69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

[Lawrence S.]

Can some please share with me the way to troubleshoot the above? My wiper door will not open and I have read several threads, but can't find one that will explain this.

Thanks

Lawrence

[Patrick H.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

If you just need to open the door, you can do it manually.
Remove the black plug in the front of the actuator, and use a pencil, usually the eraser end, to push inside the actuator and open the door.

[David J.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

Do you mean the wiper arm safety valve? It sits under the passenger side wiper arm base. If so, here's a quick & simple.

Take off the wiper grill only. This will allow you to lift the door and work & test what's underneath.

The middle vacuum hose is the vacuum supply. You can take it off and connect a vacuum gauge to it to check if you have control vacuum there. With the override pushed in and wiper switch off there should be vacuum present in the hose with the engine running. With either the override pulled out or wiper switch on, there should be NO vacuum. If you pass this, move on to the safety valve.

Connect a vacuum pump to the middle port on the safety valve, and pump it up. It should HOLD vacuum. Next connect a short blocked hose to the lower port, depress the plunger and pump it up. It should HOLD vacuum.

The default position on the control side should make the wiper door open when NO vacuum is present. Are you sure your actuator is vacuum tight? Sounds like the rear seal is bad, very common problem. Just connect a vacuum pump to the rear actuator port & pump it up. Should hold vacuum. Simple to replace. Could also be a very leaky relay.

[Alan S.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

Hi Lawrence,
I believe the wiper door 3 port interlock switch in the wiper bay controls when the vacuum signal is sent to the actuator to CLOSE the door. (The signal isn't sent until the wiper arms have returned to the 'park' position. This prevents the door from closing to soon and closing on the arms.)
OPENING the door is controlled by the wiper switch and the wiper door solenoid which is mounted on the rear of the tachometer housing.
If the door isn't opening when you turn the wipers on the first thing I would check is the wiper door override vacuum switch that is mounted below and just to the right of the steering column.
Pull that switch down to see if the door opens. The door should open even without the wiper switch being pushed to it's low speed notch.
Does it? If it doesn't perhaps you might check the operation of the wiper door actuator. Do you happen to have a vacuum pump with gauge like a mity-vac?
Checking the operation of the wiper door solenoid is a bit more involved because of it's location behind the tachometer.
Regards,
Alan

The wiper door vacuum override. On the right.


The wiper door solenoid.

[Lawrence S.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

I have checked the override switch still no luck.
With the car running I have taken my mighty vac attached to the vacuum relay on the fireball on the driver side. Applied vacuum to the relay and the wiper door opened. Just trying to troubleshoot this and looking for the first place to start.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

I have checked the override switch still no luck.
With the car running I have taken my mighty vac attached to the vacuum relay on the fireball on the driver side. Applied vacuum to the relay and the wiper door opened. Just trying to troubleshoot this and looking for the first place to start.

I would highly recommend buying the troubleshooting guide from Doc Rebuild. He leads you through testing all of the parts.
Based on my experience I suspect you will find more than one part is leaking or broken.

Patrick

[Lawrence S.]

Re: 69 wiper door actuator on passenger side wiper arm

Thanks will check it out