Windshiel wipers don't work Properly..help

[NoobSkool]

So I have a 1995 Thomas international 3800
I am not sure why the wipers don't work. I just bought it 2 days a go. I rewired one of the switches back into the "board" and it works (left wiper) but the right wiper is dead in the water.It looks like 1 wire coming from the board to the switch for the left wiper. but it has some other wire randomly spliced in as well. IDK what it is lol. Should I just take it in to a shop? $$?

Is there somewhere I can purchase a troubleshooting manual?

and best cutting tool to remove rusted spinning bolts for seats?

Thanks!

[Scooternj]

Originally Posted by NoobSkool

and best cutting tool to remove rusted spinning bolts for seats?

7" angle grinder

[Stu & Filo. T]

While we're on the subject of wipers, My Crown has air powered wiper motors is there a 12v dc motor for replacement if anyone knows???

[wauto]

Them make aftermarket wipers for jeeps. 4wheelerparts.com has them.

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by wauto

Them make aftermarket wipers for jeeps. 4wheelerparts.com has them.

I 've actually used them on my 60 Willy's but the wiper arm on a bus is about 5 times longer & heavier, My thoughts are you would need a heaver duty motor.

[Robin97396]

Taking your bus to a shop to have electrical problems fixed is going to cost you regardless of weather they are able to fix the problem or not. You've already traced out the wiring on the left, as you said. Try running power to the right wiper with a separate wire.

Those seat bolts are some pretty hard steel. I think it's faster if you can get a second person, who usually ratchets the top of the bolt while you crawl around underneath. It's not pretty but it's faster than grinding in my experience.

New replacement wiper motors are going to be expensive. Can't you find something compatible at a junk yard?

[Roadrunner]

First check the fuse. Then if it is good see if you have power going to the switch. If so turn the switch on and see if you have power coming out. If so check and see if you have power reaching the motor. If you do make sure it is grounded. If all is good then I would suspect the motor.

[cowlitzcoach]

Running down electrical gremlins is always a challenge. If you have a shop do it the challenge becomes how to pay for it--at $100.00 or more per hour it gets expensive really fast, particularly if the gremlin is elusive.

Shop/repair manuals don't really exist for buses in the same way cars and trucks have. As old as your bus is everything in it is pretty basic and does not take much to figure out.

Your bus and almost every other school bus built in the last 50-years does not use fuses for the accessory panel (it will have a fuse block by the glove box that are for the chassis and have nothing to do with the bus body). Instead of fuses automatic resettable breakers are used. Unless something has fried the breaker you should have power going to the wiper switch.

Your best friend is going to be a multi-meter that can check for continuity and a 12-vdc test light.

Since you have a Type 'C' bus getting to the wiper motor is not going to be a hard project. The first thing to determine is whether or not the wiper motor still works. Find a good 12-vdc power source and jump wire the wiper motor to it. If it doesn't work you won't have to trace the wiring to determine where the juice is leaking out. If it does work you are now going to have to trace the location where the juice is leaking out.

Trace the wire from the wiper motor back to the control panel. This is where the continuity tester comes in handy. You don't have to physically trace the wire but start testing all of the wires in the panel to find the wire that goes to the wiper motor. A switch going bad is a more common problem than wiper motors going bad.

Once you have found the wiper motor wire(s) you should be able to determine if the switch is bad or not--disconnect the left wiper and hook the right one to that switch. It should work.

Replacement switches are available at either a Thomas dealer, any shop that carries Cole-Hersee products, or you may be able to find an Echlin switch at NAPA that will work.

If you can't find the wiper motor wire(s) in the accessory panel it will take less time and effort to string a new wire(s) than to take the loom apart to find where the juice is leaking out of the wire(s).

Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress.

[Piersg]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

If you can't find the wiper motor wire(s) in the accessory panel it will take less time and effort to string a new wire(s) than to take the loom apart to find where the juice is leaking out of the wire(s).

I think that is how all the electrical repairs were done on my bus! I have never seen so many wires going nowhere!

[Tompen1999]

I used a 41/2" grinder with a thin metal cutting blade cover your eyes for sale t Harber Freight package of 10 it takes time but I did 38 seats this way I sold all the good seats to a large local school bus company