Wiper Mechanism, parked position stop ?

[rfs1957]

Whilst I'm under the dash with no windscreen I'm having a go at the wiper-mechanism etc

The knurled knob of an apparently brand-new wiper-mechanism parking adjustment was always visible on the engine bulkhead but did nothing - I think I can see why because the inboard end was just clipped to the back of the dash.

Am I right in thinking that the central wiper operating arm was different when the parking device was used on early cars ? Presumably the adjusting cable/knob is not compatible with my wiper mechanism, at least the central part ?

See rack and cable sitting on top of it.



My wiper motor just switches off in whatever position it was when you flip the switch, so presumably it is meant to be used with this parking mechanism - and there was an earth wire to the wiper-rack support frame, which might confirm this ?

Any suggestions how to cope with this mixture of parts ?

My car is a US import that was converted to RHD in the late 80's ; but the - now - drivers' side (RHS) end of the rack actually has the shorter-type arm fitted there, whilst the LHS of the rack has the longer-one, which has probably always been there from the LHD days.

Should I swap Right for Left and move the longer arm to the driver's side, and what is the actual effect please ?

[Duckham]

Rory -
I didn't realise that the arms at left and right ends of the rack were different lengths.
Logically that would give different arcs for the corresponding arms which I didn't think was the case but I will look more carefully next time I use them !
I don't see how you can swap them as the splines are staked to the arms so can't be removed from the end sections of the rack and you won't be able to refit the sections themselves on opposite sides.

Certainly when I converted mine I only changed the motor wiring and adjusted the parking mechanism but no swapping of mechanical parts.

Your rack looks to be entirely missing the parking mechanism for the cable to attach to. I would think that can be added if you can locate one, but I can't remember for sure. I think SNGB manufacture them so may sell separate parts.
Later cars did not have the same parking switch so perhaps your has the wrong rack?

I did a write-up years ago on my conversion which someone posted recently on this forum if you do a search, and it has photos of the parking switch.

Joe

[rfs1957]

Hi Joe,
There are references in the Haynes manual (at least - awful, I know) to "fitting the longer arm on the driver's side" and indeed, whilst the arms are the same length, the ball-posts are at different heights in relation to the pivots ; and they are in fact easily interchangeable, each spindle/arm unit can just be swapped L to R.
Like you I'm puzzled as to the consequences, since the longer arm will then rotate its spindle through a smaller angle - somehow I would have thought the driver might be expected to benefit from a larger wipe ? And since the wiper spindle holes are (I believe ?) in the same position whether the shell was L or RH drive it seems odd that the driver position should even be considered relevant !

[Duckham]

Curious. I don't remember the splined section being separate but it is a long time since I had mine apart.

>"fitting the longer arm on the driver's side" and indeed, whilst the arms are the same length
I'm not sure what you mean by that?.
If they should be swapped and are different lengths then I can imagine that a larger arc on the left arm (in a RHD car) might cover more of the screen. Increased arc on the right arm would just overlap more with the centre arc so no benefit.
But why not just have all 3 arms the same longer length?

Joe

[rfs1957]

The L + R arms are easily interchangeable on mine ; shame I'd already stamped them 'L' and 'R' then !

I'll be the PO from hell next time around. L is the new R.

They look the same length but the spheres aren't in the same position on the arms. Seen here whilst being force-fed SAE140 for the next 50 years.



My guess is that the "longer" arm, in describing a smaller arc, can make the driver's side wiper appear symmetrical with the others when they're all in the "up" position but because it doesn't travel as far then it doesn't fold down to same extent or as low as the others when parked - which is the position where the driver's wiper-blade is the least happy and the least elegant since it's sitting on a very curved bit of screen.

If you had same-length arms then with the driver's side arm parked where it's half-comfortable at least, it would then move further towards the centre of the screen and look out-of-syc with the other two.

Looks to make sense on my car - anyone got any other ideas ?

Whilst on the subject, and far from being an expert, if it may hearten others - I found the extraction and refitting to be akin to building a ship in a bottle - but perfectly do-able and nothing like as awful as I had expected.



The key bit for me was overhauling/cleaning/understanding and greasing the spring clips on the rose-joints BEFORE I fitted the whole lot back together in the bottle, a glimpse of the obvious but ............. the one shown here is the centre one, which has lost its "ears"(see below) BUT these only appear to serve to act as (brilliant) little levers for extracting the socket off the ball, and are - I would hazard - not essential ; my car has worked without those ears, and relied solely on the horse-shoe-shaped clip for about 26 years.



I also ignored everyone's advice and did not fit the oval plastic washers under the chrome bezels ; on my car I found these (from SNGB at least) to be too soft and they quickly got squeezed out when tightening (convenient plug-spanner size !) the bezel nuts. There is quite a lot of scope for mis-alignment of the supporting brackets behind the spindles and I opted for sealing the bezels around the spindles with black RTV (Loctite 5910) so that I could apply at least a modest torque and get everything satisfactorily clamped square.

All I have to do now is either find a wiper-motor of the parking-position type, or get better with the on-off switch, or stick to driving it in the S of France and avoid the rain.

[Heuer]

See if you can find a DL3A wiper motor which was fitted to 1968 LHD cars (S1.5 with rocker switches). It has the parking position setting on the motor itself:


Only three wires so a doddle to connect to the existing wiring and it looks almost exactly the same as the earlier DL3 motor. Why Jaguar buggered about with the complex DL3 installation (6 wires, mechanical stop switch, complex toggle switch) is beyond me. Two on eBay at the moment:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucas-Wiper-M ... Sw9eVXXE7j
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-LUCAS-WIP ... SwEjFXdQiz