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Wiper mechanism lubrication


KM

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My wipers are failing, they are very slow and don't return to the parked position so I have taken everything apart and given it a good clean. New motor brushes on order although plenty of depth in current ones. The gears had a nice coating of grease however the square channel for the reciprocating part looked distinctly oily. Does anyone know how it should be lubricated?

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Grease is the word....

If you take the wiper arms off and the motor/gearbox is already open, you can lift the end of the rack cable off its pin and pull it out of the entire length of the rack with the rack in situ.  The wiper spindles will spin round as you do this. Clean it up, grease it liberally, including the square section part which sits in the square edged channel, and push it back in. You may need to wiggle the wiper spindles a bit to get the rack cable to engage with them. Reassemble and the job should be done.

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If you find that a good clean does not fix the problem...

Not returning to park is often caused by the little wire that connects to the top of the gearbox. It's connected through to the parking "switch" (actually just a copper arc on bakelite or paper-resin backing) with a rivet, which rusts through and breaks invisibly. It can be repaired with a #6 brass bolt and nut. Check the sprung wiper arm while you're at it.

Slow operation can be caused by resistance in the wiring loom, particularly where the Lucar terminals are crimped on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

An update for all those kind enough to offer advice: the nearside wiper 'box' (the spindle that has the wiper arm on one end and the gear at the other) is solid and even with a pair of pliers won't rotate. Anyway the gearbox is nicely greased now ready to be be re-assembled when the spares arrive.

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Ah, I had a wiper spindle seize up on a Dolomite once. The linkage is different on them - quite a lot more robust - and the result was a burned out wiper motor. It's not possible to re-grease the spindles on later cars - I'm not sure about the earlier type - so a new part was the only option.

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