Infant mortality courtesy of Lucas

[emmotto]

I have issues with my single motor, cable operated wipers with 2 speed rotating combo push for washer switch on my 69 2A. (sounds more complicated than it is - switch with knob that turns 1 or 2 clicks clockwise for wipers, push for a squirt of washer aimed mostly straight up in the air).

Before all motion ceased, my wipers would work OK on one speed only and stop wherever they happened to be when turning off the switch. The push for washer action also worked - that's a separate microswitch on the back end of the shaft.

One day while trying to remove some birdcrap off the drivers windscreen I alternated between squirts of fluid and turning the washers on and off. At some point the wipers refused to work and I was left with a streaky splotch of white in the middle of my field of view surrounded by drops of washer fluid.

Knowing (or thinking) my switch was dodgy (one speed only) I figured that was the best place to start. I ordered a replacement switch and was able to get a NOS in original box.

So it came and I carefully swapped wires from the old switch to the new - one by one so as to preserve the correct order. I think one of the wires is a "park" function that brings the wiper blades back to bottom when the motor is turned off - just not sure which one does that - the blue wire or the red/green wire. My money's on blue.

No worky.

I broke out the multimeter and got 12v at the green wire into the switch. Checked green from the switch to the motor and got 12v there as well.

Ran a wire with 12v directly to the brown/green terminal on the motor - wipers work. Motor good (at least at one speed) and by inference, ground is good.

Checked for voltage on all 3 of the remaining terminals on the rotary switch as I rotated the switch - nothing. All terminals were cleaned and shiny. Still no worky.

Am I missing something? It's a dead switch right?

[NC_Mule]

What.....two speed wipers with park feature? Was that a dealer option back in the day?
I have two speeds off and slow.
Sounds like a switch. As a second test label and pull the wires off leaving a bare switch. Move your multimeter to ohms and see if the switch closes the circuits. Red on the power in terminal then black on each of the "outputs" one at a time, move the switch and you should see the circuit close. If it fails to close that would be 2 failed tests so I think it would be safe to assume the switch is dead.
pb

[pitchrollyaw]

The OEM 2 speed switches were weak then and the ones currently on the market are just bad...and expensive.

My original switch was down to one speed w/ no wash so I sprung for a new OEM one. It lasted, let's see: bench test, installation test, inspection sticker the next day, shower later that week...oh, about 10 cycles before it lost all its detents between settings and became difficult to turn on or off.

Did some research and installed one of these, could not be happier. Looks close to original and would be easy to adapt an original knob. Their technical folks were also really helpful in selecting the switch, etc. Nice people.

http://store.amequipment.com/twist-k...ash-p-112.html

They also make a nice bottle and pump that is a perfect fit for the Series. I try to keep somewhat original, but this switch, same piece used on TR6's, is an exception.

w

[ThePhotographer]

What.....two speed wipers with park feature? Was that a dealer option back in the day?
I have two speeds off and slow.
Sounds like a switch. As a second test label and pull the wires off leaving a bare switch. Move your multimeter to ohms and see if the switch closes the circuits. Red on the power in terminal then black on each of the "outputs" one at a time, move the switch and you should see the circuit close. If it fails to close that would be 2 failed tests so I think it would be safe to assume the switch is dead.
pb

Ha! Nice.

[emmotto]

What.....two speed wipers with park feature? Was that a dealer option back in the day?
I have two speeds off and slow.
Sounds like a switch. As a second test label and pull the wires off leaving a bare switch. Move your multimeter to ohms and see if the switch closes the circuits. Red on the power in terminal then black on each of the "outputs" one at a time, move the switch and you should see the circuit close. If it fails to close that would be 2 failed tests so I think it would be safe to assume the switch is dead.
pb

Well, I was pretty convinced it was a dead switch but just for grins I tested it for resistance as well as power transit.

200 ohms setting and red lead on voltage in terminal - with switch on either position the multimeter reads 1.0 (same reading as with leads separated by 6 inches of air). Testing the washer microswitch which did work in situ, the meter reads 000 with switch depressed - same reading as when leads are crossed.

I'm 100% convinced it's a defective item out of the box. Ike will send me another and I asked him to test it first. Hopefully it comes before the next snowfall... or I'll have to jury rig something..

[TeriAnn]

Are you using the late IIA switch or the SIII switch? I've been using a SIII wiper switch for for almost 15 years now with no problems.

[emmotto]

Here's the switch - my truck is a late 69 model IIA with metal dash, metal grille

[emmotto]

Just to close the circuit (!!) on this thread - Ike tested 3 or 4 other switches and all had the same issue - he opened one up and it appears the lubricant had dried up and deposited a varnish on the contacts. Once cleaned up with some contact cleaner and relubed it worked fine but straight out of the box - not so much.

Looking forward to receiving the good one and having some wipers again - supposed to rain this afternoon and snow tomorrow...

[TeriAnn]

Looking forward to receiving the good one and having some wipers again - supposed to rain this afternoon and snow tomorrow...

Are you up wind from me? My local weather forecast is rain tomorrow and snow the day after. Just when 90% of the snow has melted and I had started to think about an early spring veggie garden.

[emmotto]

Are you up wind from me?

Only if you consider CT to be upwind of AZ...

We're down to the last vestiges of the 16" we got as our part of the "Nemo" blizzard a couple of weeks ago so I'm hoping we don't get too much snow.