Anyone replace washer fluid reservoir??

Hello all,

My first post! I just bought an 07 GT, didn't notice it at the time of sale, but the washer fluid reservoir has a hole in it and when I fill it up, it all leaks out! I did ask when I tested the car if the sprayers worked because no fluid was coming out, he told me they did... I think he knew about this and didn't tell me!

Anyway I'm over it, it's my problem now and I want to fix ii. Has anyone replaced theirs and have some tips or directions. Or can someone point me in the direction of a dealer repair how-to or something?

Any help is appreciated!
Cheers,
Ian

Hmmm; how about $112.70.

http://www.nymazdaparts.com/

go to parts; enter your year/model/etc. on the menu on left select 'windshield' then 'wiper & washer components' then 'reservoir tank'. No wonder he didn't fix it. How bigs the hole? I'd try a little waterproof silicon sealer or something if you can get to the hole. Good luck.

Last time I had my front bumper off you could see the whole reservoir. I'm supposed to be taking the bumper off again this weekend to do a horn upgrade. I'll try to remember to take some pics so you can figure out the difficulty for yourself.

Thanks for the info guys... I've been able to trace the location of the hole just by feel up from below... I'll try the silicone sealer, and if that doesn't work, then I'll go for a replacement.

Thanks again!

It depends on how big the hole is whether or not my experience can help.

My first car had a hole in the brake fluid reservoir. Yes, it was a very, very crappy car when it was passed down to me. I don't remember the exact product that I used, but since I was an idiotic 16 year old it couldn't have been too difficult to figure out which product to buy. Anyway, I took a small piece of sheet metal and literally put (4) screws into the reservoir to screw the sheet metal down. As I got all four screws closer to being screwed in, I put some kind of JB Weld type stuff, from the inside of the reservoir, so that it ended up squeezing out around the sheet metal, but filled the hole. I screwed the screws down, wiped off the excess over the hole but left a good "glob" on there, and let it dry. It worked for five years and I sold the car. Make sure if you try this to use the "skinniest" screws possible with threads that are far apart. Thick screws with tight threads can break the plastic.

It cost less than $5 to fix.

If you do end up replacing the reservoir here's the pics as promised. It doesn't look to bad. The only problems I see are the connection points for the low fluid indicator and the feed tube. They look like the kind of connector where you have to look at it with the exact right expression on your face to get off.

Tsuru said:

If you do end up replacing the reservoir here's the pics as promised. It doesn't look to bad. The only problems I see are the connection points for the low fluid indicator and the feed tube. They look like the kind of connector where you have to look at it with the exact right expression on your face to get off.

Click to expand...

Thanks these pics are great, I haven't had a chance to get to it yet, will most likely tomorrow. This pics at least show me that it will definately be worthwile to rmove the bumper so that I can get the access I think I'll need in order to patch the hole properly.

I see there is a how to on how to remove the bumper, looks fairly simple, approx how long did it take? And any issues or tips??

There's a how to somewhere...I can't find it right now.
To remove the front bumper you need to remove:
- Two phillips head screws from the top of the bumper, under the hood
- Two rubber pry-off style plastic connectors (right next to the screws above)
- Six (3-each side) plastic trim connectors in the front of the wheel wells.
- After removing the above, pry the inside of each wheel well out of the bumper and look up into the cavity. There's one bolt per side (13mm IIRC) that needs to come out.
- 10 small bolt (9mm IIRC) /phillips head screws along the bottom of the bumper that attaches it to the under-hood guard.

Once you've got all that out you simply pull on the bumper, starting at the fenders (they'll snap out) then the whole thing will come loose. Last, you need to disconnect the fog lamps and you're free!
The first time I would make sure some one else is handy since you may have trouble disconnecting the fog lamps while balancing the bumper.

I've pulled the bumper twice now and I can probably do it in under 15 minutes. The first time took me about 30 minutes since I was trying to be careful.
You can also do this without the ramps but it sure makes accessing the screws under the bumper easier.

Use an epoxy glue to patch up whatever needs to be patched up. There'll be two tubes, you push it out and mix it together. I've patched taillights and the coolant reservoir on an old car with epoxy, great stuff.

Thanks, ya I just bought something similar, it's a plumbers epoxy that is meant to patch plastic which is used for water... should be the perfect product.

Wishmaster said:

Thanks, ya I just bought something similar, it's a plumbers epoxy that is meant to patch plastic which is used for water... should be the perfect product.

Click to expand...

Exactly. And with low pressure it should work fine.

Tsuru said:

There's a how to somewhere...I can't find it right now.
To remove the front bumper you need to remove:
- Two phillips head screws from the top of the bumper, under the hood
- Two rubber pry-off style plastic connectors (right next to the screws above)
- Six (3-each side) plastic trim connectors in the front of the wheel wells.
- After removing the above, pry the inside of each wheel well out of the bumper and look up into the cavity. There's one bolt per side (13mm IIRC) that needs to come out.
- 10 small bolt (9mm IIRC) /phillips head screws along the bottom of the bumper that attaches it to the under-hood guard.

Once you've got all that out you simply pull on the bumper, starting at the fenders (they'll snap out) then the whole thing will come loose. Last, you need to disconnect the fog lamps and you're free!
The first time I would make sure some one else is handy since you may have trouble disconnecting the fog lamps while balancing the bumper.

I've pulled the bumper twice now and I can probably do it in under 15 minutes. The first time took me about 30 minutes since I was trying to be careful.
You can also do this without the ramps but it sure makes accessing the screws under the bumper easier.

Click to expand...

+1 on the ramps

Forgot about this thread that I started... quite a while back - - so a quick update for anyone that was interested - before I could apply the epoxy I ended up T-boning someone!! I was driving through a green light and some douche-nozel thought he had enough time to turn left (from the opposite direction) in front of me. Luckily it was a fairly low speed accident, I was only doing about 40 kph (busy roads) and had time to hit the brakes, was probably doing 20 or 25 kph at impact.

So a new reservoir (and bumper, hood, quarter panels, air conditioner condenser & radiator) for me! Talk about the hard way to fix a small problem... over $8000 in repairs!!! At least i got a few grand out of the deal... and my wife-caused scratched wheels fixed... but I guess I'm keeping this car until she's dead! I still think insurance should cover the lost value accidents inflict on a vehicle.

Anyway that was quite a while ago... I've moved on.

Happy to find this thread, got me pointed in the right direction. Those pictures posted by Tsuru helped me understand what was likely going on back there and prompted me to just take things apart myself instead of paying for what seems like a straightforward fix in this case.

We cracked our tank driving on some country roads the other day. Not much protection / clearance for this reservoir behind the bumper cover is there? Any little impact on that corner from the bottom has the potential to knock the washer fluid tank. There is literally nothing between the plastic bumper cover and the plastic of the reservoir in that corner.

Found the instructions for Fog lamp installation which has all you need to know for removing the bumper cover.

Parts I will be buying:
$62.56 Large Windshield Washer Tank BN8F-67-481A
$34.81 Washer pump G22C67482 (Old one had it's connector cracked)
$3.10 Washer tank grommet G22C67491
$27.21 Right fog lamp insert/cover C247-50C11D
$2.05 Trim clips x6 NA01-56145 (old ones are not too bad but they aren't really happy about being removed repeatedly)
May get the whole bumper cover replaced too, need to buy a car with more clearance next time. It's popped off the clips a few times in winter when bottoming out on the ruts in the deep snow, also have a dent on the front left sheet metal I should take care of at the same time, but these are more cosmetic, I was able to pop them back into decent shape with a little brute force and dent pullers.

Got those prices from my local dealers parts department. Everything is in stock either in store or in warehouse for next day so should have the parts tomorrow. Pretty good prices actually and they will not charge me any shipping on the parts they are bringing in from the warehouse. Landmark Mazda in Edmonton.

How about?

Wishmaster said:

Hello all,

My first post! I just bought an 07 GT, didn't notice it at the time of sale, but the washer fluid reservoir has a hole in it and when I fill it up, it all leaks out! I did ask when I tested the car if the sprayers worked because no fluid was coming out, he told me they did... I think he knew about this and didn't tell me!

Anyway I'm over it, it's my problem now and I want to fix ii. Has anyone replaced theirs and have some tips or directions. Or can someone point me in the direction of a dealer repair how-to or something?

Any help is appreciated!
Cheers,
Ian

Click to expand...

Why not just buy a tube of epoxy. You know the one you cut off a piece and then knead it. They use it on pipes. I use it to plug screw holes when I restore furniture. It's water tight. It should work. There is not much pressure in that reservoir.

markuszoom5 said:

Why not just buy a tube of epoxy. You know the one you cut off a piece and then knead it. They use it on pipes. I use it to plug screw holes when I restore furniture. It's water tight. It should work. There is not much pressure in that reservoir.

Click to expand...

Dude, my post was from July of 2010! Read the rest of the thread....

There we go. All fixed.