This has the actual switch down on the steering column, right? The rod that actuates this can get out of whack sometimes and with the start contacts at the far end of the movement it can sometimes not be making contact. Loosen that switch down there and move it up toward the steering wheel some, retighten, and see if it then works.
77 Coupe Resto
- Thread starter Quazit
- Start date
@tom3 You're the man. I was looking at everything and although I havent adjusted the column switches, I checked and sure enough, as soon as I moved it up the column a bit she started catching.
Ran her a little today to check my lights and man I can't say how thankful I am for that advice.
Much appreciated!
Now, back to my gauge troubleshooting lol
Ran her a little today to check my lights and man I can't say how thankful I am for that advice.
Much appreciated!
Now, back to my gauge troubleshooting lol
Well finally got the gauges all sorted. I think a break in then original circuit board was causing it. Superglued some of the copper I purchased and rebuilt a couple of spots. Now it looks like It’s working. Lights on dash and signals for once.
As far as the u14 board I purchased. I plugged it in with the u14 diagram and something in the circuit burnt a small portion of the board. Traced it to the lights common circuit which I had in the diagram as the black wire.
More in that maybe later in another thread.
Next troubleshoot the hidden wiper motor that isn’t doing anything. Switch is good, the switch is engaging the mechanism but the motor isn’t moving. That’s not good news for me.
Thought maybe it was the ground. But hard wired it to the body and nothing.
Testing coming up.
As far as the u14 board I purchased. I plugged it in with the u14 diagram and something in the circuit burnt a small portion of the board. Traced it to the lights common circuit which I had in the diagram as the black wire.
More in that maybe later in another thread.
Next troubleshoot the hidden wiper motor that isn’t doing anything. Switch is good, the switch is engaging the mechanism but the motor isn’t moving. That’s not good news for me.
Thought maybe it was the ground. But hard wired it to the body and nothing.
Testing coming up.
Attachments
Will be using the info on Nasty Z and this link to troubleshoot this wiper motor.
So, After asking if I could change to the normal motor and wipers, I decided to go to this video:
And go step by step. My motor wasn't working at all. The switch was engaging, but motor was not moving.
I'm going to document my steps in the event someone else has an actual motor issue, and not a switch issue.
If anyone wants me to, I may take it back apart and take photos of what I'm describing. I have a video of it working now, which I'll try to upload to YT. and I will attach a photo or two.
So, after using the video above to test the motor. I was convinced aside from the thing being dry as a bone (No grease in it), I t was a motor problem. The switch itself was activating as it should as far as I could tell. (It was popping the lever up, but motor didnt move so it has nothing else to do, thats its only purpose.)
Attached to the three- pronged switch on this motor are two wires. Unfortunately, you cant disassemble the motor completely for testing without removing those two wires.
1 DETACH THE SWITH WIRES/REMOVE MOTOR:
a. Cut or desolder the two wires form the switch. Go ahead and remove the switch and set it aside.
I chose to cut them about 2 inches from the switch. There is about 4" stuffed inside the housing.
b. There are two long shafts holding the motor to the housing. Remove those two bolts.
c. Mark the orientation of the casing to the assembly.
d. After cutting (Or desoldering) the tires from the switch, Slowly pull the motor case from the assembly. You may need to tap it with a small hammer or something to free it up.
e. Be very careful pulling the motor housing apart, the internal wires from the windings are directly attached to those two wires. They arent fixed to the case in any way. If you yank it out, you may damage the windings. Or pull them apart. You do not want that.
f. Looking on the opposite end of the motor mount is a nut that attached to a set screw with a groove in it. Remove this nut. You will adjust it later
2. EXAMINE THE MOTOR:
Once the motor is out. You'll see several things.
a. You'll see two magnets (Carbon motor brushes actually) which operate the motor with the current. Just like any drill or anything else is built. Of course, each one is attached to a different set of the windings.
b. The first thing to check there is to see if the carbon pieces are moving and staying "attached" to the motor as you spin the shaft
If they are moving with the shaft, leave them alone and skip step c through e below.
If they are not:
c. Check them by (by moving the shaft a little left and right, see if they stay away from the shaft or stay attached to it, following the shaft movement. If they are stuck back in their little housings, youll need to do the following:
d. Make sure there is no rust or obstruction, stopping the magnets from going back toward the shaft. If there is carefully clean it out. Do not use a liquid. Just get a tiny screwdriver or something and scrape them clean without messing with the magnets themselves.
e. Check that the springs are in place inside the little square shafts. If a spring is missing, it will need to be replaced. If one is messed up. you'll have to put the spring on a pair of needlenose pliers. The spring fits over the pliers with the pliers closed and they will fit back in the square housings that way. Push the spring in against the magnet until you can press the spring keepers back in far enough to stop the spring from popping back out. You can do this with that small screwdriver while holding the spring in with the pliers. Once the spring is back in place, carefully pull the little magnets back with a fingernail and see if they spring back to the motor shaft. If they do. Move to the next step.
3. INSPECT REPAIR THE WINDINGS:
The windings are extremely important and messing with them can burn out the motor, cause a fire, or electrocute you.
a. You'll see several things with the windings. Most importantly, none of them should be broken (Or burnt apart or melted) anywhere.
b. There are two windings that come to an end and covered by some paper protector. If those are pulled out, you'll have to look at and repair them and get them back where they need to be, which is up against the windings so they fit back in the housing without touching anything.
c. If the paper over them is gone, it needs to be fixed. Otherwise, they will contact each other, and the motor won't work, or it will short out, burn the windings, cause a short somewhere or burn a fuse. One of them will happen.
d. Two of these ending windings have a tiny plastic cover over them. I presume it's a kind of protector that was melted at the ends. You'll know them when you see them. These two were loose in mine. I used a piece of brown wrapper paper doubled it and wrapped them to ensure they couldn't contact anything else. I used superglue to attach the paper to itself and pushed them back out of the way.
e. The next two below them are directly attacked to the wires that go to the switch in the body. Those two have nothing but the paper on them. But they need to be separated from themselves and the windings and the case body.
f. Like the two above them, I also use brown paper folded in half (to make it thicker) and wrapped one of these, superglued the paper like making a cover, then I did the other one the same way. I then covered both together and glued the same kind of cover over them. Then pushed them back to the windings.
I suppose you could use shrink tubing here, but I just mimicked what was originally there.
g. Check that all of the windings are not stopping the motor shaft by turning the shaft a fee times. If the windings arent stopping or rubbing the shaft, leave them alone now.
Of note is that you can't test the motor outside of the housing. It needs to have the shaft supported for testing inside the housing.
4. REASSEMBLE MOTOR TO THE HOUSING:
a. To make it easier. I added two long leads to the two motor wires and hand twisted them together. I ran the leads through the housing and pulled the two motor wires back through the original hole. Again, be careful not to pull the wires too hard so you don't disturb the windings. Youll have just enough room to put the motor shaft back into the original hole.
b. Add some grease to the unit on the shaft and around the outside of the gear where the teeth are as well as where the movement is in the center in the channel on the gear.. I used a small 1/2" paint brush that I keep in a ziplock in my toolbox.
c. Re-attach your wires. If you cut them, you can solder them, or twist and tape them. Just be sure you have enough room to push the extra wire into the body so the switch will mount again. You'll see there is a black wire, and a black wire with a stripe. Make sure they're attached correctly. black to black and strip to stripe. I taped mine, in the event I needed to take it apart again. This prevents me forgetting and damaging the windings.
d. Re-attach the switch to the body. One screw goes in the switch inside the body itself, the other screw goes on after you replace the plastic cover and attaches to the ground strap.
5. TESTING:
a. Using link above test the unit again.
b. Go through the low, high speed and stop settings. (You are not testing the external switch attached to the cluster cover, only the internal switch that activates the arm and the motor itself.)
c. If it's not working, you missed something. or the motor is burnt out and will need replacing. Retrace all of these steps to make sure no windings are touching that you repaired, and nothing is shorting out the windings to the motor case or anything unusual.
d. If it all tests good, remove all of your test leads. Testing here is complete.
FINAL STEPS:
6. ADJUST SET SCREW
During disassembly, I asked you to remove the nut over a set screw on the body above the motor shaft.
While testing, if you hear squeaking, even after greasing the unit, it is because we have not adjusted the little set screw and replaced the nut on it yet. Whether it is squealing or not, this set screw needs to be adjusted.
The sole purpose of this set screw is to stop the shaft from moving in the casing under load.
a. Turn the set screw clockwise until it just touches the shaft. Run the motor again.
b. If it squeals, tighten the screw a little at a time until it stops. At some point it should completely stop squealing. But do not overtighten the screw as it will put tension on the shaft and force a load on the motor windings and overheat it.
7. REASSEMBLE UNIT:
a. Replace the plastic cover over the motor.
b. Insert the two mounting screws on the top
c. Replace the ground strap screw, which goes through the ground strap into the body, on the top of the plastic case.
The unit should be ready now for replacing back in the vehicle.
Mine had several issues due to corrosion. One of the brushes had gotten seized in its housing and there was rust on the little housing it's in, probably stopping it form moving. I had to remove the spring and clean that little square housing and move the little brush carefully until I saw it moving with the shaft easily. Then after replacing the spring, it worked fine. The carbon brushes are delicate, so you have to be gentle and careful.
One of the switch wires had been pulled and pulled part of the winding away from its protective housing. So, I just replaced all of the coverings for them as I described above. Again, its delicate work, but better than having to buy a new motor that wasn't original and it's an hour of work that saved me money I can spend on other things for the car.
Hope this helps someone.
If anyone has questions, I welcome them.
And go step by step. My motor wasn't working at all. The switch was engaging, but motor was not moving.
I'm going to document my steps in the event someone else has an actual motor issue, and not a switch issue.
If anyone wants me to, I may take it back apart and take photos of what I'm describing. I have a video of it working now, which I'll try to upload to YT. and I will attach a photo or two.
So, after using the video above to test the motor. I was convinced aside from the thing being dry as a bone (No grease in it), I t was a motor problem. The switch itself was activating as it should as far as I could tell. (It was popping the lever up, but motor didnt move so it has nothing else to do, thats its only purpose.)
Attached to the three- pronged switch on this motor are two wires. Unfortunately, you cant disassemble the motor completely for testing without removing those two wires.
1 DETACH THE SWITH WIRES/REMOVE MOTOR:
a. Cut or desolder the two wires form the switch. Go ahead and remove the switch and set it aside.
I chose to cut them about 2 inches from the switch. There is about 4" stuffed inside the housing.
b. There are two long shafts holding the motor to the housing. Remove those two bolts.
c. Mark the orientation of the casing to the assembly.
d. After cutting (Or desoldering) the tires from the switch, Slowly pull the motor case from the assembly. You may need to tap it with a small hammer or something to free it up.
e. Be very careful pulling the motor housing apart, the internal wires from the windings are directly attached to those two wires. They arent fixed to the case in any way. If you yank it out, you may damage the windings. Or pull them apart. You do not want that.
f. Looking on the opposite end of the motor mount is a nut that attached to a set screw with a groove in it. Remove this nut. You will adjust it later
2. EXAMINE THE MOTOR:
Once the motor is out. You'll see several things.
a. You'll see two magnets (Carbon motor brushes actually) which operate the motor with the current. Just like any drill or anything else is built. Of course, each one is attached to a different set of the windings.
b. The first thing to check there is to see if the carbon pieces are moving and staying "attached" to the motor as you spin the shaft
If they are moving with the shaft, leave them alone and skip step c through e below.
If they are not:
c. Check them by (by moving the shaft a little left and right, see if they stay away from the shaft or stay attached to it, following the shaft movement. If they are stuck back in their little housings, youll need to do the following:
d. Make sure there is no rust or obstruction, stopping the magnets from going back toward the shaft. If there is carefully clean it out. Do not use a liquid. Just get a tiny screwdriver or something and scrape them clean without messing with the magnets themselves.
e. Check that the springs are in place inside the little square shafts. If a spring is missing, it will need to be replaced. If one is messed up. you'll have to put the spring on a pair of needlenose pliers. The spring fits over the pliers with the pliers closed and they will fit back in the square housings that way. Push the spring in against the magnet until you can press the spring keepers back in far enough to stop the spring from popping back out. You can do this with that small screwdriver while holding the spring in with the pliers. Once the spring is back in place, carefully pull the little magnets back with a fingernail and see if they spring back to the motor shaft. If they do. Move to the next step.
3. INSPECT REPAIR THE WINDINGS:
The windings are extremely important and messing with them can burn out the motor, cause a fire, or electrocute you.
a. You'll see several things with the windings. Most importantly, none of them should be broken (Or burnt apart or melted) anywhere.
b. There are two windings that come to an end and covered by some paper protector. If those are pulled out, you'll have to look at and repair them and get them back where they need to be, which is up against the windings so they fit back in the housing without touching anything.
c. If the paper over them is gone, it needs to be fixed. Otherwise, they will contact each other, and the motor won't work, or it will short out, burn the windings, cause a short somewhere or burn a fuse. One of them will happen.
d. Two of these ending windings have a tiny plastic cover over them. I presume it's a kind of protector that was melted at the ends. You'll know them when you see them. These two were loose in mine. I used a piece of brown wrapper paper doubled it and wrapped them to ensure they couldn't contact anything else. I used superglue to attach the paper to itself and pushed them back out of the way.
e. The next two below them are directly attacked to the wires that go to the switch in the body. Those two have nothing but the paper on them. But they need to be separated from themselves and the windings and the case body.
f. Like the two above them, I also use brown paper folded in half (to make it thicker) and wrapped one of these, superglued the paper like making a cover, then I did the other one the same way. I then covered both together and glued the same kind of cover over them. Then pushed them back to the windings.
I suppose you could use shrink tubing here, but I just mimicked what was originally there.
g. Check that all of the windings are not stopping the motor shaft by turning the shaft a fee times. If the windings arent stopping or rubbing the shaft, leave them alone now.
Of note is that you can't test the motor outside of the housing. It needs to have the shaft supported for testing inside the housing.
4. REASSEMBLE MOTOR TO THE HOUSING:
a. To make it easier. I added two long leads to the two motor wires and hand twisted them together. I ran the leads through the housing and pulled the two motor wires back through the original hole. Again, be careful not to pull the wires too hard so you don't disturb the windings. Youll have just enough room to put the motor shaft back into the original hole.
b. Add some grease to the unit on the shaft and around the outside of the gear where the teeth are as well as where the movement is in the center in the channel on the gear.. I used a small 1/2" paint brush that I keep in a ziplock in my toolbox.
c. Re-attach your wires. If you cut them, you can solder them, or twist and tape them. Just be sure you have enough room to push the extra wire into the body so the switch will mount again. You'll see there is a black wire, and a black wire with a stripe. Make sure they're attached correctly. black to black and strip to stripe. I taped mine, in the event I needed to take it apart again. This prevents me forgetting and damaging the windings.
d. Re-attach the switch to the body. One screw goes in the switch inside the body itself, the other screw goes on after you replace the plastic cover and attaches to the ground strap.
5. TESTING:
a. Using link above test the unit again.
b. Go through the low, high speed and stop settings. (You are not testing the external switch attached to the cluster cover, only the internal switch that activates the arm and the motor itself.)
c. If it's not working, you missed something. or the motor is burnt out and will need replacing. Retrace all of these steps to make sure no windings are touching that you repaired, and nothing is shorting out the windings to the motor case or anything unusual.
d. If it all tests good, remove all of your test leads. Testing here is complete.
FINAL STEPS:
6. ADJUST SET SCREW
During disassembly, I asked you to remove the nut over a set screw on the body above the motor shaft.
While testing, if you hear squeaking, even after greasing the unit, it is because we have not adjusted the little set screw and replaced the nut on it yet. Whether it is squealing or not, this set screw needs to be adjusted.
The sole purpose of this set screw is to stop the shaft from moving in the casing under load.
a. Turn the set screw clockwise until it just touches the shaft. Run the motor again.
b. If it squeals, tighten the screw a little at a time until it stops. At some point it should completely stop squealing. But do not overtighten the screw as it will put tension on the shaft and force a load on the motor windings and overheat it.
7. REASSEMBLE UNIT:
a. Replace the plastic cover over the motor.
b. Insert the two mounting screws on the top
c. Replace the ground strap screw, which goes through the ground strap into the body, on the top of the plastic case.
The unit should be ready now for replacing back in the vehicle.
Mine had several issues due to corrosion. One of the brushes had gotten seized in its housing and there was rust on the little housing it's in, probably stopping it form moving. I had to remove the spring and clean that little square housing and move the little brush carefully until I saw it moving with the shaft easily. Then after replacing the spring, it worked fine. The carbon brushes are delicate, so you have to be gentle and careful.
One of the switch wires had been pulled and pulled part of the winding away from its protective housing. So, I just replaced all of the coverings for them as I described above. Again, its delicate work, but better than having to buy a new motor that wasn't original and it's an hour of work that saved me money I can spend on other things for the car.
Hope this helps someone.
If anyone has questions, I welcome them.
Attachments
Last edited:
I made a rudimentary diagram of the housing for the wiper motor in the event anyone else is crazy enough to open theirs up.
I added this video to my YT Channel if anyone needs it or would like to link to it.
Gladly will add or change anything that I can. I'm rusty at the YT editing but it's on there at least.
More trouble shooting to come.
Would anyone like a video of anything made that might be helpful?
It is AGE RESTRICTED because I'm sure today someone would complain 'mM using a charger in the house and its dangerous for kids. So you'll have to go there to see it.
If you just want to go to the channel, its here:
Gladly will add or change anything that I can. I'm rusty at the YT editing but it's on there at least.
More trouble shooting to come.
Would anyone like a video of anything made that might be helpful?
It is AGE RESTRICTED because I'm sure today someone would complain 'mM using a charger in the house and its dangerous for kids. So you'll have to go there to see it.
If you just want to go to the channel, its here:
Wiper motor refurbished completely and reinstalled.
