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Wipers - new problem

Defender 110 CSW 1990

Right, back home, working in the dry, good lighting, proper tools (although I can't use them properly) and a prompt delivery of spares from Beamends.

I have changed the motor, the drive spindle adaptors and I have new wiper arms (the latter two items because I noticed that the ones fitted were rather more smooth than serrated!

So, it all goes in nice and easy, they wipe smoothly and park!

BUT..they only cover about 70% of the screen compared to what they used to.

Now this could be because the old ones were knackered and the arms moved on the spindles to give an apparently greater sweep (I said they had lost their serrations!), or something else has changed. If the latter I can't see what could have changed. I removed the new motor and checked it against what was there previously and the stroke length is identical.

It could be that they are working fine (just properly now!) On the drivers side they park about 3"-6" (movement in the mechanism) above the bottom of the windscreen and stop the sweep around 7" from the RHS of the windscreen.

How does this compare to other Defender owners? Should I be worried, I have an MOT coming up in about three weeks, is the swept area important?

Sorry for all the questions!

Cheers

Peter

Reply to
puffernutter
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Have you tightened up the nut on the outer cable tube properly at the motor end or have you located the outer tube(s) correctly in the slots on the wiper wheelboxes? Can you see any movement of the outer cable tubes when operating the wipers with the trim covers removed? If not then you may have the wrong wheelboxes with incorrect diameter of gears (compare with old ones removed) or you may have the wrong motor assembly with different sweep angle on large gear ( remove tin cover and you will find sweep angle stamped on gear in degrees) check on old motor first and see if it's the same as the new one (new one may be marked on the box). If you strip the new one to check then you may invalidate the warranty or exchange may be refused if it is the wrong one so ask first.

Martin

Reply to
Oily

Martin,

Thanks for the useful pointers.

I have tightened up the nut properly, I haven't changed the drive cable or wiper wheelboxes, they have been totally undisturbed in this process.

What is strange is that I first noticed this after I had bodged the old motor to work on/off from the wiper switch (no parking switch) so whatever has changed, changed when the old motor was off.

I haven't checked the sweep angle (I will do) but as this happened with the old motor, I can't seeing it being much different

As I said earlier, the mechanics have been undisturbed, so just can't see what's moved!

Cheers

Peter

Reply to
puffernutter

"puffernutter" wrote:-

I misread part of the OP, I see you only changed the adaptors on the ends of the shafts and the arms. Maybe the arm springs were so weak that they were travelling further with inertia and it may be that the increased friction of the pressure of the new arms on the screen is limiting the movement to the correct travel, these symtoms could also appear if the wheelboxes/cables are worn. You could always pull out the cable and inspect it after removing the wiper arms, but it's hardly worth it just for the M.O.T, only to check for wear.

HTH Martin

Reply to
Oily

Did you disconnect the cable from the crank arm? You may inadvertantly but usefully have turned the cable through 180 degrees thus exposing an unworn bit of cable giving less free play.

As far as the MOT is concerned doesn't it have something about screen defects within the wiped area of the screen? If the the wiped area is smaller and carefully located you could avoid screen defects in the wiped area - i.e. loss of wiped area may be good for an MOT.

Reply to
Dougal

Richard Head here!

I have a fellow LR Defender owner who has had recent joy with his wipers. His first comment was "what sweep have you got because it looks like 90 degrees". I though it was 115, but on taking the motor to pieces, it turned out to be 90!

He had a spare 120, so that went in and all is well with the wipers!

Sorry to have wasted your time and bandwidth.

Cheers

Peter (R Head!)

Reply to
puffernutter

|| He had a spare 120, so that went in and all is well with the wipers! || || Sorry to have wasted your time and bandwidth.

Don't be sorry - I quite enjoyed reading the thread and wondering what the hell it could be, too. You might feel a bit daft (haven't we all) but it's another bit of information to add to the store. Glad all is well, anyway.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

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