More wiper motor troubles

[Deleted User]

So today I figure its time to fix those wipers on the coupe once and for all. The stock motor just couldn't pull the wipers through a full stroke, so I decide to replace it with the supposed "NOS" one I got from a Guy on ebay.



So I change it out, start the car, turn the switch on and ---- same thing !! Wipers go up to about vertical, and that's the best they can do. Rev the motor, let it idle, fast idle, slow idle, -- nada -- same result.



Pulled the vacuum hose off before I changed the motors, and seems lots of suction there, all pulleys are free, so no dragging there.



What the

---

? Two weak motors ?? Not enough vacuum ?? Worn out stanchions ??



Does the wiper motor on a stepdown not have enough power to run the wipers on a dry windshield ????



Do I need RAIN on the windshield to lubricate the glass and run stock stepdown wipers ??



Any ideas anyone ?



Ryan

[Deleted User]

Ryan, have you checked how far the wipers go with everything unhooked? Is it possible the arms are binding at the top of the swing stopping anything from going farther?



Harry

[Deleted User]

Harry Hill wrote:

Ryan, have you checked how far the wipers go with everything unhooked? Is it possible the arms are binding at the top of the swing stopping anything from going farther?



Harry

I'll check that out next Harry, but I don't think this is the problem. Sometimes they can barely lift off the bottom of the winshield more than a couple inches.



( on my old '53 Ford I owned back in the sixties, when I blew a hole in a piston and had to have it towed back with a big rope, about thirty miles or so in the rain, I had my cousin lay on the floor, reach up under the dash, and work the wiper arms back and forth by hand, so that I could see good enough and work the brakes, to not run into the back of the tow car)

---

worked really good for awhile until his arm got tired, then things sorta went downhill from there ---



Try THAT with a stepdown and cable wipers !



Maybe I'll have to run a rope through the vent windows and get the wife to be "wiperwoman" !!

[Deleted User]

Carry lots of cash, "Wiperwomen" work better when their paid in cash. Money talks. Hard to have a good time being towed in the rain when your scared to death. Good luck. Bob

[Deleted User]

Isn't that why we all got married? Just in case our friends wear out? I guess most of us have made those trips. My dad used to make me drive the towed cars because I wasn't old enough to have a license. I hated the power braked and steered cars that weren't running. He always towed with a chain and lord help you if the chain got slack and jerked the car. Different times back then and in my dads mind he was doing what had to be done to take care of his family. We survived those trips and I learned a lot about cars. Most of which I'm relearning with the Hudson and my 29 pickup. My wipers work on a dry windshield but they aren't happy about it, of course the Hash has arms and not cables but it's still a vacuum motor that I had to rebuild. What I found inside was the grease was petrified, I scraped it all out and added new grease and it works great now but I think electrics would be better, at least the speed would be constant, my wife laughs every time I let off the gas and the windshield wipers try to beat the window frame to death.



Harry

hudsontech

When all else fails, read the directions!!! Drop me an email with the year of your car @ NEChudsontech09@yahoo.com (drop the NEC) and I will email you a copy of the pertinent Trico data sheet which contains service and adjustment instructions.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

HudsonTech

Memphis, TN

Jon B

Have you actually tried running the wiper motor (on the car's vacuum) without the wipers running? (Disconnect the wiper from the linkage, or remove from car, and then attach the vacuum hose to it). Harry's suggestion is good, too. Disconnect the wiper motor from the linkage, then try turning the linkage from under the dash (where the wiper motor connects to it). Can you make the wipers work manually? If it's really hard, then remove both wiper arms and see if you can make the linkages themselves work. If THAT's hard, then you need to get in and lube everything up, to make sure that the motor has a fighting chance of overcoming all that resistance.



If in fact the motor is indeed "NOS" -- that is, it's been sitting, unopened, in its original box for 50 years -- this could be your problem. Even with no use, those seals inside the motor will dry out and harden, and what oil was ever in there may have hardened too. I always had Ficken rebuild my used ones, and was happy with them.



Another trick: get some neat's foot oil (for treating your leather shoes) and suck it into the motor (run a short rubber hose from the motor's intake into the bottle), then work the lever back and forth to get the oil inside. Let it sit for a day, move the lever once in awhile to let it spread around, let sit for another day, etc. Then drain the oil and hook the motor to your vacuum line. Does it move any faster?



Once you get the motor running you might still want to install (if you haven't already) a dual-action fuel pump, one with a vacuum pump on the top for the wipers.

ernie28

Jon B wrote:

Another trick: get some neat's foot oil (for treating your leather shoes) and suck it into the motor (run a short rubber hose from the motor's intake into the bottle), then work the lever back and forth to get the oil inside. Let it sit for a day, move the lever once in awhile to let it spread around, let sit for another day, etc. Then drain the oil and hook the motor to your vacuum line. Does it move any faster?

I used the neatsfoot on my '28 and the result was fantastic. I removed the vacuum motor from the car and used a syringe to fill it with oil and as Jon says moved the shaft back and forth now and then. When I drained the oil and reconnected the vacuum, it seemed just like a new one.



Alistair

NZ

[Deleted User]

I already have the dual action pump Jon, so am assuming vacuum is not the issue. It must be binding or some such issue under the dash



I'll take a look there a little more carefully. ( maybe I'll try some rain-ex on the windshield, to lubricate the glass) Once they get going for awhile, maybe they'll loosen up some.



Couple more questions --- is the neats foot oil the best type of lube to use on the flapper valve, ( its hard stuff to find around here apparently)and is there a "tool" available somewhere to take those little tab ended screws out ? I just used needle nose pliers, but there must be some kind of nut driver designed for this application?



Or is that another of those obsolete tools that have gone by the wayside. ( I could always make one I guess ).



Ryan.

[Deleted User]

Neatsfoot oil should be available at your local sporting goods store. It's used to soften the leather of a new baseball mitt to help break it in.



I also noticed you used the word "assume" when describing your vacuum situation! Get out the vacuum gauge and measure it to be sure.



Tom

[Deleted User]

Tom Drew wrote:

Neatsfoot oil should be available at your local sporting goods store. It's used to soften the leather of a new baseball mitt to help break it in.



I also noticed you used the word "assume" when describing your vacuum situation! Get out the vacuum gauge and measure it to be sure.



Tom

Probably a good idea Tom ---- anybody know what the reading should be ?

tigermoth

listen to alex, he knows of what he speaks! i may have missed it, but how does the inside of the motor look? mine had corroded pot metal that had bubbled, caked grease and rubber seals . neats foot oil won't do a thing for rubber. . once i cleaned it out it substituted another bowl off a junk motor and regreased, it worked like a champ. i like the idea of taking a vacuum reading at the motor...the hose might be collapsed. regards, tp

[Deleted User]

Well, went out to shop and pulled the vacuum hose off the wiper motor to plug it into my original motor that I had taken off the car, to see what it would do. Before I hooked that one up I thought about the rain-ex comment I made about lubricating the window glass, and thought maybe I should try that first, so hooked the hose back up to the motor on the firewall, and got out the rain-ex.



Put some straight on a rag, (rather than diluting it as per instructions), and shined up the windows with that, and "wetted" down the wiper rubber with it while I was at it.



Started the car, and turned on the wipers. Nope -- same result, wipers struggled their way up to about vertical, and stopped. So I'm standing there looking at them and I'm thinking, maybe if I help them along a bit a few times, they'll loosen up, and start to work, so I do this ---- run 'em back and forth maybe thirty-forty times helping the vacuum motor do its job.



When I finally let go, by gadfry -- they do a cycle all by themselves, albeit rather slowly, but at least they went full cycle, so I decide to let them struggle on for a bit on their own, and fiddled with other things for 10-15 minutes or so.



Waddaya know, ---- when I come back they're flapping away like a duck taking flight !!



So, I spray a little lube on the pulleys, and cables, like it says to do in the documents Alex sent me, and call it a night !



Yep, success is sweet ! Thanks for all the help and support Guy's !! You gave me the inspiration to soldier on.



silverone