Wednesday, December 5, 2007

More Maintenance...

I finally repaired my windshield washer reservoir! Which is great, except that we're in a drought right now and it has rained twice in the last two months, so I don't really even need windshield wipers, much less washer fluid. Nevertheless, the silicone gasket stuff worked.

Details: I pulled out the pump motor and squirted some sealant around the flat surface that sits against the rubber grommet. I also put a decent bead of sealant around the top and outside of the rubber grommet to ensure that everything seals up correctly. I let it cure for a couple of days before I tested it with some tap water in the reservoir (no point spilling washer fluid out). Success, no leaks, and the pump still works, although one of the nozzles on the hood appears to be clogged as its just leaking out as I activate the washer pump.

My fuel injector return lines finally came in the mail, about a week later than I expected. I did receive a little surprise when I got them. I ordered a set of Viton hoses to replace the injector return lines on my Mercedes (a kit from greaseworks.com) and expected to get five hoses (its a five cylinder) and a plug for the last injector. What I received was about 5 foot of hose and a small piece of hose with a metal clamp on the end sealing it off as the plug.
Personally, I don't mind cutting my own hose lengths while I'm replacing these, but when you order something listed as a kit, you expect some effort to be put into it. This was just a single length of hose. I should also mention that Viton hose is not cheap either. The stuff I got was 1/8" I.D. hose and was about $20 for the kit and another $10 for shipping. $30 isn't a lot of money, but this is a very small amount of product for $30.
I thought about sending an email to voice this unhappy opinion, but when I checked out the price of 5 feet of hose this size on their website, I realized they didn't actually add any to the cost, so at least they didn't rip me off with their "kit".
I have noticed my fuel mileage increasing since the fuel line replacement so thats a plus. Currently, I get about 23-24 mpg. This is almost entirely "city" driving which is not really stop-and-go traffic, but all sub-highway speeds on back roads to work. I hope to go on some kind of trip in it to test out the highway mileage I get out of it. Right now, I just can't justify extra driving with it since diesel fuel is so expensive.

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