Ok, the PO told me, the wiper arms and motor were in the trunk and just need to be installed. Yeah, right. BS! They were in the trunk, but motor and pump are shot. OK, so I ordered new parts from RA and they arrived within 4 days, no big deal. I installed the new motor and pump today and - nothing! Seems the wiper switch is shot too, as the little lever feels kind of frozen and the pump button doesn´t activate the pump. Any idea where to find a working wiper switch? RA doesn´t carry them and all I found on fleabay were some expired post with used parts. Is OPGI any good or rather CTC? Maybe there´s a specialist who has them? Now, on the wiring, it seems the yellow wire in the middle of the 3 wire connector to the motor is hot on ignition? The blk/brn striped wire is (switched??) ground? Not sure what the blu/blk striped wire is for. Does anybody know? I also ran into problems installing the wiper arms. It seems the shaft is not turn in the quite right position but is a little to far down. The drv side arm sits way down on the "chrome" trim panel, the pass side arm cannot be installed at all. I can´t activate the motor and turn the shafts as the wiper switch is shot... Is there a way to adjust the park position of the arms?
I got the arms installed and did some more testing. The yellow wire is hot +12V on IGN on, the blk/blu wire is (switched) ground low speed and the blu/blk one (switched) ground for high speed wipers. And wiper motor assembly needs to be grounded through a copper bracket on the housing, using the screw holding the wiper motor to the firewall. Now, I have +12V and always ground on blu/blk and I believe the switch might be stuck in LOW. When I switch to HIGH (very carefully, the lever feels like gummed up), the pump starts to run, but no wiper motor! I believe I need to pull the switch and check, maybe it´s corroded or the pieces are falling apart internally. Since I am missing the factory screws for the wiper motor, I used some tiny bolts and nuts, so the grounding of the copper bracket might not be the best, either. I do have ground when I put a testlight to it, though. Anybody knows what screws are needed? They sell three screws and three rubbing bushings (which I don´t need) for 20 to 50 dollars, depending on where you look...
In short: wipers work, they just don´t park correctly The longer version: The missing screws aren´t needed. While the copper bracket is needed for proper grounding, it doesn´t bolt into the firewall as I thought I´d remember, it only attaches the pump body to the wiper motor. I did mess around with an additional ground wire, but that didn´t change a thing and wasn´t necessary, as turned out later. I knew I had a problem with the wiper switch in the dash as the lever didn´t move as I thought it should. So I decided to pull the switch (not as easy as it sounds), found a screw on the back, unscrewed it and took the back off of the switch body. Inside are a couple of copper lines and spring loaded riders which make the various ground connections for the various wiper speeds. The riders were out of their grooves and the springs partly bent, preventing the lever to travel through the switch body as designed. I was able to put everything back together as it should (I think), re-installed the switch in the dash, et voilá, there were wipers, in both speeds and the washer pump comes on at the push of the button. So far, so good. Only thing is, the wiper arms park about 3 or 4 inches above their recessed park position and when turned on, they go to park before taking their journey across the windshield. I messed with the wiper transmission and tried to adjust the arms, didn´t help. I need to read through some pages of literature I have on 70-72 Camaro wipers and they state, the switch body needs grounding for the wipers to park properly. It would be nice if anybody knew if Buick wipers work the same way and could chime in .
You may have a wiper motor that doesn't have a PARK position. I would be looking for another used one that you know came from a 71-73 big Buick, and swap it in. 100 years ago, I created a thread on here about taking the wiper switch apart and reassembling....not that you need it now LOL...but it's out there somewhere! Here it is: https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/71-72-full-size-wiper-switch-repair.168488/
Yeah, I found your thread - of course AFTER I got mine fixed... :-( The wiper motor is an overhauled unit for the paticular car from RA. It SHOULD be the corrrect one. Is there a way to check the recess function, preferably ON the car?
The reason I say to find a good used one, is because I've seen and heard of nothing but trouble with "reman" units from the big parts houses. Everyone thinks they are the same because they physically look the same. But they're not. And no, I don't know how to test it in the car...but there are only so many wires going to it. Do you have a chassis manual? It has a wiring diagram.
I do and the wiring is correct, I belive, as the motor runs on hi and lo and shuts off. It just doesn´t go into the recessed park position.
Not sure if I mentioned it before, but when the wiper is turned on, it goes into the park position at first before it begins to cycle. Strange...
Dont know if it would help, but theres an adjustment, two nuts and a metal bracket, you can adjust SLIGHTLY the park position of your arms.
When a wiper motor assembly is rebuilt, the rebuilder fails to check the park circuit. I tried 2 rebuilt units many years ago for my '72 GS. Both failed to park. Purchased a whole wiper assembly from a Chevelle guy. Works great.
I tried the adjustment several times, didn´t change. I tend to believe that the park mechanism doesn´t work and I guess I´ll have to complain to RA about this.
