Description
The Chase Bays Windshield Washer Reservoir (or Intercooler / Radiator Sprayer) is for those who want to retain windshield sprayers but are sick of the massive factory piece. Whether it be to open up space or just to clean things up, a compact windshield washer tank is long overdue for car enthusiasts.
It is all 6061 aluminum in construction. It is anodized semi-gloss black with a laser etched Chase Bays logo cap. It includes a pump thats readily available and cheap to replace if it should fail years from now. The pump is mounted via vinyl insulated loop clamp and single allen head bolt.
For mounting the reservoir itself we've integrated the same bracket design we use on our Power Steering Reservoir and Coolant Overflow. We give you five bracket options to choose from, one is included at no extra charge. Lastly we include a pigtail wiring harness so you can hook to your factory wiring. Red is positive and Black is ground.
The small washer reservoir volume is 19.5 fluid ounces / 0.57 liter. It will of course need refilling more often than your stock one but its designed to be compact, durable, and useful.
One thing to be careful about is mounting the reservoir higher than the hose exit as an intercooler sprayer. Usually the windshield wiper motor is mounted at the lowest point on the car and the sprayers are on the hood so it's no issue. The windshield washer motor does allow for the fluid to pass through some which means it can leak out the hose exit if the reservoir is mounted higher. The fix is simple, an inline check valve. Click here for a link to a 3/16 sized one.
"Windshield Washer Fluid is corrosive to aluminum!! What do you have to say about THAT!?"
We have heard this too, but it's just another automotive industry myth. The two corrosive materials used in most windshield washer fluid would be Methanol and Ethelyne Glycol. Both of these chemicals are very corrosive to aluminum, but ONLY when they are pure. Most windshield washer fluid, that we have seen anyway, contains approximately 40% methanol and 60% water with ethylene glycol coming in at less than 1% in most cases.
Because of this, there is not any real danger to any aluminum components when coming in contact with windshield washer fluid. Additionally, most all windshield washer fluid manufacturers include corrosion prevention components to prevent harmful chemicals from eating away at any metal, or rubber that it may come in contact with. We do our best to anodize the inside of all of our aluminum reservoirs, but it is not 100% coated due to very minimal accessibility.
