Jerky Wipers

[Carboy0]

Whilst I was driving in last weekends rain, I was surprised just how slow and jerky the wiper action is. I suspect that the motor and mechanism is all original (1973), so probably due some tlc.

Can anyone suggest what I should be checking first, the motor, the drive cable, the wiper boxes, what else?

[Lingen]

Chris.
Probably all of those things. The grease in the motor gearbox and on the cable will have dried out. The wheelboxes may be worn, and perhaps even the motor brushes as well. I would start with the reasonably simple task of cleaning and re-greasing the moving parts, and rotating the wheelboxes to a -hopefully-unworn part of the gear. Leave the brushes till last as they may be ok. There has been plenty of advice on the forum in the past on how to go about it.
Mike.

[TR5convalescent]

When I had persistent problems with my TR on this, I was advised by an elderly parts man to clean all the claggy old grease off with petrol and use silicone grease instead. I mean on the rack and wheel boxes not the motor. I'm afraid I can't say how long this will be good for as I sold the car a year later, but it had been fine until then.

Also, I think Stafford Vehicle Components did have some good stuff on their website and are very knowledgeable about this.

[Carboy0]

Thanks Mike

I would normally use some Castrol LM grease, is this suitable for wiper mechanisms? I also have some high molybdenum content black grease, but I think that it would be too heavy.

Thanks for the tip on SVC's website - very useful. here is the link for anyone who is interested.

http://www.s-v-c.co.uk/wiper-systems/

[jakesmig]

Hi Chris,

I had the same problem, the wipers would even 'stall' on a dry screen. When I stripped the car for a refurb there was a lot of old heavy grease in the wheel box, cable track and motor gearboxbox, I ran the drive cable through the cable tube by hand and found a resistance in the first section at the bend. Slight fettling sorted that out and I reassembled the whole lot dry except the motor gearbox which I filled with LM grease, and the wipers worked perfectly, albeit the cable drive made a bit of noise. I pulled out the cable and coated it liberally with 20/50 oil, reassembled it and everything is now working well and quiet.

John.

[Carboy0]

Thanks John, another job on the ever growing list then.