[Staowners] Wiper motor repair

[terry poole]

Very useful info.

Re the rubber mounts, I have used super glue with some success, after  
cleaning the mating surfaces with acetone or some-such. I then hold it  
lightly in place with a thin cable tie just to be sure. Lasts for  
years but not for ever and is easy to re-do.

Regards,

Terry Poole - UK
On 28 Apr 2008, at 14:56, David Reina wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> The wiper motor on my new drophead was not working.  I did a repair
> the other night and after seeing the condition inside the gearcase I
> thought I'd suggest to others to check a wiper motor if it has never
> been serviced.
>
> When I switched on the wiper the motor body got warm but it did not
> run and I thought it was going to be toast.  I removed it from the
> car on Saturday and when I opened the gearbox I could see why it was
> not functioning.  The original white oxide grease hat totally
> ossified  into a clay like substance.
>
> When I dug  out all the old grease and bench tested the motor without
> the gear in place it ran OK.  I continued to disassemble the motor to
> check the commutator and put a drop of oil on the motor bearings.
> The factory manual says to clean out any carbon dust from the
> commutator bars which I did with a dental pick and then I gave the
> commutator  a polish  with some 1000 grit paper followed with a wipe
> down with acetone.
>
> I also had to use the dental pick to clean all the gear teeth. The
> whole procedure was pretty easily done and by the way the motor runs
> in the same direction whichever way you hook up the wires.  I should
> also say that this wiper motor is from a 54 car and is a single speed
> without the self parking feature which would add another level of
> mechanical and electrical bits.
>
> I then tried to hand pull the cable which is driven back and forth by
> the motor.  I found this to be moveable but pretty stiff and thought
> that can't be good for the motor.  I wasn't sure if I was going to
> make a mess of work for myself but I pulled the whole inner cable out
> of the sheath so I could lubricate it.
>
> I squirted some oil down into the sheath and on the shafts of the
> wiper posts.  It was late at night at this point and I was too tired
> to crawl under the dash to squirt oil at the two swiveling assemblies
> but I think this would be a good idea at some point.  I then coated
> the whole cable with white lube and tried to reinsert it into the
> sheath.  I had a small moment of worry as the cable hit the first
> pivoting assembly and did not want to reengage but I found by turning
> the cable gently it would pass through the first and then to the
> second wiper position.  Now with the lubrication the cable moves back
> and forth easily and smoothly.
>
> By the way my wipers were off the car while I was putting the cable
> back into the sheath and I think this is necessary in order for the
> cable to reenter the under dash mechanisms.
>
> I repacked the gearbox with some white lube, although I don't think
> this is as high pressure a grease as the white oxide grease called
> for in the manual.  I didn't use some of the other grease I had
> around the shop, like wheel bearing grease because there is a bronze
> bearing in the motor assembly and some greases will attack the bronze.
>
> I also tried unsuccessfully to repair with epoxy the rubber mounts
> for  the wiper motor.   This looked like it would work until I got to
> actually tightening the mount in place at which point the epoxy
> joints all failed.  For the moment I have the motor fastened in place
> with big cable ties and a new mount is on my "need to order" list.
>
> If you want to do  a quick check on your cars wiper , just remove the
> three mini bolts from the flat plate on the side of the wiper motor
> unit and you can see the gear area with the grease packing.  After
> seeing this one I am going to check my other car.
>
> Regards,
> Dave Reina
>
>
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