We've had 2 ½ inches of rain since yesterday afternoon here in Green Country.
I got to drive through more than a foot of water to get out of our neighborhood
and climbing one fairly steep hill the water was over 8" deep all the way up the
hill and flowing pretty fast. At the top, in the center of the street was an
Asplundh pickup truck with lights on, defying traffic to move either way.
On the way to get Ben to take him to work, Adams Blvd had water about 8-9" deep
also. Good thing I wasn't going very fast because the brakes were pretty weird.
Finally on the way out of town taking Ben to his job at the mall, the
windshield wipers started working, easing the tension a LOT. Seems like there
is never a problem with the wipers when the weather is dry but when there is a
LOT of rain, they become intermittent. It doesn't seem to be in the motor because moving them when they stop doesn't help, and they stop and start
mid-stroke. I had turned them off when they quit and I could tell when they
started because they returned to the "rest" position. Turning them on at that
point resulted in normal operation and some cheers. When they are stalled,
fiddling with the switch does not seem to help. When they start working again,
they work fine, both speeds.

Any of you had this problem? Since the garage is full of 145 and 245 parts
I can't take it in where it is dry to work on it (and it would probably bring
its own flood into the garage, also). Other items on the same circuit are
working fine, refurbished fuse box has eliminated the glowing amp light, etc.

I do have both a replacement switch and a replacement motor/linkage but I
am reluctant to jump in at the moment.

By the way, unless it gets a LOT drier very quickly, Ben and I will NOT pull
the yellow peril's old engine today.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US

George, you may want to check the brushes that make contact with the armature of the wiper motor, they may be nearing the end, or sticking. First though I would do as the others said and check the connections. I had this problem in my 745's rear wiper motor. When I needed it most is when it would give me the proverbial finger(it usually stopped in the vertical position, very suggestive!!). Hope this helps as we usualy see your name in the responses and not the questions.

Merci

Ps Its raining here as well(not as much though), and melting the 3 feet of snow in a hurry. I saw my driveway for the first time yesterday since early dec, a nice site to behold.

Yvan
--
65 122s/73 1800es/80 262c(350ci v8)/89 745t/87 780/89 740/89 740t/ 86 745 and too many parts cars and projects to list

George:

My 544 wipers worked erratically when I first got the car. Jiggling the wires under the dash would sometimes get the things going again. That was plenty fun driving in pouring rain with a jiggle and a prayer for wipers. After having enough fun I got under the dash and did some housecleaning.

I unfastened the switch from the dash, removed one wire at a time and cleaned both the wire terminal and the switch terminals with a wire brush. Then I did the same cleaning on the wiper motor as well as could be done without removing the motor. Finally I cleaned the wire terminal and post on the back of the fuel gauge.

The wipers have been 100 percent reliable since then. Hopefully cleaning the electrical connections had something to do with the improvement.

Joe in WV

Why did you clean the terminal posts on the fuel gauge when you were trying to fix the wiper action?

Did you perhaps mean that you just did that since you were under there anyway? Did you find that this helped improve the accuracty of your fuel reading?

Theo
(who always keeps a spare can of gas in the trunk...)

Theo:

On the 544 current for the wiper motor and heater fan flows through the post of many wires on the back of the fuel gauge. I am guessing that the 122 was wired similarly. Memory is now dimmed with time but I think the 544 wipers were okay after cleaning the wiper motor contacts.

Take a look at the back of your fuel gauge. If there is a green mass of oxydated copper on the post back there, then a good cleaning might reward you with a working fuel gauge -- it did for me.

Joe in WV

Cool, I'll take a look at that. My gauge works, but it's "bouncy" and seems to zero-out before actually being empty... so it's a guessing game for a little bit near the end of a tank.

Theo,

if cleaning the contacts on the back of your gauge doesn't fix the prob, check the sender in the fuel tank. This is more likely the prob. It's got a winding and a 'contact feeler' (or whatever you would like to call it) which very often goes bad. Typical 120/130 symptom.

cheers, Ben

Joe,

You're correct: the backside of the fuel gauge is, like the 544, a junction of sorts in the 122.

I've seen lots of these get loose. Weird. Wired. Wired weird.

When Volvo introduced the S80, one of the bragging points was that it was the first model in a while with less than one mile of wires. Oooh. Aaaah.

The 444 came with 320 feet.

This is progress?

Best,

Cameron
Rose City

Georg;

I guess intermittent wiper are only a good thing to have when its by design and you turn that function on!

It sure sounds like the "home" switch in the mechanism may be worn to the point of being intermittent...after making sure it's not the panel switch (wiggle, tap, talk nicely to, insult, etc.), you may want to extract the wiper assy. (removal is not that bad after you first disconnect heater control pod from dash), open the cover of the "home" switch and inspect. If you find it's worn, repairs can be made to restore the worn away contact...I recommend beryllium copper for this for it's superior qualities as a spring...soft copper alone probably won't do it for long...I've done this with success...it lasted a loooong time, but now needs it again...

Here's wishing you dry feet!