Wiper bench test

[RivNut]

The inner and outer fenders on my 64 are off.  There is no battery. And the wiper motor is exposed. There's no switch in the dash.  Is there a way to test the wiper motor under these circumstances? We have a 12V battery charger that we connected to what we thought were the ground terminal and a 12V terminal. All we're getting is a clicking from the motor. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Ed

[abandg]

Ed, last time I tested a wiper motor I think I had to use a jumper to complete the circuit before the the motor would operate. . It has been along time ago. I am sure someone has the answer. Gene.

[Wayne R]

Ed   two things here ,you may be better with a battery position on a piece of lumber  with original battery connections in place.

also i know with chev corvette there is also a ground  at the  switch on dash--so that may the problem.

Also over the years when i purchased cars in California about half the buicks  there wipers were never working,

probably because it does not rain there alot.  May not be connected, but what i used to do was pull a washer hose of under the hood

and blow hot water through with my mouth into the motor, then run round and  push the wiper switch,-- and they would start working

this primes the  pump inside the motor , and on many occasions, all work ok.

then i would clear and clean both spray nossels  with a single thin cooper electrical wire.

Edited March 13 by Wayne R
photo (see edit history)

[Riviera63]

From what I understand the 63 & 64 2-speed wiper motors are the same except for the motor cover on the 63 is metal and the 64 is plastic.

 

 

[gungeey]

Jump the spades like in the picture and pwr+ to the middle. Your grounded to the firewall.

 

Why didn't you tell yourself to go buy a FSM? 🤣

[RivNut]

Mine is so busted up, it’s impossible to find anything in it.  As we speak, a new repo is on its way to me.  I ordered it a couple of days ago.  But neither scenario is useful right now. My “book of many pieces” is in one place, the car and I are about 350 miles from home.  I read that big illustrated wiring diagram wrong. It shows the ground to be in #1 or #3.  From what I’ve picked up here, the ground is #2. Back to the drawing board. 
Thanks,

Ed.

[Frank DuVal]

13 hours ago, Wayne R said:

i know with chev corvette there is also a ground  at the  switch on dash--so that may the problem.

RIGHT! 👍

 

Unless this Buick Rivera is wildly different from GM cars of the electric wiper era, (yes, that's a LOT of years!), you put the hot to the hot lead of the wiper motor and a ground to the lead (or leads) to the dash switch! The grounding of the motor to the cowl is to make the PARK function work!🛠️☃️🚋

Also grounding the lead to the WASH switch makes the WASH solenoid pull in while the motor is turning, which it does due to the PARK switch now calling to wash the window.  😉

 

And I hope your battery charger can supply at least 15 amps.

Edited March 14 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)

[RivNut]

On 3/13/2024 at 12:05 PM, gungeey said:

Jump the spades like in the picture and pwr+ to the middle. Your grounded to the firewall.

 

Why didn't you tell yourself to go buy a FSM? 🤣

Happy to report that my new Service Manual arrived today. 😁