TR2/3/3A Windshield wipers again.....

Well i sorted out the wiring to the motor and now the wipers work. The problem is now they wont shut off by the panel switch. This is the later wiper box. I have a green wire and a black wire going to the wiper motor. I have a ground wire going to the wiper motor pedestal. I don't have a ground wire going to the connection at the top of the square wiper motor box. Anyone have any ideas on what the problem might be?

karls59tr said:

...I don't have a ground wire going to the connection at the top of the square wiper motor box...

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Is there some reason why you did not connect that ground?

karls59tr said:

Anyone have any ideas on what the problem might be?

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I have lots of ideas, but only a few relating to your wipers. For starters, take a look at the picture George posted. You can easily see the rubber mounts to the lower right of the picture. Those mounts are part of the original mounting scheme, and are available new. They will electrically isolate the motor from ground, in (I think), an attempt to make the noise/vibration acceptable. That's why you should need the black ground wire (on a '59). Depending on which wiring harness you have (there is more than one approach), you may have 2 or 3 wires. (In any case) The green supplies power from the (switched) ignition. The Green/Black (green with a black tracer) supplies the ground for the circuit at the panel switch. The Black supplies the return (ground) via the internal adjustable cam to allow self-parking of the wipers. So, your 'self-parking' feature may be always completing the ground path, and keeping the motor running, but that assumes the motor frame is grounded (either thru the Black wire, or metal to metal contact not broken by the rubber mounting hardware). -Or, your dash switch is not turning off the ground path (or the Green/Black is shorted to ground).

Well that's odd. I have a different set up on the wiper motor. There are 3 spade connectors on mine. Two of them are side by side....the 3rd is higher up and attached to the box(at first I assumed this was ground but could not get that set up to work.)The wipers will work if I connect the black wire from the loom to the first spade connector and the green wire to the middle connector and leave the green/black disconnected. I tried connecting the green/ black to the 3rd spade as that was the only one not connected but no luck.
In the bottom right of George's picture there is a black wire coming off the loom....where does that go?
How does the internal adjustable cam cause the the wipers to self park?....can it come out of adjustment?

karls59tr said:

...In the bottom right of George's picture there is a black wire coming off the loom....where does that go?...

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That other black ground wire exiting stage left goes to one of the bolts that secure the wiper motor mount.

One other possible scenario - if the reddish-brown wire from the wheelbox to the motor is somehow shorted to ground the motor will always run. That is the portion of the wiring that causes (by providing a ground) the motor to run until the wipers are parked.

Well that's odd. I have a different set up on the wiper motor. There are 3 spade connectors on mine. Two of them are side by side....the 3rd is higher up and attached to the box(at first I assumed this was ground but could not get that set up to work.)The wipers will work if I connect the black wire from the loom to the first spade connector and the green wire to the middle connector and leave the green/black disconnected. I tried connecting the green/ black to the 3rd spade as that was the only one not connected but no luck.
In the bottom right of George's picture there is a black wire coming off the loom....where does that go?
How does the internal adjustable cam cause the the wipers to self park?....can it come out of adjustment?

karls59tr said:

Well that's odd. The wipers will work if I connect the black wire from the loom to the first spade connector and the green wire to the middle connector and leave the green/black disconnected.
How does the internal adjustable cam cause the the wipers to self park?....can it come out of adjustment?

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OK, so yours is like mine. George has the one for the pre-60k cars, with screw-in terminals. Mine should be like that, but the wiper motor I ended up with is the later spade-type as pictured here. (After killing an hour looking for a good picture, I took 30 seconds to go into the garage, open the hood, and take one.) The way you have it wired is probably the reason it works as it does. If you look at my picture, you can see the bottom spade should have the green/black. The green/Black is connected to the dash switch, and when activated (on), connects the Green/Black to ground. The top spade is connected to Black (ground) so the self park (which can be adjusted by loosening the dome under that wire on the cover -orange on mine and rotating that black cover/cap). If it were out of adjustment, it would cycle to a point and stop, but not the correct point. It is simply to set the 'off' point. If you look under your dash, at the wiper switch, it should have 2 wires, a Black and a Green/Black. When turned 'on' the green/black should be shorted to ground via the switch.

Success Thanks George and Tex. Turns out I had two black wires going to the wiper switch which I believe is the earlier set up so I switched to one blk and one gr/blk at the switch. Also there were two black ground wires coming off the loom,one thin one going to the motor box ground connector and one heavier black one that had a large 1/2" circular connector on it. I had mistakenly grounded the heavier wire to one of the bolts that secure the motor mount to the body. I moved that ground wire higher up "above" the rubber insulator on the casing and now the wipers work and shut off.
Tex Thanks for taking the time to find a pic of wiring set up. I couldn't find one on line either. I don't see a ground to the motor mount in your picture. Does your motor work without one there or is it at the back bolt not being seen?

karls59tr said:

I don't see a ground to the motor mount in your picture. Does your motor work without one there or is it at the back bolt not being seen?

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The ground is the black wire -the highest one of the 3. If my picture were better, you could tell that the spade is connected to the motor case similar to the way the one in Georges picture. Normally, the dash switch provides the ground, but during 'auto-park' the ground is switched through that cam to that black wire on the case. -You could unplug the black wire and the switch would still work, but the wipers would stop exactly where you turn them off.