Plugging the hole, Pain in the AC

Last night I decided Duf’s garage would once again be open for evening hours, this time to replace the washer fluid reservoir on my Tacoma.  The old tank was brittle and cracking and I was getting hardly any fluid on the windshield when spraying.

I had watched one video outlining the procedure to pull the bottle ahead of time, it didn’t look too bad to get at.  The removal process went smoothly.  Once I had stuff apart I did a stand alone test of the washer pump to make sure it was functional, it was.  I then turned on my air compressor and attached it to the washer tubing to blow it out.

So now I was ready to put the new tank in place.  I took the new tank out of the bag.  I was glad it looked identical to the old tank.  When I order something online I am always worried I won’t get the right part.  Then I flipped the new tank over.  WTF??  The new tank has the same hole as the old one does to insert the washer pump into it, however it had a second, bigger hole right in the bottom of the tank! Damn it!

I was trying to figure out why there would be an inch and a half hole in the bottom of the new tank.  Perhaps it is a tank that works in more than one Toyota model?  Maybe there is a rubber plug in the box that I did not see?  I ripped apart the bag and the box the part came in, nothing….. argh.

So now I had two options.  I put the truck back together sans tank and call the place I got the part from and ask them to either send me some sort of plug or a tank that doesn’t include the mystery hole.  That option would mean more hassle and more waiting.

Option two was find a way to rig it.  I chose option 2.  I spent a good 10 minutes staring at my workbench and the various things I had available to me to try to plug the hole in an effective but unobtrusive way.  I struck out, I was going to have to go out looking for some solution.  I grabbed the new tank and threw it in the party van.

I decided to try the small hardware store that is about 5 miles from my house first.  I was hoping I would get lucky.  I came up with an 1 1/2″ rubber drain plug.  It was a little big for the hole but I figured with a little elbow grease and a piece of sand paper I could make it work.

When I got back I found that sand paper was too slow of an option.  I brought out the dremel with a sanding wheel to enlarge the opening slightly.  I jammed the plug in, then went around the edge of it with silicone and slapped a piece of duct tape on top of it as a safety net.  Yes it looked pretty funny but who cares?

I dumped some water into the freshly plugged tank to verify it was water tight.  It passed the test.  Unfortunately all told, the unexpected hole in total probably added 90 minutes to the replacement process.

So I got the truck back together, dumped washer fluid in and pulled the washer lever.  Fluid sprayed out beautifully on the passenger side.  The driver side was not so beautiful, it was more of a weak stream that didn’t get very high on the windshield at all.    I did some more manipulation of that nozzle, blowing it out again and even hitting it with a tiny drill bit.  Neither thing helped the problem significantly.

The stream on the passenger side is strong and big enough that the entire windshield gets clean when spraying but I still felt dissatisfied.  After all that work I wanted equally strong spray on both sides.  To get what I want I probably need to just replace the nozzles.  I didn’t get back inside until after 8pm.  Here is the video of the theatrics.

This morning I had someone out to the house to look at the AC system.  My Trane system has been fantastic since it was installed in 2010.  It does a great job of keeping the house cool while using significantly less energy than the piece of shit system the house builder threw in.

In the past month or so I noticed/heard something weird while I was working outside.  There was an electrical buzz/vibration sound coming from the outside compressor.  Almost a sound like it was trying to start the motor but couldn’t.  However the house was still being kept cool so I put off calling anyone about it.

Well the high electric bill I just received kicked me into action, placing the call yesterday to the woman who sold us the unit, whom since had started her own HVAC business.  It turns out the noise I was hearing was indicative of a problem, one of the relays is bad as well as a capacitor.    They had to order parts to fix it but the system will continue to function until then in a less efficient manner.

I was surprised when I was handed a 200 dollar bill since the unit was under warranty.  The bill was for labor but the parts were covered.  After the tech left I dug around in my “AC” folder and found the original paperwork.  We had paid for a 10 year extended warranty that is supposed to be parts and labor.

On my way to work I called back Juli and told her that I don’t think I should have been charged anything.  She didn’t remember I had an extended warranty  and confirmed it covers both parts and labor.  She said she would send the check I handed over back to me, sweet.

This weekend I will be moving and shaking as usual.  On Sunday I pick up the dogs for their extended visit.  I made arrangements for my neighbor across the street to come over during the week and let them out during the day as opposed to me doing a crazy nearly 50 mile/ 90 minute round trip in the middle of the day to do the same.  It will be a huge help.