Wipers

[DangerousDan]

How do connect a switched hot and a ground to wiper plug to have a simple on or off wiper?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

The black wire for the wiper motor goes to ground. For the positive side (going by memory here and each model year is slightly different), the light blue and the light blue/white wires are the +12v connections. One runs the wipers, and one continues to run the wipers when turned off until the arms reach the rest position, at which point the motor stops.

Use care testing connections in case the above isn't correct.

-Bryan

[DangerousDan]

Thanks Bryan. I will be a little more careful. The other day I removed cowl and unplugged motor. Tried a ground to black and touched a hot test wire to each of five other spades. Nothing. But I touched ground to grey and hot to light blue and motor ran fine. A little fast.
So I wired it that way with an in-line fuse and switch. Buckled it all up and turned on switch. Ran great about 5 seconds and blew fuse. Replaced fuse but now won’t run. I have another motor so will do some careful benched testing before replacing.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Dan, I doubt you blew out the wiper motor, and it might be something like the motor is stuck in that weird rest position and needs power on two leads to get it past that. This motor is basically just a simple DC motor, but the way it is powered is challenging to understand at times. At least for me.

I do recall that the grey wire was an electrical "brake" of sorts, in that grounding it would slow the motor but not stop it. In fact, you could put different resistances between the grey wire and ground and get different speeds. That's exactly how the rheostat worked in the early cars, adjusting the resistance between the grey wire and ground to adjust the motor speed. It was crude but it worked.

As for the fuse blowing? Maybe you inadvertently shorted some wires, or maybe the motor and wiper mechanisms are gummed up and drawing too much current, or maybe the rest of the car's electrical circuit (if still connected) has something wrong with it. Just for reference, I measured the current draw on my older wiper motors one time, and it was around 2 to 2.5 amps. Newly cleaned mechanism, operating as it should.

-Bryan

[DangerousDan]

Thanks. Will work on it later today. Will let you know

[DangerousDan]

Black to ground. And switched hot to blue.
Work great at moderately fast speed.
On the plus side I am becoming efficient at removing and replacing cowl.

[spider2081]

On the plus side I am becoming efficient at removing and replacing cowl.

When doing this alone I put a couple layers of painters tape on the fenders in the area of the cowl. This protects them from chipping or scratches when removing the cowl.

[DangerousDan]

Great recommendation. I had the same thought this morning right after a quarter inch chip on right fender near windshield.