Wiper Motor Tutorial on removing, diss-assembling, cleaning

[rlutterb]

Just an iphone
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1973 Super Beetle
1978 Ford F-250
2020 GMC Sierra

[bug1000000000]

Got it off, and it IS splined. Thanks again.

[bug1000000000]

Done and fixed! Thanks rlutterb!
Got the wipers off the splined shaft with a long pair of needle nose banged upwards. Dissembled and cleaned up sanded and regreased. Several attempts with the brushes had them popping out, and figured that could duck tape each one held in, then pulled out each tape when the motor was halfway in. Originally tried disconnecting wires from steering shaft, but could not follow extra 2 wires to their locations in all that spaghetti, so opted for cutting. NAPA had nothing like that connecting block from England, so went with electrical caps. Used the technique of running the motor to get it back to the Park position before connecting wiper mechanism. And finally found that you didnt have to hammer it back onto the spline but simply get it sitting right on the splines and let tightening the nut do the work.
Wipers fly now and saved a hundred bucks.
Thanks.

[Little Mama]

I am a sad panda. While rebuilding my motor the thrust cone came flying off. Can't find it for the life of me. Think it fell down a crack. Any one have a spare one? a place to purchase or any fabrication ideas? The guy at the shop says only a new motor or 75 dollars for him to rebuild. Was thinking about some pvc or something.
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Polly pounds pavement with passion. ~ Polly, 73' Super Beetle

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I would refabricate it out of JB Weld although any epoxy would work. From the pictures it looks like this plastic piece sticks into an indent on the end of the shaft. Clean the shaft well. Carefully without getting any grease on the outside of the shaft grease up that indent, not full, just enough to prevent the epoxy from sticking. Put tape on the end to create a cup to hold the epoxy. Fill the cup. Wait overnight. When dry file the epoxy flat, and approximatly as thick as it looks in the picture.

[Little Mama]

I like it! Thanks!
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Polly pounds pavement with passion. ~ Polly, 73' Super Beetle

[Tim Donahoe]

I have a 1974 Super, and I took my original wiper motor apart and I apparently have no cone washer at the bottom. I simply have a sort of round plastic tip on either end of the armature shaft. There was a spot of grease on the tips, though.

Also, what exactly is supposed to have grease on it? I assume the worm gear does. And also the shaft that goes through the wheel gear. So that's two spots. But why did I have a huge glob of grease on the big round gear and the copper contacts (fingers) on the inside of the cover? Are these areas supposed to be greased, as well? I would think the contact fingers would be greased with a kind of dielectric grease because the metal rings on the white plastic gear wheel is always moving against them.

So what gives? What exactly do I grease? And what kind of grease is best? And does my 1974 model not need a cone tip at the bottom of the armature shaft? or is mine just missing?

Thanks for any replies.

Tim

[luizzsf]

Thank you , thanks to this post i was brave to repair mine vs. buying a new one

[Jeff_Birt]

I cleaned up my wiper motor yesterday and was pleased to find that it looked to have very little wear, the commutator cleaned up to look like new with just a bit of Scotch Brite.

A few tips:

The OP mentioned that he cleaned all the grease off the electrical contacts where they rub on the white plastic gear. While cleaning off the old grease is a good idea you want to be sure to add a small amount of dielectric grease to reduce wear and keep the metal parts from oxidizing.

Second as the OP mentioned the brushes are a pain. The first problem I had was the three rubber pieces that hold the brush holder in place were rotten. I used some 6-32 screws and nylon nuts to replace them. You want about 1.5mm space between brush mount board and the housing, I cut some slices off some 6-32 nylon nuts and sanded them flat. That left just enough threads to keep the screws in place while installing the brush mounting board and installing the nylon nuts to hold it together (nylon nuts to prevent shorting out wiper motor frame to a brush. To hold the brushes out of harms way while assembling the motor I looped a piece of thread around the brush lead and tied it off. This lets you assemble the motor, tightening the screws only 1-2 turns and still slip the thread out. Then of course finish tightening the screws.

[Tim Donahoe]

I used Jeff's method for keeping the brushes back out of the way, but I could only hold two brushes back with one hand while the other hand installed the armature shaft. The fix:

have a helper hold the third brush.

Sometimes you just need a helping hand.

I tried to do this procedure by myself a number of times, until I tied thread around the braided wire that attaches to the brush tops, then had the wife pull on one of them.

Then life was easy ....

Tim

[Hoobie]

Problem with thread is as Tim says. Make a little loop with fuse wire and wrap it round the edge until the body is back over the top, and the commutator is lined up with the brushes, then wiggle the fuse wire out and Bob is your father's brother.

Setup a simple electric washer pump switch without the intermittent wiper circuit and everything and needed to remove the ground tab to make it work

Also discovered today that it is possible to make a LHD wiper motor fit an RHD car. If anyone needs a hand with making this happen; happy to share

[cdxnolan]

Just took apart my motor and everything inside the housing looks like it's covered in soot. Is this thing shot?

[Tim Donahoe]

The bottom of the can is lined with a huge magnet. So, the color would be sort of sooty. But I suspect that soot is a mixture of old grease and powdered brush material.

Your armature is really what needs to look okay. Is it worn a lot? If not, clean it up with all the other items. And your brushes look like they may need replacement.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[bvd]

Yea, I agree with Tim. Just looks a bit dirty. Clean that sucker up! Brushes look a bit worn like Tim mentioned, but it's hard to judge whether they're beyond their serviceable limit. Tim, do you know if you can even buy new brushes for these?

Just got done with this a couple of weeks ago. If you've come this far, should probably open up the housing with the plastic gear in it, clean out all of the old hardened lubricant and regrease. Also, should put some dialectic grease on the top part of the plastic shaft where the metal electrical contact plate is situated and the little metal "fingers" make contact.

Honestly, hardest part for me was re-indexing the little arm back on the output shaft of the wiper motor! Mine kept smashing into the car until I finally figured it out! Won't make that mistake twice.......
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"I paid 2000 for my MR2 with the back quarters rusted out, 900 for the bug. So rice is more costly than kraut."--doc1369

[bvd]

Ahhh...Nevermind! I just looked at this thread again and see by the photo that you already took the plastic gear housing apart, so you seem like you know what to do....

But yea, be careful re indexing that wiper arm....especially if you have new or nice paint.

I have no radio in the car right now, so was able to access that nut through the radio slot, but to be honest, you have to be an acrobat with your fingers, and it was incredibly difficult......I kept having to undo that 10mm nut on the wiper motor output shaft, and move it to a different location on the timed shaft until I had it right....

Before you put the wiper arms themselves back on, turn on the wiper motor and observe the shafts jutting out of the sheet metal where the wiper arms would attached. You want to ensure that the wiper shafts turn counterclockwise, reach their farthest point of travel, and then reverse, rotate clockwise and then return to park. You do not want them to rotate PAST park position on the way down, and then turn counterclockwise back to park, resulting in the wiper arms smashing the car.....there has to be an easier way????????

If I am confusing you with all of this, let me know, and I'll try to explain a bit better when I'm home later.

Also, once you reassemble the wiper motor, it is a good idea to bench test it with a 12 volt battery. See the instructions from the second poster of this thread, "Semper Dad".....that really helped me out. WATCH YOUR FINGERS AS YOU BENCH TEST IT....you could cut your fingers off with this thing if you get them jammed between the moving stamped sheet metal arms...SERIOUSLY! BE CAREFUL!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=536399
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"I paid 2000 for my MR2 with the back quarters rusted out, 900 for the bug. So rice is more costly than kraut."--doc1369

[cdxnolan]

Awesome. Will follow that bench test tutorial. Any idea where to order replacement brush set online?

[Tim Donahoe]

You might just take the motor to a shop nearby (hopefully nearby) that works on auto electric issues. They may have the brushes you need.

Your brushes may still have some life in them, though. Replace the armature--using the string trick-- and check it out.

Do not grease the armature or magnet, by the way.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[cdxnolan]

Roger. Took the motor apart, put it back together, used the string trick. Still wouldn't move when connected to +12V. I took it apart again and started fiddling with it, connecting wires here and there... I got some sparks and I got the gears to move, but never when the gear box cover was on properly. Only if I had it, like nudged to the side. No idea how that was working... Eventually I managed to create a short between the ground and the black wire, melting off one of the three copper contact brushes in the gear box... Guess I'll be checking the classifieds for a used motor... I'm an idiot. But lesson learned!
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'68 Campmobile
Total newbie trying to learn

[neggyman]

Hi there

New to the Samba here.
Ive just done a teardown of my wiper motor and cleaned it up. It wasnt working before, it had slowed and stopped on me during a rainstorm. That said, when it stopped, the wipers were pointing to the top of the windshield.

Anyway I took it apart, cleaned it up, put it back together (paid attention to put the plastic gear back in the same as it was) and it works!
Nice instructional.
Only problem is, the wipers are not parking in the correct position and not swishing correctly; they are wanting to wipe the hood as well...

I wonder if because the wipers were stuck in the vertical position that meant my plastic gear was not in the park position when I took the motor out.
To be honest I thought I had been smart. After prelim reassembly I had hooked the motor up to the power and automatically it parked itself. I thought, sweet, that means I just have to put the wipers on in the parked position now.
Not so, apparently.

Anyone with some insight? Am I going to have to take the gear out and reposition it? If so, how do I know what is the correct position?
I dread removing the linkage and motor again. Ugh.

Any help would be appreciated

[Molly1973]

This looks like a job beyond my realm...but this write-up sure would help. Nice!