The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Vacuum wipers in a 58 Suburban

I'm not sure where to post this question, so I'll put it here. I'm in the process of trying to get my vacuum wipers working on my 58 Suburban. I have the factory assembly manual and I've poured all through that. From what I can find there was a single vacuum hose that ran from the manifold through a grommet on the firewall to the wiper motor. The drawing doesn't show where or how the vacuum line is supposed to hook into the motor. The only view is from the front.

Over the weekend I was under the dash trying to get the blinkers sorted out (another painful war story). I noticed what looks like 2 vacuum lines hanging lose and a fitting that appears to accept two lines.

Does anyone know how this is supposed to work? Is it a two line system and if so, where do the lines connect/route?

There is a port on the side of the intake manifold where the vacuum line connects. Unless this was changed after 55.

Kurt

there should be a fitting in the center outside of the manifold as Kurt says - the tube goes in under the dash directly to the wiper motor - what you are seeing may be windshield washer hoses, which have a Y splitter to the nozzles on each wiper arm bezel and go thru the firewall to the [optional] washer - that hose will be much smaller than the vacuum connection to the wiper motor

Bill

What helped my vacuum wipers work smoothly, after sitting for ten years, was squirting a little automatic transmission fluid in the vacuum hose that goes to the wiper motor and let it sit over night. It will soften the grease the factory put inside the wiper motor

Bill:

That makes sense. I'll bet I was looking at windshield washer y-splitter. I'll have to look harder for the actual fitting on the motor. Is it hard to find/hidden?

Bolter2;

Good advice on the wiper motor. They actually worked relatively well until a few weeks ago. I'm thinking the hose just fell off. I will try to add some fluid to try and improve their performance if I can get them functional again.

Thanks

Larry

the hose connection is a short stub seen here on the left of the box that the control cable hooks to, should be able to feel it easily without looking .... but you'd be much ahead to go for the electric conversion

Bill

Ok. After wedging myself upside down under the dash I was able to see the hose fitting. I replaced the vacuum hose with new stock and hooked it up. No joy! I think the switch is sticking/messed up.

I did buy an electric motor replacement from Classic Chevy Parts a few days ago. I was actually hoping that the wipers might be some low hanging fruit on my gig list. Thought getting and hooking up some new hose would solve my problem. I was going to save the electric wipers until I rewire the entire truck.

I am having significant issues with the signal/brake lights at the moment. The problem is currently too hard to describe. I'll get back to that in a different post. That is why I'm reluctant to attempt an electric wiper install. I might just be adding to my problems.

Back on subject: I did manage to get a little movement out of the wipers after messing with the knob for a while. The only way I could get the wipers to move a little was to stomp on the gas. While the engine was hesitating/sputtering (did I mention that it doesn't accelerate very well) the wipers would move. Once the engine settled at the new RPM that would stop. That is actually the opposite of what they used to do when they were working. Before they would work fine at idle/constant speed but would bog down under acceleration. Does this sound familiar to anyone.

Needless to say, this is getting very frustrating. All of my repairs seem to fail.

As a refresher I am running a later model (63-69 I think) 250 in my 58 Burb. With the engine swap, its hard to tell what is original under the hood and what was swapped out.

the "switch" is simply a cable operated slider, if the knob turns the only problem would have to be in the slider on the wiper motor, could even be the cable clamp is loose .... vacuum wipers will always slow down on acceleration, because there's a lack of vacuum to run them - with the engine running poorly I'd suggest you focus on that, you need proper vacuum first, until it's running and driving well don't worry about the rain

Bill

Bill;

I just realized we're talking to eachother in two different posts.

Anyway, I'll try to get in there this afternoon to sort out the wiper motor/switch. Right now the big crew-served factory radio is in the way. I'll have to pull that out to get access to the wipers. I'm afraid of what will fall off when I start tugging on things under the dash. :-)

you should be able to weasel around the radio with one hand to feel where the cable ends, and while you work the knob with the other hand, see if the slider moves - if it does and the wipers don't work you need to pull the wiper motor and see if the internal switching mechanism is damaged somehow - still, if the engine doesn't run well and has poor vacuum, don't expect a vacuum wiper motor to work

Bill