Help me find a small replacement washer fluid reservoir for my Miata

I need to find an alternative to the windshield washer fluid bottle that came in my 1995 Miata M-Edition. The M-Edition came with antilock brakes, and cars with ABS use a unique washer assembly. Mine is leaking and I'm not sure that patching it is an option.

Non-ABS NA Miatas came with a nice simple little system like this one in my old '96 track car (ignore the too-long braided steel brake pressure sender line). I can find these bottles all day long for $15.

That's exactly where the ABS pump resides on my '95 M...

ABS cars use a big, convoluted system that hides under the driver's side headlight, in front of the wheel. My tank seems to have been leaking for a long time, because the special metal bracket that surrounds it has turned to Swiss cheese.

The leak is circled. If it were just a pinhole, I'm sure that I could probably take care of it with a silicone coated self tapping screw, but I think that there are three small cracks surrounding it.

The only used replacement that I can find will cost me $120. I have no place to put the non-ABS tank. And a different tank in the original position of my ABS tank will be impossible to fill, as my car has a long fill pipe that goes into the side of the stock tank.

My first thought was to use one of these early Mustang bags, but I don't really have a good spot to hang it.

Flyin' Miata sells the Suzuki Cappuccino tank, but they are currently backordered from Japan and cost $179.

Anyone have another suggestion? This car will be used for ice racing and winter autocross, and I will be driving several hours to the events. I really need windshield washers.

There's a thread on either here or miataturbo.net where someone found a lower cost way of ordering the Suzuki washer bottle.

NBs with ABS use a washer bottle that mounts on the hot side of the engine. When I retrofitted ABS into my 99, I couldn't use that one (doesn't fit with the turbo), so I wound up using a generic aftermarket washer bottle instead. The NB has an open spot on the cold side where it fit fairly nicely. I dunno if there's a similar spot on an NA or not.

$44 from Amazon, includes a pump: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TL69RG

A water bottle with a valve stem in the bottom? Alternately, run a longer hose and extend the wire for the pump to put it in the trunk.

I came in here to suggest the Ford bags. You might try a Suzuki Samurai bottle.

They are kind of basic if you have room to mount it.

Lowrangeoffroad has them for $25.

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/suzuki-samurai-windshield-washer-fluid-reservoir-bottle-kit.html

Drill it out to fit a small uniseal and then plug the middle? You can find 3/4 and 1 inch at your local salt water aquarium store normally.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=89951&gclid=Cj0KEQiAnvfDBRCXrabLl6-6t-0BEiQAW4SRUKHycyW0zL-gHjjTDaT-Z3OsF290ksPEigVL1kiauNEaAvuR8P8HAQ

In reply to Stampie:

The spot is right where the tank starts to curve.

I successfully fixed a washer bottle with hot glue once. You can also make one out of any thick plastic bottle with a fairly flat spot near the bottom to drill a hole in for the grommet.

In reply to Woody:

Uniseals are made for slight curves like that. Otherwise you use a bulkhead.

Anybody know what kind of plastic these tanks are made of?

This guy makes nice ones

Seems like he may have stopped though. Know anybody that's good at tig welding?

Check the usual online Mazda parts sellers - I had to replace that bottle when I bought my '94 NA and I don't think I paid that much for a new one.

Also, isn't it a competition car? Have you checked Mazda Motorsports pricing?

They're usually high density polyethylene (HDPE), most adhesives and solvents won't touch it.

codrus wrote: There's a thread on either here or miataturbo.net where someone found a lower cost way of ordering the Suzuki washer bottle. NBs with ABS use a washer bottle that mounts on the hot side of the engine. When I retrofitted ABS into my 99, I couldn't use that one (doesn't fit with the turbo), so I wound up using a generic aftermarket washer bottle instead. The NB has an open spot on the cold side where it fit fairly nicely. I dunno if there's a similar spot on an NA or not. $44 from Amazon, includes a pump: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TL69RG

Wow. Today I learned my NB doesn't have ABS

I wonder if switching to the ABS/ hot side style will get the fluid to unfreeze faster

BrokenYugo wrote: They're usually high density polyethylene (HDPE), most adhesives and solvents won't touch it.

What about the two part epoxies?

I just discovered that Permatex makes Plastic Tank Repair specifically for washer bottles.

I think I'll start there.

Woody wrote:

BrokenYugo wrote: They're usually high density polyethylene (HDPE), most adhesives and solvents won't touch it.

What about the two part epoxies?

I've tried it. Even properly cleaned and scuffed, it failed after less than a year. Plastic welding may be an option? I'm not sure how thermally active HDPE is.

If you want, I have an E36 washer bottle kicking around you can have if it looks like it might fit somewhere.

Looks roughly like this:

Woody wrote:

BrokenYugo wrote: They're usually high density polyethylene (HDPE), most adhesives and solvents won't touch it.

What about the two part epoxies?

How about some fiberglass with it to help the seal and add strength? Rough up the surface of the bottle well, use epoxy (I'm partial to West System) and fiberglass to fill and cover it. Come to think of it I've used more fiberglass to repair miatas than any other car I've had

A bunch of people (me included) on the now defunct Mazda-Speed.com forum got the Suzuki Cappuccino tank from a website in Singapore (I believe) for under $40. The shipping was nearly $20 of that. Here's the original thread, assuming it still works.

Suzuki Cappuccino tank

Sonic wrote: How about some fiberglass with it to help the seal and add strength? Rough up the surface of the bottle well, use epoxy (I'm partial to West System) and fiberglass to fill and cover it.

The problem is, almost nothing bonds to polyethylene.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/suzukimotors/item/jrxl381a-10/

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/suzukimotors/jrxl381a-10/

The global one says backordered. The japanese one says it is available and I know two people that ordered from there and it did indeed show up. $40ish after shipping.

Edit: JoeTR6 beat me to it, the link in the miata.net thread is the same one.

AE92s all suffer from washer bottle disintegration, and the odd shape and mounting position of the bottle deters people from trying to fit "hot rod" bottles or bags. I've super-glued the cracks on mine from both sides and covered most of the bottle with electrical tape to keep the sun off the bottle (since UV radiation seems to be what makes them rot).

I have a pic of the bottle on another AE92 where the owner slathered the entire bottle in RTV.

Just giving you some ideas

Fiat 500s have annoyingly small washer bottles, well under a gallon.

In reply to Woody:

Flex Seal?

I went to NAPA and picked up a plastic tank repair kit for $20. It was NAPA branded, but they assured me that it was made by Permatex. I was expecting a tube of goo, but both kits are actually a fiberglass patch kit.

With a dry, empty tank, I drilled small holes at the ends of the X-shaped crack to stop them from getting any bigger, roughed up the area with sandpaper and cleaned it with alcohol.

Then I cut a small fiberglass patch, mixed up the two part epoxy, slathered it on, laid down the patch and covered it with the rest of the epoxy and smoothed it out. That's it. Cure time is 20 minutes and then it's ready for water.

It's not pretty, but no one will ever see it.

Thanks for the new supplier for the Suzuki bottle, guys