Adjusting Wipers to sit correctly?!?!

Post by **stephenpolhill** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:30 pm

Hi there. Since I got my car, my wipers have never sat horizontally along the windscreen unless I move them there. If I turn them on and off the go back to being at about a 45 degree angle. If it is heavy rain they do go to the bottom however.
Any ideas how to make them sit all the time horizontally. Thanks?
Steve

Post by **MColes** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:33 pm

Have that problem with mine. The problem is that the screen is dry - a squirt of the washers usually fixes the problem.

Post by **stephenpolhill** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:36 pm

Ah right. Thats the other problem. One of my washers seems to be blocked. Any idea how to take it out?

Post by **MColes** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:39 pm

What sort is it? Electric or the manual (Tudor?) type?

Post by **stephenpolhill** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:40 pm

Manual pumping one.

Post by **MColes** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:46 pm

Try taking the pipe off and blowing through it

Post by **DAVIDMCCULLOUGH** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:31 pm

Poke a pin in the end of the washer, they can get clogged up with polish and then see if they work. If not cover the other washer jet with your finger and get someone to pump it sometimes the exrtra pressure going to one jet will clear it. If this doesnt work as Matt says take the pipes off

Post by **stephenpolhill** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:19 pm

Thanks for that. Poked a pin in and it seems to have cleared a bit. Could blow through the end of the pipe because its obvioulsy on valve. thanks for your help

. Any other ideas about adjusting the wipers?

Post by **mike.perry** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:26 pm

There is an adjustable self park mechanism. Slacken the bolts holding the wiper gear cover plate and rotate the circular raised cover a little at a time until the wipers park in the correct place.
If the wipers are not giving a full sweep it is normally because the spindle boxes are not clamped tight to the rack.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:46 pm

If the wipers park when the screen is wet - they are correctly set! Don't re-adjust! If they don't park when the screen is dry - it's because there is too much drag - may be worth taking the rack and wheelboxes out and cleaning/greasing.

Post by **mogbob** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:58 pm

To save any possible damage...to paintwork or windscreen...take off the wiper arms temporarily.
Cut some small cardboard "arrows " say 2" / 5 cm long and stick them to the exposed splines with stick tape ( masking/ Gaffa, whatever ).You can then experiment with the autopark position ...as already described.
Once you are happy about the sweep across the screen you can replace the wiper arms at the base of the screen on the splines.

Good luck.
Bob

Post by **RogerRust** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:14 am

There is a trick to this.

Park the wipers carefully then take the wiper arms off and mark the spindles at 12 o'clock.

Now disconnect the cable at the motor end an rotate the cable until the spindle marker is at 6 o'clock then put it all back together and the arms back on in the parked position.

Now you should be using the less worn bit of the wiper box gears.

I think that's how it's done, but I haven't done it for a while no doubt someone will correct me on the details.

While your in there spread the evil looking grease around the wiper motor gears again.

I think it's easier than it sounds but it been a while.

Post by **alzax3** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:37 am

Back to the washer-jet-blocked problem: pins work but you'll find an ideal 'tool' if you pull one of the bristles out of a wooden-handled wire brush - they work for all the washer jets I've ever tried and are also the ideal size for clearing primus stoves, parafin blowtorches and the tips of 0.5mm propelling pencils.......

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:27 pm

Wipers work by push-pull - not by rotation of the drive cable! Turning the cable over will certainly present a new face of the cable to the gears in the wheel boxes - but to get the unworn sections of the gears in play involves marking them - carefully withdraw the cable - moving the spindles round 180 degrees - and then carefully re-insert the cable (new grease etc of course) and check if the spindles are now 180 degrees round from where they started out!

Post by **RogerRust** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:58 pm

I'm sure I wound a bit of cable through the gearboxes and then reconnected it to the motor