Wiper problem

[Tom L.]

The wipers and associated systems work fine when parked. My problem is at highway speed. When parked everything is fine but I was caught in the rain and foiund that at Highway the wiper blades seem to be blown bast their proper stop point and jump onto the stainless trim around the winsdhield. I found this out when caught in the rain. The wipers nicked the newly polished trim and as you can imagine I wasn't amused. All the linkages seem fine and have no play.Any help will be appreciated.

[Guenter J.]

Re: Wiper problem

I had the same problem on my 74 driving home from Carlisle last year in the rain. My moldings are scratched. Any remedy to buff out the scratches without taking off the finish? All the wiper components are new from Ecklers. Thanks Guenter

[Kevin G.]

Re: Wiper problem

The wipers and associated systems work fine when parked. My problem is at highway speed. When parked everything is fine but I was caught in the rain and foiund that at Highway the wiper blades seem to be blown bast their proper stop point and jump onto the stainless trim around the winsdhield. I found this out when caught in the rain. The wipers nicked the newly polished trim and as you can imagine I wasn't amused. All the linkages seem fine and have no play.Any help will be appreciated.

Lynn, Sounds like you need to make a simple adjustment the travel of the arms. Remove the wiper grill, you will see two sets of 7/16 nuts in the center on each arm. Simply loosen these nuts pull the arms closer to the center and tighten the nuts. Wet the glass and check the travel. Hitting the molding is reason for failure on a PV!

Good luck

[Terry M.]

Re: Wiper problem

Lynn, Sounds like you need to make a simple adjustment the travel of the arms. Remove the wiper grill, you will see two sets of 7/16 nuts in the center on each arm. Simply loosen these nuts pull the arms closer to the center and tighten the nuts. Wet the glass and check the travel. Hitting the molding is reason for failure on a PV!

Good luck

Kevin has the right idea. Since so few of us actually DRIVE our cars in the rain we lose sight of the fact that wiper travel is dependent on friction with the windshield and voltage applied to the wiper motor. At speed in the rain both these parameters are very different than at idle with a dry windshield, not to mention when operating just off the battery. The wipers will park differently on dry glass v wet glass. Try to balance that one out if you want to have some fun in your spare time.

[Tom L.]

Re: Wiper problem

OK, it does make sense that the water, voltage and wind contribute to the different characteristics. I'll have to at least check the wet and perhaps with the motor idled up a bit.

As far as the adjustment on each arm goes, doesn't that also effect where they park? They currently park touching the stop. Will adjusting them the way you describe cause binding problems where they park? Thanks!!

[Terry M.]

Re: Wiper problem

OK, it does make sense that the water, voltage and wind contribute to the different characteristics. I'll have to at least check the wet and perhaps with the motor idled up a bit.

As far as the adjustment on each arm goes, doesn't that also effect where they park? They currently park touching the stop. Will adjusting them the way you describe cause binding problems where they park? Thanks!!

Yes, adjusting them as described will also effect the park position. You will have to check both extreme positions and find a happy medium. You should make the adjustment in small increments.

[Tom L.]

Re: Wiper problem

I'll take your advice and spend some time fiddleing around with them. Just one thing, how much pressure on the park stop is too much? I was wondering if I could adjust them so that they are pressing a bit without doing any damage. thanks!!

[Jack H.]

Re: Wiper problem

Yes, with the charging system active, the wipers are driven with approximately 14 VDC vs 12 VDC so the wiper motor is stronger. Also, when the WS glass is wet, there's less surface friction and the wipers will move slightly faster against their mechanical limits.

Same goes for the effect of car-in-motion wind force against the arms/blades. Bottom line, adjust the sweep limits so the blades stop 1-2 inches SHORT of striking the WS surround bezel and that ought to compensate. Plus, if memory serves, most of the AIM books featured a drawing depicting the factory sweep locii...

[Tom L.]

Re: Wiper problem

Ok, I 've been playing with the wiper armadjustments and have gotten the drivers arm ending it's swwep about 2 1/2" from the windshield trim. I think that one will be fine. The passenger side however is adjusted as far as it will go, is only about 1 1/2" from the trim and there is still room for it to move closer to the stop. Is there any adjustment in the spline that the arm slips onto? I looked in a few of the cataloges and they show the hole in the arm with what looks like a keyway that will prevent adjustment. Thanks!

[Jack H.]

Re: Wiper problem

Here's the factory adjustment procedure from a '71 AIM book. Your copy of the AIM for your car ought to provide an equivalent...

[Tom L.]

Re: Wiper problem

I was flipping throught the AIM when your post popped up but the page # in the '71 helped me find it. The pages are nearly identical. Since I've never taken a wiper arm off of one these cars I'm guessing that the note in step 1 ("Key on trans locates rod and blabe asm in positive location") answers my qusetion about adjusting the arm by changing it's position on the transmission, correct? If this is the case is there any other adjusment other than the one on the motor crank that can be made?

[Edward J.]

Re: Wiper problem

Lynn, the wiper arm is slotted it will only allow the wiper trans. to be installed with the wipers parked at the base of the windshield or it will be parked at the top of the pillers 180 degrees off. so the little adjustment on the arms is only to fine tune the sweep and the park position. what I find is when your wipers are parking into a good position the upper travel will be right on.

[Bill C.]

Re: Wiper problem

Also check the transmissions for excessive slop or play.

If this exists, it is highly unlikely you will be able to adjust the wipers from hitting the stainless.

[Tom L.]

Re: Wiper problem

Bill, the transmissions and other linkages seem fine. The drivers side parks nicely and leaves what appears to be plenty of room to avoid contact with the stainless even at speed. I guess I'll see when I get caught in the rain again.

I can't get the Passengers side to adjust so that the travel is any further from the trrim. I had the grill in front of the door off and as I was fiddling with them yesterday I noticed that while they don't interfere with the wiper door closing, they are being touched by it when parked.

Ed, I get the 180 degrees off part, but is sounds like you are suggesting that there is a small amount of adjustment on the splines of the transmissions, is that correct?

If it is then only a small amount of adjustment would likely be enough. Thanks!

[Jack H.]

Re: Wiper problem

"I had the grill in front of the door off and as I was fiddling with them yesterday I noticed that while they don't interfere with the wiper door closing, they are being touched by it when parked."

An issue here (clearance between WSW and wiper door) CAN be the version of the wiper blade holders that are installed. The factory original Trico blade holders have a slightly different geometry than current Trico service replacement blades. The service replacements tend to stand a little higher above the glass surface than the factory original blades did.

This doesn't bother other cars from the era that used the same 16-inch blades, but it can/does create a subtle clearance problem with Corvettes due to the hide-away wiper door system...

On the arm to spline, there is NO adjustment. The arm can only install on the wiper drive shaft in one position. Your adjustment is at the wiper motor crank arm with separate adjustments for RH vs. LH wiper arms.