47 Dodge Truck vacuum wipers don't work but when I move the blade to the center of the windshield and start the engine it would move back to the left side. Is there a easy fix for this? Thanks, Greg
Take it apart, clean out the old grease, repack it and see how it works. Most of the time the old grease gets too stiff or the hoses are shot. Of course, you still end up with vacuum wipers, consider adding a vacuum storage container. Gene
Company has ads in Hemmings motor news. Fricken I think is the name. They did one on the 36 I had and it worked great.
A "Fricken" vacuum reservoir?...lol. Don't take it apart yet. You can remove the vacuum line and spray some WD-40 into the wiper motor, and it'll likely improve. The WD-40 will help to loosen things up and seal it. But it's difficult to get much to go in...it'll just wanna spit back at you. A better method, is to put a mix of WD-40 and a little oil into a squeeze bottle that has a tapered tip...like a gear lube bottle...or something similar, but smaller. Press the tip of the bottle to the vacuum port and force it in using a little pressure. Give it some time to make its way in there. If you don't have room for a squeeze bottle, leave the vacuum hose hooked to the wiper motor and put the squeeze bottle to the other end of the hose. But be careful...the lubrication and the pressure can make the hose come off the wiper motor...****...and you'll have lube all over the place. Securing the hose to the vacuum motor with a small spring-type hose clamp will help to avoid a mess. In any case, have rags at hand. You can use your compressor with a blow gun that has a tapered rubber tip, but use very low pressure. If you don't have access to any of that, fill the vacuum hose with lube and blow into the end of the hose with your mouth. I think it helps to get the lube to enter the vacuum motor, if you manually cycle it by moving the wipers back and forth. Once you figure that you've actually gotten some lube in there, hook the hose back up, start the engine, and give 'er a try. You should see a big improvement. If the wipers still don't move, give 'em some help by moving them by hand until they start going on their own. If all that doesn't work, then consider taking it apart for cleaning, lubrication and gaskets. Btw...I like vacuum wiper motors, rather than replacing them with an electric setup. They help to retain the vintage persona of an old car. The wipers do slow down or can even stop completely under acceleration. A vacuum canister can help, but a combo fuel pump/vacuum pump works better...if available for your engine. The vacuum motor will work fine on its own with no help, but just don't try p***ing a semi truck in the rain!...lol.
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