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Inappropriate windshield wiper behavior

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Dutch 1960 Avatar
Dutch 1960 Mark Holland
San Diego, CA, USA   USA
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One of the few areas I did not touch on the Rotary Midget project were the windshield wipers. I went with what was already on the car, for the wipers, the wiper motor, the wiring, and the control stalk on the steering column (1973 Midget). No fuses or relays added, nothing. In a sense, I am subject to any depredations of any prior owner.

So when I move the stalk, the wipers work. But the "off" position on the stalk (on the right hand side of the column) is all the way down, and one moves the stalk up to turn on the wipers. In the first photo, you can see the "off" position of the stalk and also the lettering on the stalk which shows that the thing is mounted in the proper orientation to the steering column, not upside down. Looking at the internals of the column assembly, it looks very difficult to mismount the thing, as all the elements fit together in there like a puzzle, and they won't go together wrong, unless maybe everything is wrong. But the blinker stalk, horn, steering column lock, and ignition switch work just fine.

The other problem is that while the wipers work, they rotate clockwise and try to clear the cowl and the rear of the bonnet of water, rather than the windshield, and then return counter-clockwise, which is exactly backwards from what I want. When I turn off the wipers, they return like good dogs to the bottom of the windshield, but from the wrong direction. So it is not that the wiper arms are misoriented to the posts, but that the action of the wiper posts is exactly backwards to what I want to see.

Per the second photo, the plug for the wiper motor is indexed so it cannot be plugged in backwards. So we should be OK there.

However, if I flip the plug assembly over (third photo), we have some individual small flat blade plugs, which could be moved around at random if I so desire. Also a strange tall plastic push pin (it pushes in but I can detect no function for it), and a metal clip imbedded in the plastic assembly. I have no idea where or what this clip goes to, there appears to be nothing in the wiper motor area that is an obvious mounting point for that clip. Or am I missing a piece that is related to the clip and the push pin? Does any of this have something to do with the delinquent behavior of my wipers?


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Dutch 1960 Avatar
Dutch 1960 Mark Holland
San Diego, CA, USA   USA
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OK I'm an idiot on the wiper blades. I just need to put them at rest facing to the passenger side, not the driver side. I can fix that easily enough (geez, think a bit before you start posting, dude). But the stalk still is backwards for the off-on.

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littlecars Avatar
littlecars David Bassett
Nashville, TN, USA   USA
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1963 Chevrolet Corvair "Cheeto!"
1965 Chevrolet Corvair "Ski Team Transport SOLD!"
1965 MG Midget MkII "Buffoon --- SOLD!!!"
1966 MG Midget MkII "Swiss Cheese...SCRAPPED"    & more
If you flip the wipers the other way, will you get enough "sweep" to clear a good sized area in front of the driver? And by the way, do your washers work from the stalk?

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refisk Rick Fisk
Frankenmuth, MI, USA   USA
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Wipers should park to the driver's side. I think something is off with your wheelboxes.

In reply to # 3363812 by Dutch 1960 OK I'm an idiot on the wiper blades. I just need to put them at rest facing to the passenger side, not the driver side. I can fix that easily enough (geez, think a bit before you start posting, dude). But the stalk still is backwards for the off-on.


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littlecars Avatar
littlecars David Bassett
Nashville, TN, USA   USA
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1963 Chevrolet Corvair "Cheeto!"
1965 Chevrolet Corvair "Ski Team Transport SOLD!"
1965 MG Midget MkII "Buffoon --- SOLD!!!"
1966 MG Midget MkII "Swiss Cheese...SCRAPPED"    & more
Is it possible to feed the triple-wiper rack through the wheel boxes incorrectly? I did mine last year and, as they say, there is "only one way" to get it from the inner fender through to the third wheel box on the passenger side. Maybe it's different with European spec cars?

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Dutch 1960 Avatar
Dutch 1960 Mark Holland
San Diego, CA, USA   USA
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The wiper blades "need" to point to the left, because that is the way they are supposed to be. I'm anal enough that it will always bother me if they are pointing to the right at rest.

Since I haven't heard back from someone who knows, I am going to start pulling those three single leads on the engine room connector one by one, and throw the multimeter at them. I am thinking that maybe shuffling them might solve the mystery.

The wiper stalk bugs me, because I have already tested everything, and the proper color wires at the connector behind the dashboard do indeed fire up, but only if you operate the stalk backwards (all the way down is off). I may try to "flip" the switch on its steering column mount. The lettering facing backwards on the handle is a lesser evil than my constantly hitting the lever with my knee and turning the wipers on.

So everything at both ends of the system is mirror image and backwards, even though the correct electrical leads are involved and it appears that none of it has ever been touched. And everything works, but not in the proper direction.

BTW I have not tried the washers. I will test that, too. And, to confirm, this is a LHD U.S. Spec car.

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