Windscreen wiper motor

[saabfast]

My wipers have never worked properly in the 12 years I have had the car. They only give a single speed and do not park, its just move the level p to go and down to stop, trying to judge the parking point. I have to look at the existing but in the meantime I am considering a new motor unit. The TR7 ones seem to be NLA but on ebay there is a Defender one which is said to be suitable:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Windscreen-W ... 1438.l2649

It does look the same, has anybody used on of these, are there any problems?

[busheytrader]

Sorry, I don't know about the interchangeability of the motors. I think it's the gear wheels that determine the travelling arc of the wipers of the various cars.

Ive cleaned all the connectors and switches etc on my wiper wiring and they still struggle on a dry screen even with the engine running.

The "single wiper speed and manual parking only" happened to me when I bought my DHC back in the day. The parking switch on the gear housing had simply slipped out of adjustment. The previous owner or someone equally ignorant had decided to bypass the park switch completely. They cut all the wires close to the wiper switch, twisted the two bare wires together that gave a single speed, then wrapped them all up in masking tape. A couple of hours work and I had both speeds and auto park working.

[saabfast]

I think the motor comes without the gear which, as you say, is individual to each type of car. I just wonderd if the unit was a direct change, ie the plug fitted etc.

I have to look more into mine but had an idea that it might be more than just adjustment of the park switch,.

[Hasbeen]

Our wipers are about the weakest thing on the car. I rarely use mine, apart from that annoying period when it is not 5aining, but cars infront throw dirty water at you. I then have to use them, until the washer water runs out.

Fortunately during my fleet air arm training, they taught us to look through a wet screen, including salt spray on a carrier. No wipers on jets.

The idea is to train your eyes to focus at infinity, or on some object a long way away. After a while you learn to do this, without a distant object to help focus. Once you do this, the water & the screen it's on tend to disappear.

With the 7 I found it helpful to set the park down on the trim below the screen. With them down there the airflow over the screen is more laminar, & tends to spread a smooth film of water over the screen at speeds above about 75Km/H. This gives better vision than our wipers have ever achieved for me. Only problem, the blade attachment fitting will damage the paint on the trim over time.

Hasbeen

[FI Spyder]

When I got my car, I went through a process to clean and grease every wiring connection, and pulled everything from the right side of engine to clean, paint and replace all rubber (all the FI stuff is there to). Part of that process was to pull the wiper motor, shaft, etc. out of the car, clean and regrease as required. I didn't go as far as taking the motor apart as I didn't know if it could be done but everything out side of that was done. I used dielectric grease for any connection and a clear synthetic grease for any moving part including the toothed shaft and the wheel boxes. At the bell crank end of the shaft there is a copper tang that operates a switch as it moves back and forth. This switch determines the parking of the wipers. The switch is adjustable, there is a mounting screw when loosened allows you to move the position of the switch block to move one way or the other. It doesn't determine the parking position of the wipers but determines whether they park or not. The tiniest adjustment can determine whether they park or not. It's trial and error. The switch position can be adjusted with everything in the car, I think you just have to temporarily remove the motor mount bracket and cover to get at it. The wiper have been reliable over the last 11 years be it single swipe for mist or full speed ahead for torrential downpour. I never tried it on dry windscreen as I don't want to drag anything across the windscreen for fear of scratching it. Cleaning and dielectric greasing the electrical contacts in the circuit ensures it's getting the full 12V to the motor. Long story short, make sure it's getting the juice it should, minimize any friction, correctly adjust the park switch and they will work fine for a long time.