1969 Windshield wipers won't turn off

[GratsundFreunden]

Recently got my 1969 4-door to start consistently. Whenever I go to turn it over, the windshield wipers come on, & stay on. Even when I flip the switch to off, they still go back & forth
I think it's a damaged relay or something like that, any input for a fix to this issue?

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[AirCactus]

I have a 69 TBird that has/had the same issue. I'm sure you know it is a Hydraulic operated wiper motor and mine also has intermittent positions in addition to On/Off. The first thing I did was to take off the wiper arms to keep them from dry wiping the windshield.
Mine was sitting for 35 + years. First thing I did was to add about 3 - 4 oz of Seal Lube. ( read up on it. I use it religiously. ) I know some will say never use it, but it works for me. Then run the engine until Hot, and turning the steering wheel stop to assist in getting the air out of the system, let the system run. I did 30 min. It may work itself out with lubing up the internals of the wiper motor. As you can turn your knob your cable is most likely moving the actuator by means of the cable (on/off/position) arm on the pax side of the wiper motor. You may need to run teh engine a couple times to get the seal lube to work on internals. ( I did three times )
Next step if that does not work, take the hydraulic lines off at the fire wall and remove the roughly 8 inch by 3 inch access panel held on with 4 1/4 inch screws. You will see the actuating cable on the front of the wiper motor held in place with a single small screw. Have someone move the switch on the instrument panel and see if the cable is moving the actuator arm on the pax side of the wiper motor. If it moves, that's good. IF actuator arm does not move the cable is probably rusted and after weeks of attempting to loosen mine, I have not been successful. I unhooked the cable from the actuator arm. Careful as the cable slides into the actuator arm from back to front and there is a small washer like retainer on the end of the cable. With a needle nose pliers you can push from the front to back to slide the cable off the actuator arm. Then you can manually move the actuator lever/arm from left to right. A bit further back and on the body of the wiper motor and arm is a small steel ( I think ) button, similar to like what you find on a carb diaghram. Then I used the special wiper motor tool (flat blade screwdriver) between the arm/lever and wiper body to work the button and make sure it is free. It will mover ever so little and it is really hard to see any action where it is.
I was able to loosen mine up and run the wipers by hand (fingers) moving the lever. Off is full to the Pax side. (best position for removing the cable) If you can make the wipers run on and off, you probably wont have to remover the wiper motor. if you have to that would mean the lower windshield chrome, and cowel to gain access to the mounting bolts for the wipe motor. In my case the cable needs to be replaced and in the meantime I reconnected the hydraulic lines and put a small wedge between the wiper motor and actuator arm/lever to off position so I can run the engine without the wipers being On.
Sort of a long explanation but I had to learn on my own as there is little to No info available I have found anywhere. Even the shoppe manual is vague. So, If anyone had more or better info, I too would love to hear about your remedy, especially the next part for me it the removal of the control and gauge from the dash / instrument panel.
The attached drawing shows the 69 on the bottom half of the page and no where does any FORD drawing show the details of my explanation, nor are there any videos.

 

[GratsundFreunden]

An update to my November 2023 post

I pulled the windshield cowl off to take a look at the wiper motor. Under it, i found that the vacuum attached to the motor was torn. I traced the line to the other side of the firewall to find that it was not attached to anything, I hadn't the damndest where it was supposed to go! A trusted mechanic colleague of mine told me the other end attached to a port on the carburetor, which had been previously plugged up.

I put the cowl & wiper blades back on & now I have the opposite problem of what I had before. The wipers aren't constantly running anymore, but now they won't turn on at all. My current hypothesis goes like this: The severed vacuum line at the motor is disrupting the control system & must be reattached to that port on the carb I was told about. However, the port on the carb is slightly bigger than that of the hole on the other end of the vacuum line & does not fit.

Any input on this issue?

 

[dloftis1]

An update to my November 2023 post

I pulled the windshield cowl off to take a look at the wiper motor. Under it, i found that the vacuum attached to the motor was torn. I traced the line to the other side of the firewall to find that it was not attached to anything, I hadn't the damndest where it was supposed to go! A trusted mechanic colleague of mine told me the other end attached to a port on the carburetor, which had been previously plugged up.

I put the cowl & wiper blades back on & now I have the opposite problem of what I had before. The wipers aren't constantly running anymore, but now they won't turn on at all. My current hypothesis goes like this: The severed vacuum line at the motor is disrupting the control system & must be reattached to that port on the carb I was told about. However, the port on the carb is slightly bigger than that of the hole on the other end of the vacuum line & does not fit.

Any input on this issue?

Your wipers are driven off the power steering pump (hydraulic). The smaller vacuum line should attach to the wiper switch (on the back) in the dash, not the carburetor! There is another vacuum line off the switch that feeds the hydraulic line when you push the washer part of the switch and sweeps the wipers (cycles) as the washer pump puts water on the windshield.
If the wipers are not working, the switch is cable driven to the hydraulic lines and sometimes the cable slips. You might have to readjust the cable on the back of the wiper switch to engage the hydraulic pump again after removing the cowl and wipers.

 

[GratsundFreunden]

Thank you both for the information

I plan to look into attaching the small vacuum line to the wiper switch but I'm not sure how to get to it. I know you would have to pull he instrument panel to get to it. Could any of you provide instructions? (ideally in video format)

Also, with the wiper motor running off hydraulics, what would be the proper procedure to remove the hoses at the firewall, I don't want any fluid to spill all over the engine compartment. A video of this being done would be great.

 

[Drfn8r]

Let me know how your wipers are going ill be tackling this issue myself this weekend if you end up getting to the vacuum lines please update with pics ill do the same if i end up needing to pull the instrument panel

 

[GratsundFreunden]

Update; I was able to pull the faux wood dash panel, exposing all of the gauges. I undid the 1/4 inch screws holding the Wiper Pod in but I couldn't get it out! It was blocked by the circular knob that controls the wipers & I haven't the damnedest how to get it off. Any input?

 

[dloftis1]

Yes, cable driven. A screw behind the pod tightens and or adjust the length of the cable for wipers operation. The cable controls how much hydraulic fluid is coming to the wiper motor in the cowl. Hope that makes sense.

 

[GratsundFreunden]

Update:
I was able to detach the panel on the firewall & I've found the cable. I have a theory that it's seized up & needs to be loosened. Problem is, the screw that loosens it has a kinda beat up head & I can't get a good enough grip with a flat-head screwdriver to get it undone. Granted, the panel is not completely off as the hydraulic hoses to the motor are in the way & I can't seem to detach them. Any ideas on how to get the cable screw undone?

What do y'all think of my hypothesis? I've attached a photo of what's behind the panel so y'all can take look at what I'm dealing with

 

[GratsundFreunden]

Update: I finally got the wipers to work!
First off, I took the Wiper arms off & put them back on, then started her up & saw them come back off (they have been completely off for quite some time now) I deduce this is the result of the wipers not being on their mounts properly. I was fiddling with the wiper control knob while the car was running & when I turned it to the left, I noticed that they were slowing down. This was very much a "HOLY CRAP!" moment as I had found a clue to solving the problem. I turned the knob all the way to the left & when I mean all the way I mean ALL THE WAY & to my everlasting astonishment, the wipers turned off! I turned the switch to the right & the wipers came back on, turning it further to the right increases the speed. Turning the knob to the lefts slows them down with ALL THE WAY left being the off position. I've been trying to figure out these wipers for over half of a year & the solution was THAT simple, ain't that crazy?

So what did we learn out of this? Well, my main takeaway is that there is not much information out there when it comes to some technical problems specifically on 5th Gen Birds so there is a lot of self discovery that must be done. Another thing is sometimes on these old cars, you just need a little brute force to get something to work. It's been real everybody, what do y'all think?