69 Wiper Door Will not open

[Lawrence S.]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!<br />
<br />
I have been playing around with my wiper door/headlight regulator and my &quot;coffee can&quot; wiper door actuator. Both had been rattle can painted black by a PO so I removed them stripped the paint and evap o rust both in an effort to try and make them look period patina. The car is an original paint 65K mile car. So making an effort to make it look the part under the hood.<br />
Prior to this little exercise everything worked as it supposed to. Including the bypass under the steering column and the wiper on/off switch. When I put everything back on the car I hear a vacuum leak (hissing) from the wiper/headlight regulator. I took it off the car and tested it. I took my hand vacuum pump and pumped up to about 10&quot; of vacuum. It held vacuum as it supposed to while moving the piston in the shaft. I took air lightly blew in the center port and got air out of the top or bottom I don't recall. Released the vacuum and got air out of the opposite port. Seemed to be doing its job? I took my electric vacuum pump hooked it up to the &quot;coffee can&quot; and it moved the shaft in an out depending on the side of the can. But when I hooked everything up and put my electric pump on in line with the vacuum line I have nothing except this hissing from the regulator. I have looked for a leak in the hose and can't find anything. I have not checked the switch on the wiper arm yet. When I start the car I get the headlights to open as they should. But not the wiper door. I have no vacuum pressure on the by pass under the dash like I did prior to this work. I ordered a new regulator from Zip and will try that. If my regulator is bad I will have Bob D. restore the original one. One other note. I noticed the shaft out of the wiper door regulator is bent. Is that normal? I would guess it has a 10* bend in it?<br />

Any thoughts or suggestions?
<br />
Thought I would lob this out for those waiting on the Turkey and for those not wanting to watch football.<br />
<br />
Happy Thanksgiving!<br />
<br />
Lawrence

[Bob D.]

Re: 69 Wiper Door Will not open

Lawrence

By regulator I assume you mean the vacuum relay valve. On the three plastic ports, plug the bottom and apply vacuum to the center port. The valve should hold vacuum. If that works then plug the upper of the three plastic ports. Apply vacuum to the top metal port. The plunger in the plastic portion should go up toward the metal port, if not, then the diaphragm in the top metal portion is bad. If the plunger raises then the diaphragm is good. Next apply vacuum to the top metal port again and while maintaining vacuum there apply vacuum to the center port while covering the upper port on the plastic top port. The center port should hold vacuum. If any of these prots does not hold vacuum then the valve is bad.

Good luck

Bob

[Lawrence S.]

Re: 69 Wiper Door Will not open

Bob,

Thanks so much for the information above.

I conducted the test for the vacuum relay valve as you suggested, and the vacuum relay valve failed the first and the third test.

I will reach out to you regarding restoration.

Thanks

Lawrence

[Lawrence S.]

Re: 69 Wiper Door Will not open

Bob, I received my repro vacuum relay valve and now my headlights will go up and down with the electric vacuum pump using the switch under the dash. However, the wiper door will not move. I suppose the actuator is bad. I feel air being pulled through the actuator when I pull a hose off. It would work with no load however?

Thanks

Lawrence

[Bob D.]

Re: 69 Wiper Door Will not open

Lawrence

Conduct the same type test you did on the repro valve you received to see if it is operating properly. The bent shaft on the actuator indicates that it or the wiper door was binding at some point. The actuator should move freely with a hand held vacuum pump and should not bind or make a scraping sound inside as the diaphragm moves. The seal in the actuator may be bad.

Bob

[Brad Hillhouse (37766)]

Re: 69 Wiper Door Will not open

Lawrence, it sounds like you have an earlier production 1969 that has the large 1968 style "coffee can" wiper door cannister. You said that you had the cannister off the car to remove the paint. Please make sure that you have the white plastic bushings installed on each side of the mounting bracket and the bolts are snug but not tight! Those bolts need to hold the cannister but allow it to rock back and forth as the pushrod moves the wiper door. If they are overtightened, the system will not work. I believe that is one of the reasons that coffee can was replaced with the smaller "pie tin" style that does not need to rock to work correctly.

Brad Hillhouse