Windshield Wiper Woes

So living in Okinawa I had the pleasure of experiencing two typhoons last week. The most enjoyable part of the experience is the insanely long lines for the automatic car washes after a typhoon.(Personally, I have zero desire to sit in a line of cars blocking a busy street for 20- 30 minutes, but it seems like most Okinawans enjoy it.) 

Anyway I skipped the long lines of people waiting to wash the salt/grime residue off, and used my wipers to clean the grime off the windshield so that I could see.

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That’s when I noticed that the sprayers weren’t doing as great a job as they used to do, but still passable. Then they sort of died out the next time. Fair enough, I’d used them a lot recently. Yep, fluid was out. I filled it, and all was ok.

Until Yesterday. I had the opportunity to use a pressure washer to at least rinse the car off, and it sent new grime on the windshield. Cue the wiper fluid.

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A little trickle came out that could not even reach the windshield. “Looks, like I need to fix that...”

My wife, “Can you fix it?”

“I dunno, I have to look and see.”

My wife, “Well, would a shop be able to fix it?”

... and there I go into a needless explanation of how I have to look and see where the problem might be, and how it could be multiple things, and I haven’t really been to an auto parts store here yet so I just do not know currently.

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This morning I looked into the problem:

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The lines under the hood rotted. So, easy fix with a trip to the parts store.

Nope, one place said they needed to order it; the other store just said they don’t have it. (This is most likely because I am a foreigner, and my Japanese is not up to the task of asking for generic tubing, and they want to give me OEM lines - which I do prefer, but a solution today is necessary).

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Ok, fine, Subaru dealer then.

Nope... F@CK they’re closed for some reason.

I guess I’ll visit MakeMan, and see if they have some tubing.

Result.

Illustration for article titled Windshield Wiper Woes
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Ugly, but the wiper fluid worked really well. Now, I just need to see how long it lasts. I’m worried that the heat from the engine will be a bit too much for it.