Topic: 1966 washer pump issue

[Hipo giddyup]

  I am working on my 1966 Metuchen coupe. It has two speed wipers and they work fine. The issue is that I cannot get the windshield washer to work. I replaced the wiring from the firewall forward (mainly because the old wiring was cut), installed a new washer pump (NOS) and nothing... I checked the wiring with a test light and it's getting juice. I made sure the two attaching screws have a good ground (bare metal under the pump). I pulled the NOS washer pump and tested it on the battery, it works. I hooked everything back up and still no squirters?    I even replaced the switch with an aftermarket unit with built-in delay (from NPD and yes this car will be a driver when done  ). The switch works as good as the old Ford unit.
Does anyone have any idea as to what could be causing this not to work?

[rrenz]

I just went through a similar situation on mine. I replaced the lead from the switch due to the original had been painted all over. When I first gave it a shot I had no power to the brand new pump. Turned out that some rubber "slag" had gotten into one of the female terminals and was causing it to not make contact at the switch. Little pick work and squeezing solved the issue. Something to look at I guess.

[Hipo giddyup]

That's a good pointer. I do have power there so what concerns me is am I getting enough toward the pump. I was considering running 12volts from the battery to 1. test the grounds at the pump, and 2. see if it will work with direct power. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to get a full 12volts?

Maybe Midlife will chime in?? He's the electrical wizard.

[midlife]

Yes, it should get a full 12V.  I'm scratching my head because you have power at the wire, the ground is good, the washer should work.  Did you prime it?  I like the idea of hooking the battery directly to it to see if the washer is bad.  Other than that, I don't have a lot to offer.

[67gta289]

I had a situation once where I had full power at a fuse panel, but when I turned anything on it would not run.  I was able to measure the power on a fuse clip, 12V with no load, then less than 2V with a load.  Eventually I found that the fuse panel power feed multi-strand wire had two good strands left out of about 20.  As I finger traced the wiring, it broke when I touched it.  2 strands were shiny, and the rest had a heavy patina.   

The point is that measuring voltage is only half the equation - you need "power" to run the motor, which in this case is voltage plus amperage.

Can you measure the voltage when it is trying to run?  This may point to a corroded contact, bad connection, or a wire situation like mine.

[Hipo giddyup]

Thanks guys for your responses. I will try running 12 volts and checking that first, then check for a voltage drop using the wiring currently hooked up.

How would one “prime”the washer pump?

[midlife]

Thanks guys for your responses. I will try running 12 volts and checking that first, then check for a voltage drop using the wiring currently hooked up.

How would one “prime”the washer pump?

Gawd, it has been too many years.  Basically you need to get it full of water (bleed the air out while running).  If you can't get it to run, you can't prime it.  You can help quite a bit if you can fill the fluid lines with water by disconnecting the line at the pump and allowing water to enter at the top, controlling its outflow at the bottom (pump side) with a finger.

Question: when you apply power, do you hear anything at all from the pump?  How are you determining that the pump is not working?  By no water squirting on the windshield?  Or the motor not running?  Does the washer bag flow freely to the washer pump?  Do you have the washer bag line on the proper (inlet) pipe?

Yes, I know...all stupid-ass questions, but one never knows when you've overlooked the simple things.

[Brian Conway]

The grounding screw on the pump has a metal sleeve then rubber grommet and then slips into the pump attachment point.  Got the metal sleeve in place ?  Could probably say this better.  Brian

[J_Speegle]

The grounding screw on the pump has a metal sleeve then rubber grommet and then slips into the pump attachment point.  Got the metal sleeve in place ?  Could probably say this better.  Brian

Metal sleeves at all three mounting point

Hope this helps the discussion

[Hipo giddyup]

Where to start,,.
Midlife, the pump doesn’t make a sound when I activate the switch. I placed a test light in the path and when I hit the switch, the test light lights up. With the washer bag full,  I unhooked in the rubber hose under the pump, plenty of fluid comes out of the washer bag as it was all over the garage floor. I will put water in the top of the pump to help prime it. I’ve also been able to blow through the washer hose to the squirters at the windshield with no issue.

Jeff and Brian,  my car has two speed wipers and utilizes the different washer pump. The washer pump original to this car had two wires on it instead of the single connector that is seen on the single speed wiper cars .

[J_Speegle]

Jeff and Brian,  my car has two speed wipers and utilizes the different washer pump. The washer pump original to this car had two wires on it instead of the single connector that is seen on the single speed wiper cars .

No problem just following his lead with an example

Here is a couple of pictures of the style your using for others






 

[Hipo giddyup]

 Thanks Jeff, this also helps me to see how this is supposed to be set up,,  ie. retainers holding hoses and wiring. I assume this last pic is how a concourse car would look?

[J_Speegle]

.............. I assume this last pic is how a concourse car would look?

Uh  no - its what an original car would look like since it is.  Don't normally keep or post restored examples. Most (as with any human endeavour) have incorrect details that I would rather not help get duplicated.    Easier to explain that a post owner made a change and they tend to stand out more than mistakes do in a restored car IMHO

[Hipo giddyup]

 As a follow-up, I ran a wire directly from the battery to the pump. The pump worked and was able to easily squirt washer fluid on the windshield. I next used a voltmeter to test the voltage going to the pump from the original wiring coming from the firewall. It showed 1 to 2 V. Looks like I will be chasing a wire issue behind the speedometer cluster to see if the wires broken, frayed,  or simply not working correctly to give the washer pump 12 V.