What Did You Do To Your Honda Accord Today?

Picked up a Motorola MA1 off of OfferUp:

So far, so good - plays Waze very nicely:



Also installed Screen2Auto on my cell phone. "Have you heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?"





(I did notice the video/audio being a little out of sync - I think that's due to the MA1/bluetooth - gonna play around with it a bit more)

This was actually yesterday afternoon but Public Service Announcement anyway:

Q. "what did you do...?"
A. I inadvertently poured some mold/biomass into my windshield washer reservoir...

This is apparently a thing (but I had never experienced it until yesterday) - mold/biomass can grow in (some brands of?) windshield washer fluid. Now I gotta find a way to clean it out so that it doesn't take "root" and continue growing (eventually damaging stuff along the washer fluid path - pump, hoses, nozzles, etc). Since this happened, I did a little reading an apparently, it can happen in the reservoir itself.

Gonna try jacking it up and accessing the reservoir after taking the right front wheel off and fender liner off or bent back...









If you store previously open/partially full bottles of washer fluid in your garage - double check it before pouring...

Ok, tag washer fluid reservoir remove replace

I THINK you can either go from the front (remove front bumper cover/grille) or from the side (removing right front wheel and peeling back fender liner) - I chose the latter.

Sorry, didn't do a video or take very many pics - was just frustrated at having to do this job at all so I wasn't in a happy mood!



The plastic container was for catching washer fluid leakage. If you siphon first (I didn't), you won't have much to worry about But you probably will want to at least lower the level of the fluid past (under) the joint between the upper fill neck and the reservoir body (2 pieces connected by a rubber grommet - press fit).

When you disconnect the hose that slips onto the nozzle at the bottom of the washer pump, some liquid will probably come out but it doesn't come out that fast (small diameter). If you disconnect the washer pump from the reservoir (it's press fit into a rubber grommet - pull straight out) a lot more liquid will come out.



The green circles match up (press fit between the upper fill neck and reservoir body). The red circles match up (press fit between the washer pump and the reservoir). The yellow circle is a little "hook/tab" built into the mounting tab - keeps the reservoir in place even if you remove all 3 mounting bolts. You have to slightly lift the reservoir and pull the "hook/tab" out of the mounting hole to release.



After you remove the wheel, you will need to detach about 1/2 (or a tad more) of the fender liner and tuck it (or bungee it) out of the way. The yellow circles are where some of the mounting clips and screws go - not all of them are identified in this picture and you will have a mixture of clips and screws. My car was missing some and some broke upon removal (so it would be nice to have a few spares handy). The outer edge of the fender liner is tucked under the metal lip of the fender. Some of the mounting clips are under the front bumper cover (and not in the wheel well area).

The red circles are 2 of the 3 mounting bolts for the reservoir - 10mm hex head.

The green circles are some of the connections you will need to be concerned with. The big circle on the right is the fog light connector hidden behind the plastic (the wiring for that side fog light is on the same harness as the washer pump). Also green circled are the electrical connector for the washer pump, the hose attached to the bottom nozzle of the washer pump, the washer pump connected to the reservoir (press fit into a rubber grommet), the hose clipped to the reservoir body and something I forgot to circle is a wire harness mounting clip that is attached to the reservoir (if you follow the wire harness up from the washer pump connector - it's near the upper right red circle/mounting bolt - about 7 o'clock from the mounting bolt).

Closer look:




The red circle shows the 3rd mounting bolt - this is on the "front" side of the reservoir, the bolt faces to the passenger side of the car. You can see the mounting "hook/tab" right under the bolt. Btw, this bolt was a pain to thread when reattaching (or it could have been my lack of dexterity/coordination with what we jokingly refer to at work as the "retarded side" (In my case, my left hand/fingers)!).



Where the upper fill neck is supposed to go - attaches with a clip in the square hole, the overflow hose clips into the side of the fill neck and down lower in the engine bay is the upper part of the reservoir body (press fit into rubber grommet).