Wiper fluid pump issue.

[nikitis]

So I just reinstalled my newly renovated 30 year old wiper arms, and redid the out side hoses but realized I was getting no fluid coming out.

So I checked the reservoir and it's half full but nothing.

I didn't know how this worked to pump it to the wiper blades but noticed a tiny little thing under it where it comes out of the tank and traced it all the way to the wipers so this tiny little thing has to be the pump.

Looking at it, I noticed two prongs, one has a wire going to ground on the chassis. The other is missing. I'm assuming that is the power line, but there is no power wire anywhere to be found. Do we know if this thing just takes 12v power? If so I can just run a fresh line to it and then to the bus distribution block.

Can anyone confirm?

 

[Mr P]

Almost for sure it needs 12v and a ground.

 

[AlphaHare]

It looks like the other wire is there - you can see the terminal poking into the chassis.

 

[AlphaHare]

What’s this?

 

[nikitis]

That's the ground but there is no other positive wire which is puzzling.

I'll have to trace the wiper fluid rocker switch to see where it got decapitated.

 

[AlphaHare]

I see the ground with the screw and the mid-wire spade terminals. But there is a second wire dangling in the back - what's that?

 

[nikitis]

I believe that second wire is ground for another item, nothing to do with the wiper pump. I'll trace the switch wire and see where it goes and report back.

 

[AlphaHare]

What I see is a dangling wire with a spade terminal inadvertently tucked into a frame hole, suspiciously near an empty spade lug that needs a connection. Try there first.... ;>)

 

[FawnaFox]

If the wire can't be found, the pump most likely takes 12 volts, you could probably run a new lead to activate the pump.

 

[nikitis]

If the wire can't be found, the pump most likely takes 12 volts, you could probably run a new lead to activate the pump.

Yeah, the pump looks so tiny which made me question 12volts, it's like the size of my thumb, but thinking on it this is a 90's bus, they didn't use 5v's for anything in those days, everything was 12v. A device that size today that I normally see in the electrical world would use about 5v for that size. But this is why I asked first. I'll watch for fires when I first plug it up. Going to go look at it now.

 

[nikitis]

OMG @AlphaHare lmao. That was the wire.... I traced it all the way from the console. It went into the fat harness but was a purple and black wire stripe on it. It ran straight to that. It looked like it was grounded to me.

Thanks for the assist. Just learned I'm blind today. From my angle it truly looks like it's screwed into the chassis.

I plugged in the wire and still no go. Brought out the multimeter, and getting continuity from the switch inside so Wire is good. I tried power block in the driver console to switch, good. 12.5v

Tried switch from end to end with button pressed, nothing. It's the switch.


I bypassed the switch and touched the wires together, windshield started spraying. Fluid after 5 seconds. Lines were full of air. But it worked. So the rocker switch is toast. Switches are cheap. Problem solved. Once I found the wire didn't take long to diagnose.

Thanks all, I feel dumb now lmao.

 

[AlphaHare]

Happy you found it! In my family we all have the same congenital defect - 'refrigerator blindness' - so it's a familiar feeling. ;>)