Right before I put my 85 away for the winter the windshield wipers stopped working. I was using them at the time and they just slowed down and then stopped.

Any ideas on what to look at first and test or replace?

 

First check fuse. Then check to see if the motor is getting power and that the arms haven't siezed up. Then you have to replace the motor which can be a bitch. I had to do it twice

 

yep check the fuse. How can I check to see if the arms are siezed. They are stoped in a mid-windshield possition.

I'm a bit worried its the motor by how they were working and started to get slower then stopped. Not good to hear the replacement is a bitch. Any tips whould be great. (Like take it to a shop).

 

Replacement isn't all that bad...I just had mine completely apart to free up a seized arm. I wouldn't cal it easy, but I wouldn't call it a bitch either. Especially since yours are stuck in the up position. The manual tells you to position them that way to make extraction easier.

Rich

 

It's actually not too back. You'll pay an arm and a leg to have it done at a shop. A motor is like $80 bucks though. It's not that hard to do just the nuts are a little hard to do as they are upside down and you can't see them. It probably is the motor but you can disconnect the arms from the motor and see if they move freely. But the motor only has 3 screws, a nut and washer for the connection to the arms and that's it

 

As tough as it is to extract the entire assembly (arms and all) I still think it would be easier to take it all out to replace the motor. Besides, you can lube everything up while you have it out and it should last forever.

Rich

 

Probably your rack seized up. There are two barrels on the rack - one for each wiper arm - and these are steel rods in an aluminum or potmetal barrel. This leads to heavy corrosion that builds up between the rods and the sleeves they ride in, which can cause symtoms like your wipers running slowly or just stopping mid-travel.

As the others have said, removal of the front air inlet grill is accomplished by removing the 4xPhillips screws that run along the inside edge of the hoodline underneath the rubber water trap. These will allow you to pull the rubber dam out of the way and then slide the grill forward to gain access to the area that houses the rack, windshield washer lines, and motor. Remove both wiper arms with the 15mm nuts on the rods, remove the arms themselves, and then unbolt the rack mounts to pull it out of the car.

Once out, you can remove the motor which should tell you whether the rack is seized or not. Simple enough to pop the rods out of the sleeves and brass-brush them clean, but you'll want to regrease with something that repels water and will stay on there a LONG time - you don't want to be doing this task every 6 months... I used some wheel bearing grease which should hold it another 20 years. If the motor is fine, which it probably is - plug it back into the connector and run your wipers until they stop. This will reset the arm position for when you reinstall the rack. Hook up the motor again and ensure that the rack arms are in correct position.

Reinstall the rack and motor and then run the wipers one more time until they stop - this ensures that you don't put the arms on only to find out that the rack isn't where it needs to be and your windshield wiper arms are flailing around wildly. Better still, install the wiper arms with them pulled away from the windshield and observe their path of travel before you lower them back onto the windscreen.

HTH, it's a pretty common thing to need refurbishing on these cars. Afterall, they're all over 20 years old by now!

 

where can I get just the motor assembly?

Mine were frozen, so I disconnected the linkage, and eventually worked the bushings free. Now the bushings run freely but the motor's clutch slips and clicks if I have both wipres down. It works fine with only one wiper.

Skrewloose siad that Atkins sells the whole assembly for for $250

 

Try the classifieds...every now and then you'll find someone selling the motor and/or the entire assembly.

Nice writeup Duck..as usual!

Rich

 

Mine did the same thing, and it turned out mice had built a house in there and it pinched in the mechanism. Best thing you can do it take it out and see as Londuck said.

A few screws on the cowl, two bolts on the wipers and a little fiddling, and the whole thing comes out. Took me under 15 min.

 

the motor's clutch wimps out when I have both wipers on the windshield. the wiper's movement is jerky, hence the nylon bushings bind up at the extreme points because the nylone bushings are worn. Can I buy just replace the bushings without buying the entire wiper assembly??

Auto Parts stores carry wiper bushings for fords and GMs.

 

whats weird is that the wipers i have i cant turn off. i pull both fuses and it still keeps on going. any answers

 

Thanks LongDuck for the great detailed writeup. Its almost time to bring it out from winter storage. I've started it every couple of weeks and let it run till warmed up. Also rotated the tires the other day. Just need a good rain or two to get all the salt off the roads.

 

unplug the harnesss from the wiper motor.

 

Autozone has some wiper bushings that might be the right size in their help section. I have cornerred the rx-7 wiper assembly market in huntsville thanks to Skewloose. There must be a way to make your own bushing using epoxy resin, or maybe using a ball bearing race. The problem with pulling a wiper assembly off a 20 year old car is that you have a 20 year old wiper assembly with 20 year old nylon bushings. I had to pull two assemblies, and mix and match parts to have something that works. That's why I'm still thinking about fabricating bushing.