Windshield wiper system

[saildrive2001]

Just started to fit the wiper blades & noticed that my wipers park on the wrong side. I know I should have checked during the rebuild but all I checked was that the system worked.
My problem is that I may have fitted the wheel boxes on the wrong side of the wire drive shaft. Can anyone tell me whether the shaft goes infront of or behind the shaft? I remiember trying both ways & I think it looked too tight to fit the drive shaft behind the boxes but I think that is why the system is parking on the wrong side.
If this is the problem Brian Buckland's book says that you can change the park position by adjusting the contact cam in the motor. My ? is can you remove just the motor without removing the shaft & box assembly?
Apart from trying to get the doors to fit better & the lock mechanism assembled the restoration is complete. To see some photos go to the Elan page & look up rebirth of ENO 544G

[patrics]

Keith,
Have you changed the original Motor?

I don?t think you can fit the wheel boxes wrong

If it is different motor from original then I guess you have.
You change the park side by changing the nylon ramp relative to the drive peg

To do this you will have separated the drive gear from the shaft / drive peg, which you would remember!

Yes you can remove the motor assembly, just undo the big nut and motor clamps and pull the motor clear complete with flexible drive shaft

Regards
Steve

[saildrive2001]

Steve this is the original motor & I don't remember separating the drive peg from the shaft.
I think that you can get the shaft & boxes the wrong way around, can you just check by feel for me which side the shaft is.
I was wondering also if I can remove the motor with the wheel boxes in place, I will have to see if that's possible but I don't think so.

[patrics]

Hi Keith,

The tube enters the wheel boxes with the tube closest to rear of car.
They wouldn't fit the wrong way around because the heater intake gets in the way.

If you undo the the large nut which holds the tube to the motor you can pull the motor and drive wire bit free - can also refit.

On mine the door is off which would make it much easier

Regards
Steve

[saildrive2001]

Thanks Steve, that's the way my shaft & wheelboxes are & I thought that they wouldn't fit the other way because I tried that when I was fitting them.
I don't know why the wipers are now parking on the wrong side, maybe I did change something when I replaced the grease in the gearbox. My wiper arms are cranked so that they will only work when the blades park on the left side.
I will try and take the motor out without removing the doors as I have spent many hours trying to align them. It really is a frustrating job. I still haven't got them fitting well & they are difficult to open, but eventually I will get them to work better.

[JJDraper]

You could consider just changing the arms to suit the new position. There doesn't seem to be any right or wrongs to the parking position of the wipers from what I see in the UK. Its seems to be about 50/50 for each side..

Jeremy

[saildrive2001]

Yes Jeremy that is one option but I would prefer to have the blades park out of my line of sight i.e. on the left. When the blades park on the right hand side for right hand drive cars are the arms cranged or straight? I guess Lotus used whatever arms were avaiable & had the wiper motor set-up for the arms.

[JJDraper]

Most of the (original type) wiper arms sold for Elans have reversible cranks, so you just pull out the flat piece and turn it over. Bit more difficult with one piece arms!

Jeremy

[saildrive2001]

My arms are the original & you can't remove the blade part for two reasons. One the blade is riveted to the pivot part of the blade that attaches to the boss that goes on the spindle. Secondly the arm has a raised piece that locates the blade on it. I still have the original speed blades. The only thing you could do would be to unbend the end of the arm & then bend it the opposite way.
Hopefully in the next couple of days I will get the chance to take the motor off & change the park position in the gearbox.

[saildrive2001]

Finally got the wiper motor out of the car & I don't understand why the wipers park opposite to what they used to. I definatley didn't remove the gear from the housing. Anyway here are two photos of my motor with the gearbox cover removed. Question is do I have to remove the plastic gear & shaft to be albe to move the metal plate position 180degs? The metal plate does not seem to want to separate from the plastic & I suspect it is attached by the drive pin through the gear.
Any help appreciated.

[patrics]

Hi Keith,

Check the cover plate to see the park position. On my RHD the wipers park on the left or passenger side and the arrow points to this side (left)
Assuming that the picture shows the drive wheel in the park position yours shows the wipers parking on the right side - in front of driver on a RHD.

Which way is the arrow pointing on the cover plate?

Regards
Steve

[saildrive2001]

Hi Steve,
The arrow points towards the wire output, which does I agree mean that the blades park on the RHS & the picture shows it in the park position. The real problem is that the blades before my restoration parked on the left confirmed by photos of my car when it was new & I had it in the UK. Also the arms are cranked on the end to suit a left side park. The only explanation I have is that somehow the wiper boxes were installed with the drive wire to the front & not at the rear as it is now. I don't know how you could fit them that way but that's the only explanation I can think of.
What I need to do now is to leave the plastic gear in the same location & rotate the metal plate 180 & everything should be OK. I just wondered how the plate could be seperated from the plastic gear.

[ardee_selby]

Keith,

I know nowt about those new fangled S4's so please ignore me...

...however, I recalled reading that the parking arrangement differed from the S3 system (which has contacts within the motor)

The parking switch fitted to S4's was discussed here:

elan-archive-f16/windscreen-wiper-t9417.html

Sorry if it's irrelevent...

Cheers - Richard

[patrics]

Hi Keith,

I would put the plastic gear and shaft in hot water leave for 10 minutes then just press off - same when you reassemble.

I can try it on my unused one to make sure its okay.

Regards
Steve

[saildrive2001]

I got the motor out of the car & by removing the armature & the gear shaft form the housing was able to separate the metal drive plate form the plastic gear easily. Replaced the drive plate 180 degs. from original & reassembled the whole thing. Lots of fun replacing the motor whilst lying on my back in the footwell.
Bottom line is that the wipers now park on the left side of the car as they originally did. Still a mystery as to what changed but at least I have them working & parking correctly.