wiper operation

[Kurt]

I recently found and fixed a pesky leak where water was entering the passenger compartment and winding up on the front passenger floorboard. I can post details about that if anyone is interested in a separate blog. My wipers have always as long as I have owned this car (29 years) had a delay from the time I flip on the switch til they start wiping, up to a minute sometimes. I have also seen where they have a delay after I turn them off til they stop wiping. I had the dash out recently and took the time to thoroughly clean and lube the switch but it made no difference with the wipers. It has never been a priority to fix this before since I would never have the car out if there was the slightest chance of rain. Now that I have a water-tight car, I may just drive it in the rain because I CAN. I thought I read a post about a similar wiper problem before either on this board or the old one but can't find it now. If anyone knows what causes this delay please let me know.

[David Thomas]

You're welcome. I'm glad it worked out with a positive outcome!

[Kurt]

Just an update on the wipers. I pulled the cover on the wiper motor, cleaned up all the old sticky grease. re-lubed and it works great now. It was a relatively easy job. I'm glad I asked about it here before I worked on it. I had already planned on pulling the wiper motor out of the car to work on it. Glad I didn't do all that unnecessary work. Thanks again David for the info.

[Jason Edge]

Kurt, Yeah the 63's tended to break at that plastic pivot pin location.

Just to add..I had to go find it...there was a serviceman bulletin on into the 1964 production run where they went to a better fitting "snap-on" cap (see it in the 1964 Serviceman Bulletin for Feb page 11).  Again, if they would cover something minor like this later in the 64 production run, I would think they would cover a switch to a brand new run mid/late in the 63 production run.

[Kurt]

Thanks guys. Jason, that makes sense. I would also add that the 63 style lid is prone to breaking off and getting lost. My car and parts car reservoir lids had broken off identically. The only thing left of the lid was the tether pin in the tank, David, if you need any more details let me know. It was very easy. I was able to cut everything with scissors

[David Thomas]

Thank you Kurt, that is very resourceful. I like it. My original tank, that is like yours, is in better condition than the one I purchased from a wrecking yard, it just needs a lid. I may try what you have done.

[Jason Edge]

Kurt,

First I like the adaptive fix. Reminds me of the saying in the Clint Eastwood movie 'Heartbreak Ridge' where he said "Adapt, Improvise and overcome".

I've heard the "1963 style" windshield washer reservoir with the U shaped white plastic top and bottom feed as being replaced by the top feed "64 style" with small round black cap in late 1963 production year but have not seen anything regarding this change in the Serviceman Bulletins covering these years.

This would be a very typical thing to include in these bulletins if it were changed mid-production so my best guess is that as the 1963's with bottom feed began to leak, or needed to be replaced they replaced them with the 64 and later style later on. 

Often Original Equipment items were replaced with newer style parts as they were needed. A good example of this are the horns.  The master parts book indicates to use the 64 to 69 type Hi and Lo Note Horns for the 63 and prior Cadillacs as they needed replacing even though the 63 horn was a good 1" wider than the 64 and later horns.

Point being that newer equipment sometimes replaced older original equipment and that is my gut feeling on why you see 64 reservoirs on some 63's.I would really expect these to be in the Serviceman Bulletin somewhere if it was changed mid production year.  I have read (and believe) that the 64 top feed style replaced the 63 bottom feed style in large part because the bottom feed 63 style was prone to leaking. This again would probably be something that would rear its head after a few years..not mid production.

 

[Kurt]

Thanks. For the 64 reservoir are you talking about the one with the black round lid where the hose attaches to the lid? I believe those were used later in 63 too but could be wrong. I sure Jason knows. For mine, I know the lid should be the same color as the bottle but it won't keep me up at night. I always like fixing something if I can rather than trashing & buying another. I used a piece of polyethylene foam that I had on hand to make a "cork" for the bottle and then I cut out a cover for the cork from a DVD case a little larger than the cork complete with a tab for easy opening. I used contact cement to attach the cork to the cover. As for a hinge, I simply used a zip tie to tether one corner of the cover to the existing hole for the original lid. It really forms a good tight fit and the hole for the tether lets it breathe just enough so that the tank does not deveop a vacuum when the washer is used.

[David Thomas]

That washer reservoir cover looks pretty good. I need to do that to my original tank, how did you hinge it? Years ago I bought a 64 reservoir, it had a crack in it and isn't right for the car. I would like to get the original put it back in, if I could get a lid on it.

[Kurt]

Positive. I will post the details of the leak source and fix. Not coolant.

[Kurt]

Thanks David. Good to know that I can fix this without taking the wiper motor out of the car. Hopefully cleaning & lubing the wiper motor will make it quiet down a little. I swear it sounds like a very large cat (maybe a lion?) purring when it is running. I also fixed the windshield washer with a $6 rebuild kit from O'Reillys. I made a lid for my reservoir from a DVD case which turned out great if I do say so myself. It was cool to see the windshield washer working for the 1st time ever in 28 years. Here's a pic of the reservoir. You can also see the new washer nipples mounted on the wiper motor.