Hello. I had the wipers die on me during a drive at night with a decent amount of rain. I was able to get home and figured out it was a fuse issue. Had a loose wire. I got that fixed and the wiper started working except for the following: to help get home I would occasionally roll the window down, reach out and move the driver side wiper with my hand to clean off the screen for a bit. After I got the wiper working again the passenger side worked as it should, but the driver's side was not really working. It moved a little, but then wouldn't move at all and was never in sync with the passenger side.

My question is this: has anyone else dealt with this? If so, what was the fix? I am assuming (hoping) that something in the cable system is off or broke. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Eric

 

Never had that problem but, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say the "wheelboxes" at each wiper need cleaning and lubrication. If you remove the top dash pad (easy) you'll find 'em.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug,

Thanks for the heads up. I hadn't even thought about that. Is the dash top removal in the factory manual?

Thanks again,

Eric

 

Probably in the manual but here's a brief description:

-Remove plastic caps at extreme r/l ends of the dash
-Remove screws (six or so) under the lip/edge of the dash pad
-Remove map light...just wriggle it straight down..and unplug wires
-Lift dash pad a few inches...gently...and disconnect air sensor (above glove box door)
-Lift dash pad up and away


It's been a couple years but that should be enough to get you in the right direction

Cheers
DD

 

These old rack-cable and wheel box systems can wear out over the years with the wheel boxes the most prone to wear. However, while you've got it apart, check out the rack-cable, this is a cable with a spiral of wire on it to make the "rack" - Lucas made them for decades, and almost every British car had them. Nowadays it all seems to be lever systems.

One trick the old mechanics did was, was to take out the rack cable, then move the wheel box spindles about 180 degrees before running the cable back in to try to get the cable onto a wheel box gear segment that was less worn. It sometimes worked !!