pushed the hose down further and it worked fine.
Bad Washer Harness Connector
However, once everything was connected, neither pump would run reliably. I eventually determined that the connector on the harness in the car had gone bad. I replaced both ends with GM-style Weatherpak connectors, and everything worked again.
Reinstalling the Bottle and Bucket
Because of the extra pump, its hoses, and my previously-installed ground bus, it was a huge pain to get the bottle back into the car. The bus has to be to the front of the bucket, the pump on the passenger side, and everything else to the rear. It takes a good 45 minutes to get the bottle back in.
The bucket sits on top of a lip on the fascia, which is almost all you need. All the rivnuts were gone, and there wasn’t really enough fiberglass to reinstall them, so I just zip-tied the bucket in place. I used two zip ties this time. I’ve been doing this for years with no issues, so I’m not worried about it failing on me.
Before I re-installed the bucket, I drilled some holes in the bottom. This is a common mod to keep water out of the bucket, since while the pump is designed to pump water, it’s not designed to be submerged itself, and the bucket tends to fill with water over time. This gives it a way for the water to drain and protects the pump.
All the holes I added to the bucket to ensure that water drains out and doesn’t kill the pump again. Hopefully.
Plugged Windshield Washer Nozzle
When I said everything worked again, I mean the pumps ran. Water was not making ti to the windshield, though.
I disconnected the line at the base of the wiper and it sprayed just fine. This meant that the nozzle was plugged, which was good because I did not want to have to figure out how to replace the hose.
I could have put in a new nozzle or tried to fix the old one, but the arm-mounted nozzle isn’t that great to begin with, so I ordered some aftermarket nozzles and mounted them to the cowl screen (yes, that’s what it’s called) at the base of the windshield, with a Y to provide washer fluid to both nozzles.
Installing the New Nozzles
The first nozzles I got were pretty sad and just dribbled water onto the windshield. I’m starting to wonder if they were meant for some other purpose, but they definitely didn’t work here.
The second set of nozzles was slightly more expensive, but much higher quality. They were meant for 2010s-era Ford F-150 and worked quite well for my application. They had the proper brass adjustment thing in the end that made them easy to aim.
These provide a much higher flow rate than the stock arm-mounted nozzle, and work really well in the DeLorean, but you have to be willing to make some small modifications to the cowl screen to fit the nozzles between the ribs. A couple of my ribs were already broken, so I didn’t feel too bad about making this modification.
You don’t need any glue for this — the nozzles widget right between the ribs. In fact, it’s quite hard to get them out again, and I popped the bottom off one when removing it. This gave me the opportunity to flip the inlet around the other way so I could un-kink the hose before I glued it back together.
Two of these horizontal pieces need to be cut out for each nozzle (the other is just behind the nozzle) so that they can fit between the ribs.
The nozzles just snap between the ribs. No need for glue or anything.
The new nozzles are much, much better than stock.
Final Results
The new nozzles are much, much better than the stock ones, putting much more fluid on the windshield. The headlight washers work as well as they always have, which is to say they spray water on the headlights to get dust and dirt off, but without anything to physically wipe them, they can only do so much. This took far too long to actually do, mostly because of my own additions to the washer bottle area and not testing before re-installing parts, but the end result was worth it.