Is this little button supposed to 'goose' the wiper control **** to the right a bit (low speed setting) to activate the wipers when washing ? Mine sure doesn't...

 

No.

This is an antique car, by happy it doesn't a have a starter crank in front of the grill.

You trun the wiper on and hold teh button until you want the pump to stop pumping.

Doug

 

Hey - my '59 MGA DID have a crank handle to start it !
I've gotten all the parts rebuilt and new hoses for the washer and am now troubleshooting the operation. Can't seem to get it to squirt - I'll try priming it tomorrow...

 

Spitting on the windshield might be "better".

Good luck,
John

 

Its past the point of whether or not they are useful now; I am determined to whip this piece of archaic technology....and I probably can't set my car on fire again playing with just vacuum and water.

 

I can understand the challenge, but decided that it just was not worth it on mine. With the container was missing anyway, I just removed the container mount to make sure I did not succumb to the disease you are inflicted with.

John

 

John,
I got a plastic tank from the wrecking yard with a built-in
electric pump. Then I glassed a momentary electric switch from
Radio Shack behind the wiper switch. I think that it took a piece
of coat hanger wire to reach back to the button on the switch. It's
been about 10 years ago that I did this. Works every time the
button is pushed. Wipers on or off.

Ray

 

Ray,

I have seen something like that on Bill's (wmf62), and have used those tanks with the built in pump before on other vehicles.

My 62 is not daily driven (that is what the 87 Vette is for ), and only sees water if it is raining after I have already left on a trip. If it even looks like rain the next day, I will drive the 87 instead (just not worth the clean up work).

Note that the 62 saw more water a few years ago than it had ever seen before or since, while it was still in the garage (with the top down of course). We were preparing for a potential hurricane hit, and had managed to get 3 vehicles into the rental home's 2 car garage (2 inches between each vehicle, and I had to crawl out the back of the Magnum). Then the wife trips over the 3" high curb going into the house, and falls against the pressure tank for the well water system (yes, the tank was in the garage). The tank is connected with about 1.5" PVC plastic pipe, and that pipe breaks, sending water shooting everywhere (including into the 62's interior). I had to scramble over another of the vehicle's to get at the circuit breaker box to turn off the well pump. Spent the next 4 hours cleaning up and drying out the garage and 62. Hurricane never came close (not that I am complaining).

If another hurricane had threatened to come through, her car would of stayed outside!

I really don't need a washer, but occasionally could use a dryer! Thanks anyway.

John (plasticman)

 

I never bothered to hook up the drive cables to the central pulley after I repaired the drivers side wiper transmission. It was a two person job,a nd I didn't have a second person handy.

The wiper motor hasn't been electrically connected for years, anyway. it does work,as i rebuilt it, it just doesn't get used.

Doug

 

Here's a good article about the system.

http://www.chrysler300club.com/tech/w-washer60.html

My understanding is that:
1. They didn't work so good when new.
2. The reservoir needs to be kept full so that the vacuum pump insert seals are kept wet and pliable.

I spoke to Maxwell at Carlisle. He insists he can restore them so that they work perfectly. Not cheap, though.

Unless you were having the car judged, I don't know why you'd want this system operational. I frosts me too that stuff doesn't work. But I've got plenty of other stuff to fix first.

 

I think it is a fun restoration project. The two areas I ran into problems were the push button and the seal at the top of the pump. The push button needed to be soaked a bit with some light oil mix and that worked great after that and the leak was corrected with some carefully places sealant around a few edges. Now it blows water over the back of the car if not set properly. All of the other parts I took my time to take apart and clean very well. It is fun to tinker with...good luck...

 

There is SO little info on this accessory...I'm told the button activates a 'valve' on the back of the wiper switch to 'break' the vacuum causing pump to start. I'm trying to figure out how to check out this little valve as I have plenty of engine vacuum (18") and don't hear the pump trying to work.

 

Back in the day, my father's 1960 Ford Falcon had the foot operated rubber bulb system mounted next to the dimmer switch. If you needed a windshield wash, you just mashed on the rubber bulb and water came squirting out of the hood squirters. Simple, but effective. However, you only wanted to do this sitting still with the engine idling as the wipers were vacuum operated and slowed to a crawl under acceleration. In fact, the 1976 Capri II that I bought new had the same type of washer system, but with electric wipers, I believe. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best!!

 

Frank,

When I was testing everything I started first with the hoses sort of hanging and manually started testing everything.
The first thing I made sure was that when you block off the line (this is what the button does in the car) and I am sorry for not remembering everything perfect it either blocks air flow or allows it. Anyway, when you do this I would watch the bottom side of the pump and it should activate and lift up. When lifting up this would suck water up from the container and then when released the big spring inside pushed the inside section down forcing the water out the side and up to the top coordinator and directs it the tee valve and out the spray holes out to the windshield...This was my first problem and what I did was take it apart, using vaseline I coated the rubber seal around the edge inside and made sure it felt nice and tight. Then I realized that I was also having a problem with a small air leak up by the diverter section. I used some silicon to seal this and once I let it dry and put it all back together I for the first time watched the insides of the pump work correctly. Now manually I was able to control the pump and have water spray. Then I connected it to the push button and found that to be leaking also. That leak as due to age I think. Once I added some light oil and let it soak and absorb the oil for a few hours all seemed to wrok well after this. As far as the button turning the wipers on that is a matter of getting it adjusted just right and that will work also one everything else is connected and performing well.
Sorry for such a long explanation...I hope this helps a little.
John

 

Thanks for the posts. Maybe I'll move this up on the priority list. It does look like a fun project. It'd be cool to have these things work.

 

jrepoff - you were smarter than me - I hooked up all the hoses and filled the tank with water and naively expected the thing to light off after my "precision" pump rebuild on my workbench. I'm gonna have to step back now and start isolating various things as you have done.

Its probably a job for next week as I'm doing my income taxes now. Guess which job is more fun ?

 

Frank,

I am sure you will get it working pretty quickly. You are very lucky to have the weather to work on your car. We still have a little time to up here before the weather get warm enough to enjoy working on the car with out a heated garage that is. As you can tell I do not have a heated garage....
I wish you good luck. If I can help in any way please do not hesitate to send me an email. It has been a couple of years but I can still remember most of what I went thought...
john.repoff@gefanuc.com and/or jrepoff@aol.com

 

Appreciate that I'll keep it in mind...

 

Frank, Get this thing figured out, so you can restore mine. Like yourself if its on there, I want it to work.

Earl

 

I'll keep you posted on progress (and I thought the old Carter carbs were tough to fix)!