Windshield Washer Nozzle

Project:
Fixing our car's windshield washer nozzle

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Medium

Process:
Melanie told me there was something wrong with the windshield washer fluid so I took it in the shop and propped open the hood. I had Nathaniel push the windshield washer lever and I quickly realized that there was some sort of leak under the hood.

After further investigation I found that the windshield washer nozzle part that hooked up to the hose was broken.

Since I hadn't actually really used the Gingery Metal Lathe for anything yet it was time to start making it useful. I put a 12" piece of 1/2" aluminum rod, turned it down to 0.300" with a groove for an o-ring. The other end was turned down to 0.250" to connect to the fluid hose. At the end I drilled an 1/8" hole through the part, pushed it into the nozzle and the hose and that was it.

Pictures:

The nozzle with the broken off part on the left

The underside of the car hood

Close-up of the hose connecting to the nozzle

The aluminum rod in the lathe

Rough-cutting the part

The part with the o-ring installed at one end

Drilling the hole for the washer fluid

Close-up of the finished part before cutting it off

The nozzle installed again

Tools:
Gingery Metal Lathe

Drill
Hacksaw
Crowbar
Needle nose pliers
Calipers

Materials:
12" of 1/2" aluminum rod

Cost:
$0.00

Time:
1hr

Savings:
Probably about $30 or $40 bucks. Not sure how much a new nozzle would cost at the dealership

Conclusion:
It seems to work fine. There's still a tiny small leak but since the washer fluid is not used all that much I think I'll accept a couple of drops per minute of using it.