So. My wiper blades on my 89, are probably the original ones just by looking at them. Breaking apart, dry rotted, split, and when I use them they smear everything all over the windshield like they were coated with Vaseline.

Here's a couple things I noticed too about the whole system. One, my wipers are pointing in the direction like the car was built for Britian, but it's got a North America VIN number. Second, all of the autoparts stores that are local as well as big named places, say my car takes a 16" wiper blade.

I pulled the ones off the car, and they are about an inch and a half shorter. He insisted that because what his COMPUTER told him, that my car had the wrong ones on to begin with. So I bought the set of 16 inch. Put the one on, to see that it hung about an inch over the A-Pillar on the drivers (LH) side.

So why are the wipers pointing that direction? I mean I understand if the car was built for a RH drive, but it's set up as a LH drive?

Another question I have is did they ever incorporate an intermitten wiper system in the Pre-Ford XJS? Mine seems to have the swipe once when you push down, then one click up is low, and the second up is high. And why do they not go back to their "Home" position when I shut them off? Switch? Solenoid under the dash somewhere? relay? Or is the switch and or wiper motor on it's last leg?

 

I have heard of some owners changing the wiper park position. First you would need a pair of European wiper arms for the correct angle bend at the arm tip. It needs to be opposite of what you have now so the blades lay flat and not pointing upward. The next step is the change the location of the end switch for the blades to stop 180 degrees from the existing park. As soon as I figure out how to do that I am going to change mine. I don't like the blades in my field of view when parked. There have been discussions on this board before so check the archives.

 

Depending on model year and co, the wipers rest on one side or the other, no matter if RHD or LHD (btw.: not all Europe is RHD, only Britain, Ireland and Malta).

Also, the system was somewhere along the lines changed from Lucas to something else (can't remember what) so the assembly was altered.

 

Yeah I tried a search on it before posting this, and all I got was EVERYTHING that had the word wiper in it.... some related to Exhaust, others to parting out cars, and some even about bad ignition or no spark....

I don't mind mine laying the way they are, I just never knew why they appeared to be "backwards" to me. I think the 1995 I had was the same way too if I remember right....

 

The factory placement looks completely random to me, convertibles or coupes, you gets what you gets.

 

It's almost like these cars were assembled by hand (mysterious host-like WWWOOOOOOO'ing here).

Fact is, no two XJS's are ever the same, even if they are consecutive VINs. I bet you might even be able to tell what kind of day the guys at the factory were having by the way your vehicle is put together.

Back on topic, I have no idea where my wipers sit. They stay wherever they were when I turn off the switch. So, I decided to keep them straight up the middle, mostly because when they are sitting towards the bottom, they are hitting against the window seal and wear each other out.

Also, I too was told that I have 16" wipers! But they are not, and whatever Autozone, Advance Auto, O'Reilly, and Pep Boys gave me never fit the original wiper arms. I finally ended up at Napa, who gave me their most common, run of the mill 16" blades, and told me to cut them. They were a perfect fit and work as good as the more expensive ones I've had on my other vehicles.

 

Yes, that is what I did too. The guy insisting his computer was right, told me that the "refill inserts" are only a temporary fix. I told him fine. Being if I have to do it once a year? That is still fine than having them rub on the paint, the seals, and scratching the chrome....

And luckily I did this because we had close to a monsoon come through today... The wipers work PERFECTLY!!!!!!