Wiper problem

[mrbenn]

Hi all,

my 1966 2 door 1000 has an issue with the wipers.

They move up to the vertical position without issue, but then stop. I can manually push the wipers back down, at which point they move up to the vertical position again and stop.

I've removed the top cover from the motor and disconnected the wiper linkage and the motor seems to run fine without the linkage attached. Also noted I can't reattach the linkage to the motor now. It suddenly seems too short.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

[svenedin]

The wipers work by the motor operating a crank (hopefully you removed the clip, parking contact and crank before disconnecting the rack) which pushes and pulls the wiper rack through metal Bundy tubes. The rack goes through two wiper wheel boxes and the back and forth action of the rack is translated to the rotation of the wiper arms by a gear wheel.

The grease in the metal Bundy tubes can harden which makes it more and more difficult for the wiper motor to move the rack. In addition, the wiper wheel box spindles can seize. It sounds as if possibly one of the wheel box spindles has seized.

I am afraid it is a really horrible job to overhaul the wiper system and it involves getting both glove boxes out to access the wiper wheel boxes. To avoid this you could try removing the wiper arms and dribbling some penetrating oil into the spindles hoping it will get into the bearing surfaces inside. beware that if the wheel box bezel gaskets are perished this oil may end up on your gloveboxes.......

Stephen

[mrbenn]

Many thanks for this, Stephen.

I did dismantle the motor before removing the rack so no worries there. I'll try to get some oil on the spindles and have duly noted the warning re the gloxeboxes.

This car has been very, very little used over the last few years and has not seen rain for even longer so a wheel box spindle sounds quite possible. I shall investigate further.

Thanks again.

[svenedin]

You're welcome. If the car has been very little used for many years I'd suggest draining and replacing the brake fluid. Minors have something of a reputation for seized brake slave cylinders and this often happens on the rear cylinders. It might also be a good idea to drain the coolant, flush and top up with fresh antifreeze. The antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it but these get used up over time.

Best of Luck!

Stephen

[mrbenn]

Many thanks!

[simmitc]

This could also be electrical if an earth wire has become disconnected and the parking switch is set in the wrong position.

I suggest that you remove both wiper arms and then pull the flexible rack out of the tube by hand. It should move relatively easily and smoothly, and you can watch the spindles rotate as you pull.

If the rack sticks, then you will know that is the problem, You might still need to remove gloveboxes and spindles, but if the rack comes out OK then you won't (or at least should not, read on).

Wear gloves for this process, the rack will be greasy. Clean the rack with paraffin, re-grease and push back into place. If you are lucky, it will feed back fully (it may help to turn the spindles whilst feeding the rack in), but if the wiper boxes are slightly out of line, then you will be back to removing the glovebox liners so that you can guide the rack through the wiper boxes.

Whilst the rack is out, you can assess the condition of the wiper boxes by rotating the spindles.

If you find that you need to replace a wiper box, then ensure that the number of teeth on the gear wheel match the number on your current one, otherwise the sweep of the arm will be altered.

When all refitted. check the operation of the motor and self-parking before refitting the arms. The setting of the self parking should be at the end of the sweep, not mid-cycle. This is adjusted by keeping the wiper cover plate slightly loose and then rotating the domed part with the wire attached.

If you still find problms, then attach a picture of the motor with the cover off and the rack fitted as best you can.

[mrbenn]

Thank you very much indeed, great info there.

I'm going to have a crack at this in then next couple of days and will come back with the results.

Thanks again!