Wiper behavior is strange and sometimes funny

[Sebulba]

Hello all,

My air wipers work pretty well, there is just a strange behavior and wondering if it is indicative of bigger problems in the future.

When I turn the offending wiper off, it goes to center like I assume it should, then slowly it decides it wants to be on the outside.  It starts going to the outside very slowly and then slams to the outside and stays there.

I'm thinking it may be a leaky valve or something.

Any idea?

Thanks in advance.

Seb

[dtcerrato]

We have air wipers. When you say it is moving towards the outside - caused by wind? While you're running? We use the "park" feature on the control knob to land the air wiper in the down (parked) position otherwise what you described would happen with our air wipers too. HTH

[Sebulba]

We have air wipers. When you say it is moving towards the outside - caused by wind? While you're running? We use the "park" feature on the control knob to land the air wiper in the down (parked) position otherwise what you described would happen with our air wipers too. HTH

Hi, No, wind has nothing to do with it.  When parked it behaves the same.  The drivers side wiper always "sleeps" on the left side of the windshield after resting fir a time in the middle.

The passenger side one always stops and stays in the center.

I guess I didn't think I needed to do anything but turn it off to have them park in the center.  I just looked at the control and I see nothing but on, off and push to wash.

Seb

[Dave5Cs]

Go electric and don't look back, lol

[Iceni John]

Have you recently overhauled or disassembled the control valves or wiper motors themselves, or have you reconnected any airlines to them?   If the Park function seems to be reversed (you said "it slams to the outside and stays there"), that would suggest an airline perhaps is not where it should be.   There are three airlines to each motor: Run, Park and Exhaust.   Is the control valve hissing or leaking?

When I overhauled my Sprague HP-200 motor I inadvertently reconnected its internal timing rack wrongly, and it operated completely weirdly until I figured it all out!

John

[Van]

Somtimes depending on the type of grease/lube that was used in the wiper motor will be affected by any moisture in your air system. Carefully dis assemble and cleanthe the wiper motor valve, don,t lose the o rings incase they need replacing. My Eagle wipers had dryed lithium grease in them and did exactly what is being described. My wiper motors were to far gone to operate correctly so ti save my sanity We went with new electric motors and never looked back. Clean your windshields well and Rain-X them in the mean time if needed.
P.S. mark your air lines and their orientation on the motors before disassembly.😉

[Iceni John]

One very simple and cheap fix for air wipers is to add an inline oil mister lubricator to each motor's main air feed, then whenever the wipers are working the inside of each motor gets enough oil to keep everything running smoothly and quietly for many years to come.   Easy!

I also put a small (3/32"?) stainless cotter pin in the hole at the base of each arm to hold the wiper blades away from the glass.   This way, the rubber blades don't get permanently bent over which causes them to chatter and smear, and it's easy to test-run the wipers every month or so to refresh the lubricant inside them.   This is part of my bus's monthly checks if I'm not driving it for a while, and my wipers always work well even after many months of non-use.

John

[CrabbyMilton]

About what time did they discontinue those?

[lvmci]

Rome Trucks in Georgia, sells the new and rebuilt Sprague windshield wiper motors and kits...

[plyons]

One very simple and cheap fix for air wipers is to add an inline oil mister lubricator to each motor's main air feed, then whenever the wipers are working the inside of each motor gets enough oil to keep everything running smoothly and quietly for many years to come.   Easy!

Hi John!, your idea re: the inline oil mister is intriguing.  Could you please share how you constructed that, or where you purchased that oil mister, model #, etc? 

Thank you!, Phil

[Coach_and_Crown_Guy]

Inline air supply oil misters are a common as grass industrial supply type item. Used in most every shop air system everywhere for maintaining in-house lubrication for machines and equipment. I'm sure you can find a properly sized one in any local industrial supply outlet or Grainger for sure if you don't mind paying an arm and a leg.

[epretot]

As you may have read in the " maiden voyage" thread, mine over traveled and nearly flew into the lane on my left.

I'm thinking about electric...but perhaps tuning them up is a better idea.

One of the arms broke though...

[Iceni John]

Hi John!, your idea re: the inline oil mister is intriguing.  Could you please share how you constructed that, or where you purchased that oil mister, model #, etc? 

Thank you!, Phil

I bought two 1/4" inline lubricators from Harbor Fright some years ago, but they discontinued them a few years later.   eBay has what appears to be exactly the same ones as what I bought:  https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=air+inline+lubricator&_sacat=0   Scroll down to the listings "1/4" Mini LUBRICATOR air in line OILER compressed air compressor" for $18.76 or $14.99.   They work OK, but the adjusting needle is finicky;  if you unscrew it too much, it pops out the top of the lubricator accompanied by a mini-geyser of oil (don't ask how I know that...).   After you've set the adjuster it shouldn't need any further dinking with.   I used Triflow oil, thinking that the PTFE in it would be good inside the motors, but all the PTFE quickly settled out into a white silt at the bottom of the reservoir, so now the motors are only getting plain oil.   I installed each one just a few inches from the motor, using some reinforced braided vinyl tube so I can see how much oil is actually going into the motor.   Just make sure the exhaust tube won't drip oil onto anything important under the bus!   So far, so good.

Norgren and others make similar lubricators, but they cost many times more than $15!   Maybe they work better, maybe not, but for our modest needs I think the cheapos are just fine.

John

[Sebulba]

Have you recently overhauled or disassembled the control valves or wiper motors themselves, or have you reconnected any airlines to them?   If the Park function seems to be reversed (you said "it slams to the outside and stays there"), that would suggest an airline perhaps is not where it should be.   There are three airlines to each motor: Run, Park and Exhaust.   Is the control valve hissing or leaking?

When I overhauled my Sprague HP-200 motor I inadvertently reconnected its internal timing rack wrongly, and it operated completely weirdly until I figured it all out!

John

I have done nothing and it has always behaved this way for me.  It does park where it should and then creep, then slam to the wrong side.  I wonder if the park feature has a leak in it or something.  Don't know enough about how it functions to diagnose.

Seb

[Sebulba]

Somtimes depending on the type of grease/lube that was used in the wiper motor will be affected by any moisture in your air system. Carefully dis assemble and cleanthe the wiper motor valve, don,t lose the o rings incase they need replacing. My Eagle wipers had dryed lithium grease in them and did exactly what is being described. My wiper motors were to far gone to operate correctly so ti save my sanity We went with new electric motors and never looked back. Clean your windshields well and Rain-X them in the mean time if needed.
P.S. mark your air lines and their orientation on the motors before disassembly.😉

Thanks for the suggestion.  Yes, I use rainex.  Rarely use wipers, but the drivers side wiper is always on the outside and looks a little derelict.

The wipers work fine outside of this idiosyncrasy.

Seb