69 head light washers
 

Does anyone have a decent picture of how the 69 washer pump is to be hooked up, to the hoses. Thanks Dale

Dale,

I do not have my wiper motor in the car yet, so this will be a picture with a narrative.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...32a0dbe671.jpg

Starting on the right side of the wiper motor is the actual pump. There is a single large port "A" and two smaller ones "B". The larger one is the inlet from the washer fluid reservoir. The other two would normally go to each of the wiper arms HOWEVER in a 69 they are connected together with a "Y" fitting "G" and then connected to the middle port "D" on the headlight washer. The outlet port that sticks out toward the left fender "E" is the wiper arm supply. Connected to this port is a piece of hose with a special "T" fitting "F" that prevents the washer fluid from draining out of the line. Each outlet of the special fitting then connects to each of the wiper arms. The remaining outlet on the headlight washer solenoid "C" goes to the headlights. There is another special "T" fitting "F" in front by the left headlight that splits the fluid to each side of the car. Once split there is another regular "T" fitting for the upper and lower nozzles.

Hope this helps.

Jay

Excellent info, and very nicely narrated! I'm going to need to do this too, as the previous owner stripped all washer hoses out.

JB

69 head light washer
 

Jay, thanks a lot, what a confusing mess of hoses. Thanks again Dale.

Dale,

Another thing that is not clear is the operation of the windshield washers vs. headlight washers. For the windshield press and release the washer button as normal but if you want to wash the headlights you have to keep pressing the washer button. Keeping the button pressed in is what keeps the auxiliary solenoid energized (which is really a fluid valve) and directs the fluid to the headlights. It took me a while to figure out how the whole system was supposed to work: It is an ingenious design but rather complex for something that really doesn’t do that great of a job on the headlights anyway.

Let me know if you need anymore information.

Jay

The plumbing on the '70s is different, but most of them are disconnected also - I suspect for the same reason I disconnected mine:

- You end up refilling the washer tank twice as often
- The pressure is lower to the winshield jets

I never thought they did a good job of cleaning the lights since they only hit the dims. But the "wow factor" is pretty cool... :)

What about the headlight wiper mod..I have hear about..any truth to that?? Maybe a "hotwater wiper fluid washer" would do better?? :willy:

Whoa, great picture! That's the first original wiper motor I've ever seen. Most (like mine) have been replaced with a generic motor with a 3 port washer pump and thats it.

Since mine is never going to be perfect, I'm routing a conventional washer pump (electric - inline) through my existing 3 port pump with just the windshield washers hooked up for now. I just removed the little rubber check valves from the stock pump and it just flows straight thru to the nozzles. I did add a one-way check valve to ther suply hose. Call me Bubba!

Hans

69 Windshield & headlight washer system
 

Jay - This is great. I just became a member and to find this is very valuable to me. Do you know where I can purchase the "Y" connector and "T" valves (windshield & headlight systems)? Also, do you know the sizes (ID & OD) of the various hoses? THANK YOU!

Dwright,

It has been a while since I looked for parts for the wiper system on my car but at the time, there were no reproductions that I could find for the rare, unique parts (check valve, Y fitting, anti-drip valve, etc.) I did see an OEM check valve on eBay last week but it was a little spendy at 150.00 and not exactly "correct" as it had a white body rather than a black body. There is some disagreement about whether or not the car had one or two but mine had two when I got it so that's the way I left it.

There is a reproduction anti-drip valve manufactured by Bel-Air Bobs for about 180.00 but I haven't seen a "Y" fitting ever. Your best bet will probably be to scour the junk pile at swap meets and hope someone doesn't know what they have and score the part for cheap, otherwise I would expect that part to be rather spendy as well.

I am not sure if it was used on other cars of the day but that might also be a path to try. I do know that the anti-drip valve was used on some 69 Camaros so the "Y" may have been used on those cars as well. You may want to check out Bel-Air Bobs website and see what they have.

Don't have the hose specs at hand but will see what I can dig up and reply when I have something to report. In the meantime you may want to look at Doc Rebuilds website . He has a lot of good reproduction parts and illustrations that may show what you are looking for.

Edit: just took a look at Doc Rebuild and he has hose kits listed for the headlamp and windshield

Anti-drip valve on eBay

Check Valve on eBay

Regards,

Jay

The 1969 AIM has all the detail drawings for how the hoses and components get assembled.

Hi Dw,
Welcome!
First post!
AND, a 69! Nice!

"Also, do you know the sizes (ID & OD) of the various hoses?"

I agree that Dr.Rebuild is a good source for the washer hoses!
He's quite meticulous about diameter and hose wall thickness.
Regards,
Alan

I wonder if that is explained in the owners manuel, Thanks for the info, always wondered how that system worked. T

Alan - Very nice welcome, thank you. I think this will be a very good forum.

Jay - I had the wiper motor & pump rebuilt by Steve Hackel in Chicagoland. That included the anti-drip valve. He did an excellent job but, like many good Corvette guys, he was crotchety.

My wiper pump T has one of the arms broken off but still inside the hose going to the wiper arm. I doubt it will work but I am going to try to glue it. It's not like the washer is going to be used much, if at all. Thanks for the Amazon link, there is one T check valve by SWF that looks like it will work. It's not black but I may not have a choice.... I found a Y at Advance but it's white, too.

When you say your car had two check valves, do you mean one for the wiper pump and one for the headlights where the hose first splits to go to each side?

Many thanks - Dennis

The 69 has two check valves (some call them barrel valves) - one at the wiper motor that splits the washer fluid to the wiper arms and one "up front" that splits to the rt and lt headlight nozzles. Be aware that the 69 check valves (all black) are not the same as the 70 & up (yellow center section). The black valve has a 3/16" input port and 1/8" output ports. The yellow valve has all ports at 1/8".

Thanks, i appreciate knowing the size and everything you said makes sense. I have a broken barrel valve from the windshield washers. One output port (1/8") is broken and one port is intact. The one that is intact seems to work like a simple check valve with a ball & seat/socket. It allows flow in one direction and not the other. This would make sense to retain the water in the washer lines.

I have two further questions, if you can help. 1) Are both the barrel valves that you mention (wipers & headlights) the same size? 2) What kind of valve is the headlights barrel valve? I don't see how a check valve could work for the headlights. Being downhill from the pump and resevoir, reverse flow shouldn't a problem. Is the headlights barrel valve a valve that requires pump pressure to allow flow to the headlights? Thanks again - Dennis Wright

Both barrel valves are the same. The correct barrel valve (GM calls it Valve, washer check) is GM #4919503. Did a quick search and found a useful link (over 10 years old, but hey, nothin's changed!). http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=1343.0
Some guy took one apart to verify internals. Yes, a check valve at each discharge port. I'm thinking that the lower valve, while from appearances should drain fluid through the h/l nozzles, has check valve springs stiff enough to stop water from dripping out due to gravity. When the pump is actuated, pump pressure is sufficient to force the checks to open. Also, the guy in the link claims to have reproduced the Y connector.

69vette19467 - I had missed the part number on w/w diagram in the AIM. You already know this but to confirm for others, it is the same GM #4919503 for both barrel valves.

As I mentioned, my w/w barrel valve has one broken output port. I do not see space inside the broken port for spring in addition to the ball but I understand your point. There is a clear seat for a ball, though. Also, it doesn't require pressure to blow in the right direction. It is very free flowing. Very difficult to blow in the opposite direction. Everything seems to add up to two simple ball check valves, one for each output port.

I talked with the Steve Hackel who rebuilt the wiper motor and replaced the pump & anti-drip valve. He thinks a barrel valve would be unnecessary for the headlight washers. His reasoning is that avoiding drainage is the very purpose the anti-drip valve. Think of holding a finger on the top of a straw filled with fluid and not allowing air in. The fluid can't escape. This doesn't explain the purpose for the h/l washer barrel valve but it may be design flaw. Other points/counter points are welcome.

I am new to CF. How would I contact information like email & phone? Thanks - Dennis Wright

I looked through my aim and didn't see it. What page(s) is it? Thanks.

After owning my 69 for forty years (yikes!), I've decided to replace the missing headlamp washer pump. I ordered the hose kit from Doc Rebuild for both the windshield and head lamp washers and found a washer pump on ebay. My original windshield washer pump is there, but missing the headlamp washer part and the related hoses. Does anyone have pictures of how the hoses are routed and "T"d? I see there a few check valves and T and Y fittings.