The Stovebolt Forums Forums The Parking Lot General Truck Talk vacuum wiper motor

I have had several vacuum wiper motors rebuilt over the years, and it's always worked out fine. But, I'm thinking that it is a little silly to send off the motor out of my 53 half ton project, without trying it first. My question is: While I have it out, is there something that I can do, or put in it, that will give it a better chance of working well after it's installed and hooked up?

I squirted some 3-in-1 oil in mine which improved things. But I finally installed an electric one. I was tired of playing a gas pedal dance while going uphill while it was snowing.

What is the problem with the motor?
You can easily rebuild the motors yourself. Most of the time the grease inside is dried out so it becomes stuck.
I recently opened mine and cleaned everything. It was just stuck because the grease was dried out. After that everything worked good.
Be careful with the paper gaskets. They are very brittle! But if they break (or you want them replaced just in case) you can order new ones pretty easily.

GREEN51CHEVY,

"Be careful with the paper gaskets."

Where did you get/buy your gaskets?

Or, did you make them?
If you made them, what material did you use, and, where did you buy the material?

As far as I know there's nothing wrong with my motor. It is free, and feels fairly smooth. I just thought, while it's on the bench, I might as well do what I can to improve my odds of it working once it's installed. I'm curious to know what would be the ideal lubricant for it? Also, my linkage is free, but I'd like to lubricate the pivot points on them. Is there anything that would be better than just light oil?

I used brake fluid. I heard that it isn't good for the engine, but i almost never use the wipers. I think light oil is fine.

Mike, I agree with GREEN51CHEVY. They are not difficult to open, clean old hardened grease, relubricate (you can see from the original that grease was used - I have used white lithium grease with good results) and reassemble. Unless you run across something that is broken you should be good to go.

A little late to this, but FWIW to get mine freed up I used air tool oil with it in the truck - put some in the line and used some regulated air pressure (light pressure) to push the oil in; gently coaxed the wipers to move and eventually got it working like a champ. That was over a year ago and they worked great all fall. They get a lot of use up here, and ya I know going uphill is always a challenge but I get a kick out of them. The truck had been parked since 1998.

I'd suggest running the stock wipers & blades too, when I got mine the truck had some heavier arms and wiper blades on them - reading a little on it they may create too much friction for these; and certainly with the lighter stock setup they really move well.

According to Ficken Wiper Service, the wiper motors need to be operated regularly to keep the mechanism free and the seals pliable. The worst thing is to never use them.

I got tired of not knowing if mine would work or not, went with an electrical motor, not the easiest thing to put in but had worse jobs