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Re: Help! Jammed Wipers

To: "MG List" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Help! Jammed Wipers
From: Max Heim <mvheim@studiolimage.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 20:40:44 -0800
Bud Krueger

Hmmm, from looking at the Moss drawings it doesn't look like they changed 
much from '66. On mine you don't have to remove any dash stuff to remove 
the wheelboxes, just pull the wiper arms and undo the big nuts on the 
cowl (around the shafts), then reach up underneath the dash with a 
nutdriver and undo the clamps connecting the wheelboxes to the tubes. 
This assumes you've detached the flex shaft from the gearbox (check the 
manual). Then clean the heck out of those buggers--they're probably 
packed with congealed waxy grease. So's the gearbox, too, most likely. 
And clean & grease the shaft while you're at it. This simple (?) 
procedure transformed my wipers from 
historically-reluctant-and-currently-stuck-straight-up to almost 
enthusiastic.

I made the mistake of buying a used motor & gearbox before even taking 
things apart. In retrospect I don't think it was necessary. One word of 
advice: carefully observe the alignment of the large gear wheel in the 
gearbox (the one with the brass contact patch) when disassembling it. You 
must maintain the same position when you put it back together in order 
for the wipers to park properly (this assumes the wipers were in park 
position when you started disassembling things). If they don't park 
properly (for instance if they stick straight up on the screen), the 
motor continues to draw power even after the wiper switch is shut off. So 
don't drive around in that ridiculous state without detaching the ground 
lead from the wiper motor (actually, I pulled 'em all).

If you do lose the orientation of the gear wheel, I think Bentley has a 
procedure for determining the park position, but I got the impression it 
was a PITA. Or maybe it's obvious if you take the time to think it 
through.

Oh, and one of my wheelboxes remained very stiff even after cleaning. A 
few sharp taps on the center of the splined shaft (using a drift) 
loosened it right up. I suspect some over-vigorous pulling on it to 
remove the wiper arm had jammed it. Which makes me think, before you go 
and do any massive disassembly, maybe you should just pull the wiper arms 
(gently) and give each of the shafts a few whacks. Might clear it up 
right there and save a mess o' trouble.

Good luck.

>Help, please?
>
>      Yesterday morning, while atttempting to begin the day's commute, I 
>noted
>that there was some dew on the windscreen at 5:15 am.  Flipped the wiper 
>switch
>on the wipe away the dew and - BAM -- the blades stopped at the vertical
>position and and remained there.  Weather report called for rain yesterday 
>(and
>it certainly did) so I took the Taurus.
>
>    Went out this evening, removed the glovebox, removed the a/c heat 
>exchanger
>cover, removed the cover from the wiper gearbox and disconnected the crank.
>Motor runs fine.  It was all that I could do to push the wiper arms back to
>their rest position.  I can not move them by pulling on the end of the cable.
>They seem to be jammed.  Must admit that I performed no sort of PM while I 
>had
>the dash out to replace the wiring harness.  Oh, how I hate the thought of
>having to r/r the dash again!  Can someone please tell me what I should be
>looking for?  Is there some simple thing that I've overlooked?  TIA.
>
>Bud Krueger
>52TD (can operate the wipers manually if necessary)
>77MGB (humbling me)
>
>


--

Max Heim
'66 MGB
runs great, looks scabrous
mountain View CA


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