Vacuum Wipers

Anybody know anything about vacuum wipers? My 56 Olds has them. The motor seems OK, but nothing works. Vacuum pump? Clogged line? How about a 'tee' takeoff from manifold vacuum? Please help! Can''t take this beauty out in the rain.

Well Ken, They vaccum wiper motor can not work if its not getting enough vaccum. Make sure you have a good supply.

If you do have a good vaccum then the motor will probably have to be rebuilt. The ones I have messed with have a kind of paddle type piston in them. The paddle is made up of a couple of peices of metal sandwiched around a piece of leather. The leather actually makes the seal inside the chamber. This leather deteriates over time and the vaccum escapes from one side of the chamber to the other and doesn't operate the paddle.

You can tear it down yourself, its not that complicated. If you get in it, and the leather looks good...chances are you just need to clean it up real good....and lubricate the paddle with a good light weight grease. White lithium worked good for me. They were greased a thousand years ago when the motor was built and over time the grease will get really stiff and make it hard for the vacuum to operate it.

You might do a web search on the subject and find some sources if you want to send it off and have it professionaly rebuilt. I think most places will do it for 50 to 75 dollars. Its been a while since I messed with one so I'm going by memory here.

Good luck with it! Sam from Jawja

Theres always Rain-X

You wouldn't really take that beauty out in the rain would you? I remember the '56 olds and always thought that it was a nice looking car. The thing about vacuum wipers is the faster you go the slower they work so if you need a wipe you have to let up on the gas. Well good luck to you, Sams post was pretty good on the mechanics of problem so you should be able to fix them. But if not, theres always Rain-X

FT Doubleu

On Thu, 09 Nov 2000 22:49:56 GMT, 'Ken Bordner'

Just as a reference, I have a '52 Chevy Sedan Delivery and it's bee to Bar Harbor, Maine (had an only fair lobster dinner there) and Key West, Fla. where I had an excellent blackened Red Snapper dinner. I presently live in Southern Calif. so that's a fair distance for the car. I haven't been up to Seattle yet but that's on the itenerary some day. I've also been stopped on Park Ave. in New York City for not having valid registeration displayed on the car (they couldn't get the lic. number through thier computer for some reason) and was parked in the third lane out due to the double parking along the park. The car is my daily driver!

Isn't that what you say below?

Locate the wiper motor and pull off the hose. Start the engine and see if there is vacuum on the hose by blocking it with your finger. If there is, the problem is in the motor. If there is no vacuum, cycle the control and see if it makes any difference. If still no vacuum, follow the hose back into the engine compartment checking for breaks and splits. Olds originally had a booster pump that was a part of the fuel pump. If you get this far without fiinding any leaks, pull the line from the other side of the booster pump and test for vacuum. If you get it there, the diaphragm in the booster is cracked. In this case, you can make a temporary fix by bypassing the pump BUT be aware that opening the throttle quickly will stop the wipers! If there is no vacuum in the line on the far side of the pump, follow the line up to the intake manifold and make sure it is connected. (Usually, if the manifold line is broken, the booster pump will still move the wipers in small increments) Since few people these days are aware that vacuum wipers ever existed, there is some chance that someone stuck a fuel filter in the vacuum line. This could cause enough restriction to stop the wipers. If the problem is in the motor, first thing to check is the air inlet filter.