The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

My wipers are very slow on my 1850, only one speed as well (slow)! Is this likely to be a motor problem or something else?
Cheers Rich..

Wiper motors are in my experience one of the most long lived parts fitted to a dolomite. Any faults are usually down to the wiring.
In this case I'd be looking at the big earth point on the n/s suspension turret as a clean up candidate.

Jonners

I'd definitely agree with Jonners. The problem is high resistance caused by a poor earth.

I've had similar when the plug/socket under the dash had worked loose.

Ok will check both of these Thanks

Single speed wipers on an 1850?

Might also be a good idea to check and lubricate the spindles on the wheelboxes. Stiffness or near seizure here (and it does happen) can slow or, in extreme cases, burn out the motor.

Steve

OK, So first chance I've had in a while to look at electrics, and wipers wouldn't operate at all! so cleaned said earth and no difference. Cleaned fuse box contacts no difference, will work if persuaded by coaxing by hand but not on their own! Thought about changing earth connector as wiring looks a bit fragile but forgot to take my box of connectors. How easy is it to access the motor to lubricate spindle boxes? Have checked connector under dash and that seems fine too! Also indicators flashing really slow, almost not at all. Would this point to same earthing problem?
Cheers Rich..

Slow flashing indicators can have multiple causes but are almost all again down to bad connections. There is a particularly bad
bullet connector earth point on the back of each front indicator unit. Its almost always the first thing I look at with the old slow flash
chestnut...

The fuse box is always worth a good clean. I'd take the whole thing off and give it a good soak in bilt hamber de-ox and it will come out
almost like new. Plenty of copper grease on all connections and that will help a lot.

Then you have the connectors under the dash for the wiper and indicatro switches. These can be worth a clean up with WD40 and an old
toothbrush.

For all jobs like this a cheap multi meter is worth loads in saved time. Also worth asking if the car starts lively or is a bit of a churner, in which case
you need to look at your state of charge generally and battery connections and earth points again.

At the end of the day if the car starts well and all that's wrong is the wiper motor then just change it, or take it to bits and clean and grease
and new brushes may sort it.

Jonners

Thanks Jonners, car is a great starter since replacement engine was fitted in October. Started on the button this morning and hadn't been touched since December 1st. Will clean all connectors again and re-do earth connector on passenger inner wing.
Have a multi meter but only sure of very basic operations with it.
Cheers Rich

Hi, when my indicators went slow I checked how the hazards were working also. As the hazards were working fine at the correct speed I replaced the flasher unit for the indicators with a solid state one, never had any problems since going to the solid-state unit, those bi-metal ones are tosh and are always breaking down. I got one off ebay, about 5 years ago, it cost about a tenner when I bought it but it looks like they are much cheaper now, it was like this but not from this seller:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Upg ... SwnDZUBD4z

For the slow wipers I'd initially suspect mechanical issues above electrical ones. As previously mentioned it could be partially seized wiper spigots or it could be the wiper motor gearbox itself.

Rich,
Bring it round one evening, I'll show you what to do

Triumph1300 wrote:Rich,
Bring it round one evening, I'll show you what to do

Will do Bruce but needs to be a rain free one as no wipers..

Sorry I'm late on parade with a reply to this. It is an interesting question because of the number of connections running between the windscreen wiper switch and the motor. 5 connections on the motor and 3 on the switch.
I'll try and do a simple explanation of how it works, but it involved a bit of experimentation, as the workshop manual is not very helpful.
Looking first at the connections to the motor we have ....
1. Black wire. This goes to a good earth connection . So far so good.
2. Brown / light green. This is one of the connections to the self-parking contacts.
3. Blue / light green. This is the connection to the high speed brush on the motor.
4. Green . This is the other connection to the self-parking contact. It is always at +12V when the ignition is on.
5. Red / light green. This is the connection to the low-speed brush on the motor.
The connector pins are numbered on the front face of the grey part of the connector.

So first do some basic checks with a multimeter......
1. Check from the black wire to a good earth on the body. It should read less than 1 ohm. Use a thin multimeter probe in the back of the connector.
2. Don't worry about this for now.
3. Check the voltage from the Blue/ light green wire on the connector to a good earth with the IGN ON and the wiper switch in the fast position. There should be +12V here.
4. Check for constant +12V on the plain green wire here when the ignition is on.
5. Check for +12V here on the Red/ light green wire with the wiper switch in the slow position.

If these voltages are O.K. but it doesn't run, or runs slowly, then the motor itself can be checked.

Connect a +12 V supply from Pin 5 ( red/green ) to Pin 1 ( Black). The motor should take a current of about 1.5 A and rotate at about 50 rpm. While it is running, connect an ohm meter between pins 2 ( brown / light green) and 4 ( Green) . This will alternate between 0 ohms and infinity as the self parking contacts open and close. Do check there are no residual voltages on these pins first.
Now connect the +12V supply from Pin 3 ( green / black ) to pin 1. ( Black). The motor will run much faster and mine took about 2.5A.
This checks the basic operation.

Excellent write up Tony


Tony

Wipers now seem sorted, the spindles were seized, removed wipers, undone nuts, removed rubber washers and plenty of lube onto the spindles and they are now 2 speed again, also indicators seem good since cleaning fuse box connections and earth points. Thanks for the tips and the brilliant write up regarding wiring and testing from Tony
Thanks Rich..