I live in a burg which has not had a Volvo dealer since the mid-seventies; the closest dealer is 35 miles from me and he has fewer 240 parts on hand with each passing minute. I am forced to buy via mail order or from the usual cast of national parts houses.

I've been redeeming the sins the previous owner committed on the wagon I bought this past summer. This week it was the tailgate wiring and window washer. The good news was that I do not have a leak in the right cargo area glass, only a pissing rear washer check valve: the bad news was, I have to use the wagon for a 1500 mile trek first thing in the morning and no local parts houses had the check valve on hand.

I knew I could just substitute a coupling for the check valve, but I didn't like the thought of the delay while the washer lines were primed every time I needed to see out the ass-end of the wagon.

Since it was queefed out anyway, I split open the check valve at its parting line. I found the diaphragm/seal was ruptured with its center plugging the outlet port. I sized up the diaphragm and decided that some lightweight neoprene gloves I have were similar enough to be used for diaphragm stock (I couldn't find the jumbo bag of balloons we bought about twenty years before my daughter graduated from law school).

As luck would have it, I located a very sharp punch I have which is sized at just over 3/8", and the diaphragm measured 10MM, so I was good to go. After cleaning up the valve seat, I installed the counterfeit diaphragm and popped together the valve halves. It works like a champ.

Oh, I will order in a couple check valves for the parts bin, but I am also curious to see how long this improvisation will work.

Rich