I had my wiper motor restored by a reputable restorer; however, when I installed it, it did not worked at all. Everything worked fine prior to having it restored, but needed cosmetic work. The restorer stands behind his work, but warns me I will have to pay an additional twenty-five dollars above shipping and handling if the motor checks out ok. I recently moved to California and the restorer is back on the east coast. It not so much the money, but the time involved in shipping this motor back and forth that concerns me. Additionally, I would like to know for sure if there is a problem with the motor before I send it back. I'm sure there is a way to properly bench test these motors, but the restorer would not help me with this. I have also checked the archives, and the chassis service manual, but have had no luck in finding bench test procedures. I have checked the car wiring and appears to have voltage and grounding controlled by the switch. Since the motor does not even click, I suspect that the relay is not working, but have not tore into it in fear that the warranty will not be honored if I take it apart. Any help with this matter will be greatly appreciated.
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Re: 66 Windshield wiper motor
Dean - I am operating from memory here, but I took a class from Steve Hack at Bloomington a couple years ago, somewhere I have some repair handouts. As I recall, there is a cam inside the housing that operates point swithes to control the park functions of the wipers, and these require some setting and attention, possibly that is all that is wrong. I believe it is under a stamped cover on the side of the housing. This may also be addressed in the Helm supplied Chevrolet Chassis serivice manual. I know there is a way to apply voltage to several terminals to bench test off the car for these functions, we did it during our rebuild operation in this advanced class. If I can dig something up later I will let you know...Craig -
Couple of alternatives....
Prior to '66, Corvette maintenance was covered by ST-21, Corvette Shop Manual, addressing 1963 model with supplements for items unique to each following year (64 then 65). This book has a nice text on windshield wiper/washer in Section 15, Electrical--Body & Chassis that includes proceedures to test/force functionality by jumpering this/that and a complete functional troubleshooting chart (by failure symptom) at the back of the section. They give explaination(s) as to what you can do with wiper motor installed on the car as well as what you can do with wiper motor removed & on the bench (a rather ugly job to R&R the wiper motor of a mid-year compared with the relative ease of doing the same chore on a Shark)....
In '66, maintenance of Corvette switched to the Chassis Service Manual which includes all Chevy Passenger Cars. It's Section 15, Electrical--Body & Chassis has a 'reasonable' degree of technical discussion on windshield wiper motor and washer, but not to the same degree as mentioned above. Why?
Well, in the Chevy Passenger Car, Corvette was the only vehicle that was NOT Body by Fisher. The wiper/washer function was legitimately part of the Fisher Body sub-assy supplied to Chevrolet. If you purchase a copy of the Fisher Body manual for '66 to supplement your '66 Chassis Service Manual, a WHOLE new universe of techincal information unveils itself!!!!
This will/should have the same troubleshooting flow chart and on-car/off-car diagnostic (forced mode) proceedures that were previously incorporated in the '63-65 Corvette specfic shop manual. So, you can go one of two ways: find/borrow a '63 Corvette shop manual or obtain a '66 Fisher Body manual....
Last, if memory serves, the key ground in this system is the dash mounted actuator switch. If it's bolted loosely to the dash panel, there's not a good ground contact there (restored instrument cluster with too much paint), or the instrument cluster ground wire(s) contacts are marginal, you CAN get a Jeckyl/Hyde effect and wind up looking in the wrong place for your problem(s)--concentrating on items in the engine compartment/on the firewall when you should be looking at the wiper switch/instrument cluster!Comment
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Re: 66 Windshield wiper motor
I did the same thing to my '67 wiper motor last summer. I bench tested it, however my memory is a little fuzzy on this. I know I used a battery charger with a 2,10 and 55 amp selection. I set the charger on 10 amp, hooked up the black negative wire to the wiper housing and touched one of the four prong connections on the wiper connector and the motor started running.
When I took the red wire off, the motor stopped, but not in the "park" position. I think two of the terminals on the wiper motor are for the wiper washer mechanism, one is the hot wire, which I touched and the other is to put the motor back into the park position. FWIW. PatrickComment
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Re: 66 Windshield wiper motor
Thanks for the information. It looks like I need to get a ST-21, Corvette Shop Manual. There has been several occasions were the 1966 Chassis Service Manual fell short of what I expected.Comment
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