• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Wiper switch repair

Share this page

sparkydave

sparkydave

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
My wipers have been out of commission for a while since the wiper switch gave up the ghost. Has anyone tried to repair one? Moss has replacements, but they have been backordered for months and Moss has no idea when it will come. I figured I could either attempt to repair it, or wire a toggle switch under the dash into the old switch harness, that way the wipers can be functional again until (if?) the new one arrives. So far just trying to avoid driving it if rain is in the forecast, but I'd rather be street legal.
 
Much obliged, looks like the MGB switch is very similar, so I should be able to apply that to the Midget. Many thanks!
 
Perhaps the switch's contacts are a little corroded. Consider removing the switch and squirting a little - or a lot - of WD 40 into it. then work the switch on/off several times. Install and check. The switch might decide to start behaving after this treatment.
 
Follow up, I finally dug into it. Turns out the steering column can be flexed down enough to get the shell off without having to remove the whole thing. A couple of the fixed contacts were corroded, and the moving contact was fitting very loosely on the arm. Some polishing up with some contact cleaner and Q-tips, some careful bending of the contact arm, and the wipers are working again. Dabbed some lithium grease on the ball detents and it operates much more smoothly. Coincidentally, two days after fixing it, Moss e-mailed me that the repro switch I ordered a few months ago has gone from backordered to discontinued.
 
Back
Top