Last week I was driving in the typical nasty conditions of Rockies in winter when my windshield got dirty. So I pulled the lever for fluid and got… nothing.
I tried again, holding for a few seconds this time and still no fluid.
I pulled over at the next gas station and checked the reservoir. It looked empty, at least in the visible portion. Aha! So I went into the station and bought the most expensive washer fluid I have ever purchased.
I filled the reservoir. Still no fluid. Bummer. Since temperatures were well below freezing, squeegees were not available at the gas pumps. I was stuck with a dirty windshield with my family in the car on 65 mph 2-lane highways.
Safety and Simplicity
The issue may sound minor, but a dirty windshield limits visibility, and when the sun shines brightly on it, one can hardly see a thing.
Since safety was now a factor and a permanent fix was not immediately available, the first question is how to mitigate the risk. So I cleared the windshield as well as I could and exercised extra caution on the way home.
As soon as I got home, I took the vehicle out of service and began to troubleshoot. By the end of the repair process, I summarized the problem as follows (click for full size):
In terms of goals, there were three that were impacted. First, there was the increased risk of a safety incident. Second, I had to buy a new washer fluid pump. Third, I had to spend time troubleshooting and fixing the pump and lines.
Mapping the Cause
Since I don’t want to do this again, I traced the causes through a cause map (click for full size):
It turned out that I was unable to pump washer fluid due to a combination of solid contamination and freezing in the pump and the lines.
Curing Contamination
How did contamination enter the system? It could have come in with new fluid (unlikely) or it could have entered from the environment (far more likely).
Why did it enter from the environment? Because there is no tight seal on top of the reservoir. There is merely a cap that it not air tight.
Since this is a difficult problem to solve since air needs to enter the tank anyway as the level drops, I decided not to attempt to address the problem from this angle except for flushing out the reservoir and cleaning and checking the inlet strainer (which was fine).
Besides, the failure development period for the contamination was 11 years. I probably won’t have the car in another 11 years, and I saw no reason why the failure should happen faster next time.
Fixing Freezing
The freezing issue is different. In this case, I examined the fluid I had in “inventory” at home. The fluid, which I purchased in a much warmer climate, was rated to 0°F, was more than adequate for driving conditions at the time.
When I moved to the bitter cold, I never replaced the fluid. Therefore, the human error involved is operator negligence. I changed the operating context of my equipment without maintaining my vehicle properly.
The solution? I will purchase and use washer fluid rated for -20°F weather. That will not completely eliminate the risk of freezing in this climate, but it will seriously reduce it. I will proactively do the same for my other vehicle.
My family’s safety is worth an extra buck.
Quoted in chapter 8 of The Science of Success:
(1999), Keanu Reeves’ character Thomas Anderson has to make a choice. Humankind has been enslaved by robots, who plug them into a massive virtual reality system and then use their heat and bioelectric energy to sustain themselves. Mr. Anderson doesn’t know this yet, and is offered the opportunity to take the red pill—and learn this unpleasant truth—or take the blue pill—and go back to his “normal life” in The Matrix.
. P refers to production, and PC refers to productive capacity.
, modern western culture is not too good at taking painful preventive measures for the greater good. That needs to change, and that change begins with the red pill.
, are actually crossroads. They are the choice between the red pill and the blue pill. For an integrated approach to raising these sensitive issues effectively, I highly recommend that title.