Wiper Park Adjustments

 

I had to make a new wiper arm removal tool so I was able to get the wipers adjusted to fully sweep without hitting the stainless trim, but no success adjusting the park position. The service manual contains no useful information to make an adjustment to relocate the park position, and there were no obvious adjustment points. Only thing to do was to open up the motor so I pulled the motor and removed the stamped cover so I could work it on the bench. At that point, it was easy to see how the adjustment functions. At least the notches are visible without removing the cover, and if the service manual had a picture it would have been nice!

This picture shows what lies beneath the cover. There is a reed switch that is actuated by a nylon pin that raises when the motor turns. I couldn’t determine how the reed switch functioned, but in my case, it made no difference at all as there was a broken part that you can see in the second picture. It is made of spring steel and is formed into a ramp shape to raise the nylon pin and use it to make and break the reed switch contact as it rotates. When I removed the switch plate, the broken part of the spring-steel ramp fell out, so. at least I could now visualize how the adjustment is supposed to be made. You can also clearly see the three notches in the rotating plate so it can be moved with a flat screwdriver to change the point at which the pin engages the spring ramp.

I was able to get the wipers adjusted to fully sweep without hitting the stainless trim, but no luck with adjusting the park position. The service manual contains no useful information to make an adjustment, and there were no obvious adjustment points. Only thing to do was to look inside at the controls so I pulled the motor and removed the stamped cover to work the problem on the bench. At that point, it was easy to see how the adjustment functions.

 

 I thought I was in luck as my parts car had the same motor, so it sould be a simple swap, but my joy quickly faded when I discovered that motor was locked up and wouldn’t move without damaging. However, I thought I could at least swap the ramp spring, but it too was damaged with a bend midway up the ramp. I tried straightening that part of the ramp, but the bend was too sharp and couldn’t be reformed properly without breaking the brittle metal.

 Finally, I decided to forget trying to create a park position. As often as I might be driving in rain, I can just use the switch to manually park the wipers. Before I reassembled everything, I removed the sixty-year-old crusty grease, oiled the plate and greased the gears. At least the arms are now synchronized, and the speed is adjustable with the dash switch.

Ice-bound!

 This is the third day in a row that I've been stuck in the house and not able to walk anywhere outside.  I couldn't even get to the workshop so I could get tools to break up the ice around the house.  This is the worst ice storm I've experienced in the 25 years I've lived in Texas. Only one worse I can recall was in Germany nearly sixty years ago. That time I was driving home from the missile site and had to stop and install tire chains. It took about an hour to get them on while crawling around on hands and knees. Guess I should have retired a few hundred miles farther south and closer to the Gulf of Mexico!

Fortunately, there was minimal ice buildup on trees and power lines, so we got lucky that way. Looks like the thaw will start this morning and the forecast is for 60s and 70s within a few days. Then maybe I can get back to work on the car.