wiper wiring

[Stog]

Does anyone know how to wire up an early wedge wiper motor? I've found plenty of diagrams on the web and tried a few different ways but I just keep getting shorts, sparks and no moving wiper.
It has a five pin plug and as far as I can remember when it was working it never parked. It would just stop when turned off.

[marcus1875]

I had this exact problem, the wiring was fine at the wiper motor, but the earth had come loose, so worked intermittently. Took me ages to discover. The earth cable was attached to the rocker cover! Mines still doesn't park correctly, makes an interesting game though.
Might not help you, but worth checking.

Marcus

[Stog]

Wow sounds like my car, was that the factory wiring
I've pretty much re wired the whole car now and figured it all out except the flippin wipers! I might have to pull the motor and investigate its innards to see what's going on.

[marcus1875]

No, not original wiring. It has had several thousand feet of wiring chopped and spliced and rerouted by previous owners.
I've a spare motor kicking around, but cant confirm it works, another in various bits and a wiper cable lying about if of any use. They are from an '82 tasmin v6.
Marcus

[Stog]

Thanks Marcus I might take you up on that, mines an 81 v6 so I'd imagine it's the same.
I'm going to pull mine first and inspect it. Do you know if I can remove just the motor without the shaft that runs behind the dash? Or do I have to take out the dash to?

[marcus1875]

Its fiddly but i managed it without taking the dash off.
Lying with my head in the footwell. There was enough room to get my skinny arm in behind the dash and along the shaft. Fiddly but easypeasy.
I'd be interested to know if where your earth cable goes, rocker like mine or elsewhere.
I'll look out the spares i mentioned this weekend in case you need them.
Marcus

[Stog]

My earth was connected to the battery using a piece of speaker wire!

[Wedgefan]

If the wiper motor is anything like my Lotus Excel the parking function is performed by a cam-operated switch in the wiper gearbox housing. I'll try and get a look at it later today.

Pete

[RCK974X]

I think it's a bit complicated - the 'park' switch is a changeover switch, and when the motor hits park position the switch doesn't just turn off the ignition supply it also shorts the motor. Shorting a permanent magnet motor will make it stop immediately. Otherwise it can run over its park point and will sweep windscreen again.

This is why if you get wiring wrong it will probably blow the fuse when it hits park.....

I did have a home made diagram somewhere from wiring up kit cars.... I'll see if I can find it.

I think it needs a similar changeover switch on the wiper switch/column end as well - all the wires except the earth go to the column switch as I remember (could be wrong on that....)

Edited by RCK974X on Thursday 8th October 05:37