Thread: Wipers

As some may have noticed, the weather in much of eastern Australia has been a bit damp lately. Consequently, when the wipers issued a horrible screech while working about ten days ago, it became imperative to do something about it. The noise was clearly unlubricated high speed bearings.

So yesterday, armed with an enlarged and laminated wiring diagram, I set forth to fix it. (Note that the wipers are quite differnt from chassis suffix 'C' on, 1967. Less obvious is that the wiring is different for the wide light versions (which mine is not, but I already knew it is wired as).

Removing the motor is fairly straightforward, if a bit fiddly - and don't lose any of the small bolts and nuts. I removed the motor complete with the flexible rack, which means taking the back off the swivel boxes and disengaging the pinions.

Disassembling the motor was straightforward, if also fiddly, and messy - the gearbos is filled with grease. However, the bearings were clearly dry. So I cleaned it up, relubricated it and put everything back together. Brushes and commutator were in good shape. And it was dead as a doornail.

So this morning, I started checking voltages, after working out where they should appear. It looked like the park switch was the culprit. To get at this the motor must be completely disassembled, as the screws holding it on the back of the gearbox are under the gears. This time I worked out that if I loosened the nut on top of the gearbox and undid the strap round the motor, it could be rotated to allow you to (just) get the cover offand diconnect the rack. I proceeded to pull it all to bits again, and it was only when carefully looking at the park switch, trying to see how it came apart, that i realised that one of the wires had broken off its tag.

Soldering it back on only took a few minutes, and I was quicker putting everything back together again. And now it works again!

Oh, and no screech!

I pulled the park switch apart and cleaned. Very simple unit, but contacts get dirty.
I put Bearmach wiper arms on my S3 daily 3 years ago now and still good.
It still surprises me how with a good windscreen washer soap, even in torrential rain the water beads and self clears the Flat windscreens.
Its more the misty rain the wipers need to be used.

whitehillbilly