Hi all,

I've reinstalled my wiper motor & linkage after cleaning & rust proofing the area under the cowel on my '72 240Z. But now my wipers are turning backwards!  When I turn them on,  they begin with a counter-clockwise rotation (when view from the front bumper).  They want to wipe the cowel.    Has anyone run into this?

I figure that I either assembled the linkage in correctly, or switched the polarity somehow... huh.  Any other hypotheses, sage advice?

 

Thanks as always!

 

Edited July 26, 20204 yr by Jughead
typo

It's happened before.  It's possible to install the linkage upside down or backward.  Pivot points on the wrong side or something like that.  Remove the linkage and install it "the other way".  It's not the wiper motor it's the linkage.

Edited July 26, 20204 yr by Zed Head

which is why its a good idea to always test wiper direction with the wipers not installed. as ZH pointed out, its the arm bolted to the wiper motor, its 180 degrees off.

Jupp, did the same: wiped backwards - shat my pants - read the forum - swapped the linkage 180° at the motor - wiped the right way - was super happy - hit the road in hard rain - wiped like a boss - found out that my windscreen is leaking...

LOL. That's a great BTDT answer!   

16 hours ago, Johnny280 said:

Jupp, did the same: wiped backwards - shat my pants - read the forum - swapped the linkage 180° at the motor - wiped the right way - was super happy - hit the road in hard rain - wiped like a boss - found out that my windscreen is leaking...

try this

 

Interesting to me that he found his windshield leaking in the area that most Z windshields leak! What is it about that particular area?

BTW, this became a particularly annoying problem for 280Z owners as the ECU is right below that spot...

That is an excellent testing method! I've been "soaping joints" (threaded pipe connections, not...) for decades to locate leaks on gas piping. Never thought to use it on a window gasket. Then again, here in Arizona we don't get much chance to drive in the rain...

Edited July 27, 20204 yr by cgsheen1

I haven't watched Dave's video (sorry Dave, no time yet), but found with my old hardened 280Z seals that water would leak in to the channel/gap between the glass and the rubber then run down that inner channel to the bottom corners of the seal and leak in to the car.  I realized what was happening one day as I was driving around a corner and saw a drop of water magically appear at the inside corner of the inner seal, break off and run down toward the ECU.  It was reproducible.  Left turns produced passenger's side water, right turns produced driver's side.

I ended up running a thin bead of black RTV completely around the outer intersection of glass and seal.  I even had to do the top edge, surface tension was apparently enough to drag the rain over and in to the gap.  That was my short term fix.  This was in rainy wet Portland Oregon.

Nissan illustrators even left a tiny gap there in their drawing.  I'm sure it gets bigger as the rubber shrinks over time.

Edited July 27, 20204 yr by Zed Head

I used a butyl compound that has its own pump can and a small metal tip that lets you get under the gasket. Works great but is super messy, the butyl from what I understand is just some kind of uncured rubber, it get messy fast when applying, practice would be a good idea before attempting to do on the car. I think CO was with me when it started to rain and water came thru, ha. member dat CO? No more leaks since that fix. I also used the butyl to tidy up where the various rubber gaskets that seal off the door, and the wiper strip on the window connects to the chrome molding.

 

Edited July 27, 20204 yr by Dave WM

Haha!! Yep, I remember!

Good times!!  

Update:   I turned the linkage 180 degrees where it connects to the motor "drive shaft".  All good now.  (Duh!)  Thanks all!

You merely joined the long list of us that have made that mistake or one like it. I think I made that one in 2008.