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]

Congratulations on getting the water leak fixed!

In the wiper motor there is a set of contacts that are operated by a cam that controls the start and park of the wipers. The old factory grease dries out and makes things sticky. You can take the cover off the wiper motor from under the hood to access the cam and switches to clean and re-lube these parts. My cars wipers would not immediately park when I first got it, took several cycles to park after switching them off. I removed the cover on the motor and cleaned all the old grease out that I could and re-lubed it with fresh chassis lube. That was 20 years ago and they still work well.

Check your shop manual, it has instructions on the motor and it's parts.