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Unfortunately, my 244 has sat idle for the last 7 months waiting for me to fix a number of things that needed to be replaced, i.e. brake pads, rotors, calipers, front struts, poly bushings etc. Mind you, I have these parts paid for and waiting for me in my garage, but there are all kinds of things that seem to have taken priority over the brick.
Slowly, over the last two weeks I have been getting a little done here and there. First, I need to pass the State Inspection here in Texas, so I got new wiper blades, checked all of the exterior light bulbs, bought four new tires today, horn works, blinkers, back up, license plate lights work, brake lights work, no cracks in the front windshield and the parking brake works. The only thing left that can fail me is a defective gas cap (has to be tested by machine at the inspection station) and the tail pipe emissions, again, has to be tested by the machine at the station.
While I was out and about getting the tires and wiper blades I checked the motion of the wipers and they were quite slow. They sped up a little, but never really got very fast.
Tonight I took the wiper motor out of the car and took it apart. The inside of the motor was filled with a rust colored dust and one of the magnets had come unglued from the side of the metal cylinder. It had some abrasions on it, so I feel confident that this is what the problem was. (We'll see tomorrow!) I took a wire brush and some emory cloth and cleaned everything, sprayed it off with brake fluid and then used JB Weld to glue the magnet back to the cylinder. I used a hand clamp with rubber feet to hold it in place while it set. I took some emory cloth and cleaned the armature and reset the three brushes (they still had lots of life left in them.) I took three paper clips and bent them straight, then bent them so that there was about a 3/16 of an inch bend at one end and then another bend about an inch behind that. I put the brushs back into place and then used the paperclips to hold them in place while I dropped the armature back into place. (I also put a little grease on the gear before I inserted it back into the gear housing.) I carefully removed the paperclips and the armature spun around with ease! I then unclamped the cylinder and while holding the armature firmly in place an I dropped the cylinder back into place. Those magnets are very strong for their size, but I managed to get it together okay. I reinstalled the motor and I am going to test it in the morning after it has had the night to let the JB Weld finish curing.
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If it needs to be maintained, repaired or replaced on a 1990 240, I've probably done it. '90 240DL, 245K looking forward to 300K badge. >>You haven't really worked on a car until you draw blood<< :-}
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