Ok, I'm confused... How are the windshield wipers powered on my 81? Is it electrical or vacuum? My windshield wipers work intermittently, I have to jumble/hit the switch to get them to work. I found the switch at Ecklers for $34.99, and right below it, I saw a vacuum hose kit for the wipers... Just kinda curious I guess... Thanks!!

 

I took a look at the manual and all it refers to is electrial wires. I didn't read anything about vacuum lines.

 

My 81 has vaccum also, on the switch

 

The wiper circuit is powered through a 25 amp fuse to the controller assembly located in the jack storage compartment. Your problem could be the wiper switch. You are going to need a good electrical schematic to do any troubleshooting if it isn't. Invest in a shop manual as it will describe step by step how it functions. Hope this helps. :cheers:

 

I have found that most times it is the controller in the jack storage box. The wires get rusty and don't make contact. Try cleaning the connection with contact cleaner and see if it fixes your problem.

 

didn't know there was a controller in the jack storage box... I was wondering what those electrical boxes were in there... One of them is just hanging down... But either way, I need a new switch, this one got beat up pretty bad today when I was panicking driving home in the rain... Thanks yall!

 

Oh, boy, have I, too, just been going round and round
with my 81 wipers!

Found in the Shop Manual that it's the farthest outboard
little box with the metal covered relay or whatever attached
to it. Found mine already had a couple wires re-soldered onto
the board. Took apart all the connections and cleaned with
fine grit sandpaper. Took the cover off the wiper motor and
found the pink wire going into the cover on the pass side
of the cover only had a few strands not broken, so re-soldered
it into the attaching point inside the cover. Then a new switch.

The Manual does give the schematic but does NOT tell you much
about current flow, what powers or ground what when, etc.

A chap from Nottingham answered a recent question I put on the
forum, telling me the white wire to the 3 pronged plug on the
motor is always hot. The switch grounds the purple wire to
make the motor run on hi, then if you also ground the gray
wire it goes to low. By using jumper wires in that sequence
you can test the motor itself (take the wiper linkage off
the motor fist). Also make sure the black wire at the switch
is a good ground, and the black wire onto the single spade lug
on the motor cover by the 3 prong plug is also a good ground
(NOT wired to the starter!). Also, he said his little resistor inside
the cover hooked to the single pink wire has 27 ohms resistance.
Can be easily checked with a small multimeter.

Well, I discovered my motor was bad, Eckler's identified the
correct motor for my 81 (several variations for what the catalogues
advertise as 74 thru 82 wiper motors) and delivered promptly at a
good price.

I've got to install it and hook everything up and then hope the
doggone control board isn't bad! I think it wouldn't be hard to
ground the proper terminals on the switch to the chassis (instead
of into the control board) to at least get lo and hi.

What a mess!

Good luck!