Wiper Problem (possibly fixed)

[svenedin]

Almost ready to go back in the car. Just a coat of clear lacquer. I'd like it to look good for a while now.

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[mogbob]

When it comes to installing the wiper motor , do not put the wiper blades back on at this stage.Substitute some cardboard pointers , gaffa taped to the spindles. The cut off position for the auto park system ( with the wiper blades at the bottom of the screen ) is adjusted by rotating the exterior domed plate cover from which the electrical wire emerges. If you leave the blades ON before adjusting , you run the risk of paintwork damage.
If the screws holding the main cover plate on are slackened , just a little , no more , you can twist the dome by hand until the desired / optimum position is achieved. Then tighten the screws, remove the cardboard pointers and gaff tape and put the wiper blades on their spindles. The secret is to hold the rubber blade parallel with the base of the screen before pushing the other end down onto the spline of the wheel box spindle.

If the position of the dome was marked during disassembly , reassembly is straightforward. Hindsight is a wonderful thing , a great teacher.
No guesses as to how I found that out !
Bob

[svenedin]

Thank you Bob. I was going to reinstall, switch the motor on and off with no wipers attached and then assumed that this would be the park position and I could just install the wipers? In other words just fit the wipers at the correct alignment to whatever park position the spindles happen to be at. Is that wrong?

[Bill_qaz]

Hi does the wire on dome provide + to the motor until park position breaks contact internally. Mine does not auto park so want to check circuit.
Thanks for any info

[svenedin]

Hi does the wire on dome provide + to the motor until park position breaks contact internally. Mine does not auto park so want to check circuit.
Thanks for any info

There is a spring contact "self parking spring contact" inside the dome. This spring contact can break (replacements are available). The motor needs 3 connections for the self-parking to operate correctly: earth, switched live and permanent live. Your problem could be with the spring contact inside, the wire connection to the dome or the permanent live supply to the motor. Any of these faults would cause the motor not to self-park. It is also possible your motor is a replacement and is not a self-parking type......

This what its looks like inside

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[mogbob]

Stephen Wrong ? No ..that would work just as well. Bob

[mogbob]

Bill
I always like to get the two contact points back to clean shiny metal. The end of the spring contact " arm " and the brass insert of the metal dome.
Stephen's last photo shows both items perfectly. Every point in an electrical circuit needs clean contact points for trouble free operation.
It will only need a moment or two's light rub with a bit of sandpaper / emery paper / pot scourer / wire wool , whatever you have to hand.
Bob

[Jim McCrae]

Thank you Bob. I was going to reinstall, switch the motor on and off with no wipers attached and then assumed that this would be the park position and I could just install the wipers? In other words just fit the wipers at the correct alignment to whatever park position the spindles happen to be at. Is that wrong?

That is unlikely to work. The motor gear wheel and arm determines the arc of the wipers so the wipers need to be positioned when the arm is at its maximum position. If the parking dome has moved in relation to the gear wheel , the wipers may park correctly but the wipers will sweep off the edge of the screen.

[Bill_qaz]

Thanks Steven and Bob for the info and pics, I'll let you know what I find when I get to visit the car, as its in storage not home. Mine has the top connection but does have wire repair, not by me.

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[svenedin]

Everything is re-installed and working as intended. Thanks to everybody but especially Bob (and Jim). You were absolutely correct about having to resynchronise the park position with the lowest position of the wipers. If Bob had not kindly offered advice I would have had the wipers smash into the bonnet. You saved me a very unhappy Saturday Bob. I owe you a pint for sure!

To explain:

I had assumed that, after reinstalling everything, switching the wipers off and on would establish the park position and the lowest point of travel of the wipers. This is NOT correct if the dome part of the wiper motor has been rotated in any way from its original position (assuming it was correct in the first place). The correct set up is done as Bob suggests, a piece of card is put on the wheel box spindle with an arrow marked on it. Then the wipers are switched on and off. The arrow can then be aligned horizontal, where the wipers should park. The motor is turned back on and it is noted whether the wipers would dip below the horizontal (and so smash into the bonnet!). If so, the bolts holding the top plate of the wiper motor gearbox part are loosened and the dome is rotated until it is correct. This is trail and error. Rotating the dome one way makes the issue worse and the other way improves it. Eventually, the park position and the lowest position of the wipers are synchronised and the wiper arms can then be re-installed.

Happy days!

Stephen

[Bill_qaz]

Sorry for thread hijack but same subject: Once I have checked the park contacts internally. With the wipers parked in correct position, wiper switch and ignition off, if I use multimeter on earth connection on the cover and rotate until continuity to ground is broken that should set the cover position correctly to the parked wipers. My wipers couldn't go onto the body as their stroke is already correct it's just the self park that's not working.

[Bill_qaz]

Bill
I always like to get the two contact points back to clean shiny metal. The end of the spring contact " arm " and the brass insert of the metal dome.
Stephen's last photo shows both items perfectly. Every point in an electrical circuit needs clean contact points for trouble free operation.
It will only need a moment or two's light rub with a bit of sandpaper / emery paper / pot scourer / wire wool , whatever you have to hand.
Bob

Thanks Bob.
Cleaned the track and contact as you suggested. The "C" clip appears to be wrong and not holding the spring contact arm securely. Temporarily squeezed tighter but need to get the correct clip, are they readily available?

[svenedin]

Bill
I always like to get the two contact points back to clean shiny metal. The end of the spring contact " arm " and the brass insert of the metal dome.
Stephen's last photo shows both items perfectly. Every point in an electrical circuit needs clean contact points for trouble free operation.
It will only need a moment or two's light rub with a bit of sandpaper / emery paper / pot scourer / wire wool , whatever you have to hand.
Bob

Thanks Bob.
Cleaned the track and contact as you suggested. The "C" clip appears to be wrong and not holding the spring contact arm securely. Temporarily squeezed tighter but need to get the correct clip, are they readily available?

I can't find that particular clip listed but presumably any C clip of the right size would work. If you search on Ebay for a chap called Steve Hunt, he sells lots of Lucas wiper motor parts. Message him and I am sure he will be able to help. Or try this company: https://www.s-v-c.co.uk/faq/guides-wind ... er-systems

Stephen

[Bill_qaz]

[mogbob]

Stephen and Bill
Guys apologies for my " slow " response to your acknowledgements of my assistance. Life has been just a little hectic recently. The thanks is appreciated. I don't ask for / nor expect anything more. I get the buzz from helping people out.

I've only been " caught out " once with my offer of free help. A guy on the forum ( no longer ) numerous posts , lots of people offering suggestions
which he didn't seem to re-act to / want to try out. I put it down to lack of knowledge / fear of tackling simple tasks. Saw he lived locally , so offered
to have a look at it for him. So one dark evening I found myself down a dark alleyway , behind some shops , with rain precipitating down upon me
thinking " what a lovely venue and what a beautiful evening ". He unlocked the car , described the problem and left me to it , whilst he went back inside to keep dry ! After half an hour I'd sorted the problem out and he announced he had to go out " otherwise , I'd help you put your tools away " .As he waved good bye , as an afterthought , he gave me a grudging thank you. Standing there tired and cold with rain dripping off my nose , I muttered
under my breath " Thank you too , pal .Don't call me I'll call you .... or maybe not".
It's a good job there are lots of good people out there. A small minority are very content to just take rather than give.Heh ho.
Bob

[svenedin]

Stephen and Bill
Guys apologies for my " slow " response to your acknowledgements of my assistance. Life has been just a little hectic recently. The thanks is appreciated. I don't ask for / nor expect anything more. I get the buzz from helping people out.

I've only been " caught out " once with my offer of free help. A guy on the forum ( no longer ) numerous posts , lots of people offering suggestions
which he didn't seem to re-act to / want to try out. I put it down to lack of knowledge / fear of tackling simple tasks. Saw he lived locally , so offered
to have a look at it for him. So one dark evening I found myself down a dark alleyway , behind some shops , with rain precipitating down upon me
thinking " what a lovely venue and what a beautiful evening ". He unlocked the car , described the problem and left me to it , whilst he went back inside to keep dry ! After half an hour I'd sorted the problem out and he announced he had to go out " otherwise , I'd help you put your tools away " .As he waved good bye , as an afterthought , he gave me a grudging thank you. Standing there tired and cold with rain dripping off my nose , I muttered
under my breath " Thank you too , pal .Don't call me I'll call you .... or maybe not".
It's a good job there are lots of good people out there. A small minority are very content to just take rather than give.Heh ho.
Bob

Bob,

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I try to help others if I can. I don't expect thanks either but I wish people would "complete" a thread and let us know how they got on!

Stephen

[svenedin]

Well my wiper problems are not quite over. I thought everything was fine but I took the car out the other day and it started to rain. I needed the wipers on and noticed that the arc of screen that the wipers sweep seems too small. The wipers stop too soon on their furthest travel and miss the right hand side on the driver's side. I hope that I can correct this by removing the wiper arms and moving them up a few splines (it may be that they park too low on the screen). The wiper motor main gear wheel is unchanged but this is not the only part that controls the arc of sweep. I had to change the wheel boxes because one was seized. I think that the new wheel boxes may have a different number of teeth or a slightly different diameter of wheel (or both which would keep the same tooth spacing). I cannot check now because the car is back together and it is a big and very messy job to get a wheel box out.

[svenedin]

I think I have things better but there is definitely a smaller arc of sweep than before I replaced the wheel boxes. I have photos of the car so I can see that the wipers used to park tidily at the bottom of the screen. Now the wipers have to park up from the bottom of the screen in order to get enough arc to clean the screen in front of the driver. I will leave my adjustments for now and decide after a trip in the rain because there is more wiper travel with a properly wet screen and some forward movement of the car.

[oliver90owner]

I will leave my adjustments for now and decide after a trip in the rain because there is more wiper travel with a properly wet screen and some forward movement of the car.

Watering can? Hosepipe? Even windscreen washer?

[svenedin]

Good ideas. I think I’ll use a plant sprayer but I need an assistant

If no luck then I may have to change the main gear wheel in the motor. The wheels are stamped with the number of degrees. Some wheels are more scarce than others. I can’t remember which wheel mine has. I should have noted it down. Not difficult to check though.