Body/Trim: Wipers jumping

[morsing]

Hi, I have a problem with the wipers on the car not moving smoothly across the windscreen but jumping 1" at a time which it obviously very annoying! I recently bought new wiper arms thinking that that was the problem but it didn't help.

Can it be play somewhere else or even in the motor? If I move the arms manually the can move a tiny bit up and down. Would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks!

[Alec Dawe]

It sounds to me like something in the linkage, Try a little waterproof grease on all the joints in the linkage, and see if you can get something, even if only WD40, down where the wiper spindles come through the bodywork.
I even believe that the motor gearboxes on these are greased, might be worth looking, and cleaning out the old and replacing with new, in case the old grease has gone hard and unslippery!

[honestjoe]

Hi morsing...i"ve had this issue which did turn out to be perished wiper rubbers..but i think in your case it could be something else as you say....lift the wipers back off the windscreen until they click then turn on the wipers...put your hand on one and give a little resistance by holding it.but still allowing the wiper to go through its cycle..if its a gear problem you will feel it through your hand..another thing i would check and probably the most obvious is to make sure the wipers are secured and tight on the lugs protruding through the body under windscreen...peel back the covers and check the nuts...and if my memory serves me well checking the gearbox on the 240 is pretty straight forward...lift the bonnet and you will see the motor and gearbox housing positioned on the right hand side just under the windscreen...i"ve never opened the gearbox on mine..i"m sure this can be checked in situ....i"ll check my haynes manual and come back to you if no one else has already answered...cheers hj.

[morsing]

You people are up tooo early -lol Didn't expect any responses already but thanks, will have a look at the mentioned ideas.

[morsing]

I forgot - I have another problem with the wipers. If I want to run them just once, I push the stalk down slightly and normally you should be able to let go as soon as they move but mine stop again unless you hold it down till they've reached some very specific point on the windscreen! Normally I hold it down till it's all the way up.

Is this something internal to the motor? Any pointers appriciated

[niloc]

Inside the motor are contact rings. One of these has a permanent 12v for driving the motor back to park position. It is likely that either the contact ring is dirty/broken, or the sliding contact is damaged. Take it apart and have a look!

As for the jumping wipers, it could be related to the contact ring. Failing that, put the wipers up say 25%, then check for play, then 50%, etc. (put wipers up - switch off ignition part way through the cycle)

[classicracing]

Believe it or not this was a 'known' problem when the model was current. It is mainly due to grease or contamination on the screen (and usually by reason of logic) on the blades themselves. However it was also found to be exascerbated (made worse) by the spring pressure in the arm itself
By all means check the pivots for lube, I would remove the arms then the rubbers and then with the wipers on high speed spray with white grease or WD40 if you have to although this will never last as long as grease. Refit the bits after
The wire linkage drive system is wierd but works OK but it is because of this design feature (note the blag customer bull****) the 'flick' of a shuddering wiper is amplified causing the 1" jumps
I would
1. clean the screen thoroughly with meths (yes we know you have a secret bottle stashed in the shed) to remove all trace of grease
2. Clean the blades or replace also with a quick wipe with a meths cloth

3. Finally and only when the above does not cure the problem stretch the wiper arm tension spring by jamming a screwdriver between two coils of the spring and twisting hard to stretch the spring. The lower spring tension may cause the arm to lift on the screen at 80+mph but it will stop the judder

Believe it or not there is a blue top bulletin describing this action but I don't appear to have a copy in my binder set
BTW Blue tops were UK specific bulletins Green Tops were international and issued by the factory not the 'market'

The single wipe issue is possibly in the motor, remember however that if the single wipe functions incorrectly so will the intermittent as they use the same non ignition power supply to function

Richard

[morsing]

Thanks will try the cleaning and greasing

Originally Posted by classicracing

The single wipe issue is possibly in the motor, remember however that if the single wipe functions incorrectly so will the intermittent as they use the same non ignition power supply to function

Richard

Intermittent wipe has always been perfect - never failed...

[mikecrox]

Try vinegar as well on you windscreen

mike

[huck280]

I had this - and it was caused by a problem in the motor, exacerbated by a lack of lube/easy movement on the cams in the dash which drive the arms. They lurched for a while, then finally the motor bust AND the wiper arm driving rack pinged off.

The motor can be fixed by using Chester6's tips on how to refurb it - search under 'wipers' in this section. I was a bit anxious about disassembling it, but needn't have been - was a total doddle, and now runs like new. It's quiet and smooth. It turned out that one of the magnets in the motor housing had detached itself, and was scraping the motor bushes, causing the jumpy motion. Also, in the wiper gearing housing (the grey metal bit), there's a small grease hole that you can squirt grease into - that might do the trick, so I'd give that a go first off. It's very, very easy to fix.

Then, on the cams that actually carry the rack that drives the motor, there was a need for lubrication. this was a doddle. REmove glove compartment (a job of 30 seconds) and squirt grease onto the mechanism where it penetrates the bulkhead. Do same on driver's side by tipping instrument cluster forward.

Cheers,

Leif