1963 Riviera windshield wiper issue

[MTB]

I have no functioning wipers and back up lights as well on my 63 Riviera. Fuses looked good but replaced them, still no luck. Everything else is working. 

[Jim Cannon]

Did this just suddenly happen? Or has the car been this way a long time?

 

The wiper motor runs by getting a ground from the wiper switch inside the car.  See shop manual. You can do some testing while the motor is on the car. 

 

See if you can start your car while it is in Drive (BE CAREFUL!!!). I you can, then the Neutral Safety Switch is messed up. This is also the switch that turns your backup lights on.

 

Have you checked the bulbs n the backup lights to see if they are good?

 

 

[MTB]

Yes, this suddenly happened. And the back up lights do not work despite having new bulbs. I have a service manual reprint from Amazon so I'll do some digging. So, I need to also locate the wiper switch inside the car? Where is it located? Do I need to get behind the dash where the wiper control is mounted on the console? Thank you. 

[MTB]

Confirmed that I cannot start the car in Drive. 

[Jim Cannon]

The wiper switch is behind the knob just below the radio, to the right of the headlight switch knob. Before tearing into that, I suspect the wiper motor. Run this quick test: 

1. Start the engine.
2. turn on the wiper switch.
3. Get out of the car and "help" the wiper arms up from their parked position. If the wipers start to run, the motor has a bad switch contact inside it.