Hello and trying to fix wipers.

Posted by Redhexagon On 2022/8/22 1:35:37

Hello, all. I'm new to the forum. In fact, I am new to Packards. I've admired them for years and finally bought a 1955 Patrician. I've had it a few weeks now and have been ironing out lots of little annoying problems. While I am new to Packards, I am not entirely new to old cars. I have a small collection of 1960's through 1980's American Motors cars, though I understand they are "new" cars by Packard standards...

Anyhow,

My wipers are a problem. I try not to drive in the rain, but it rains every day here this time of year, so sometimes you get caught in a storm.

It will wipe with closed throttle, but stops wiping entirely with even the slightest opening of the throttle. I cannot even maintain a steady speed on a level road and have them keep wiping.

My engine-driven vacuum pump in the crankcase is inoperative. I suspect it's gone entirely since I can blow air into the steel line and hear the air exiting inside the crankcase, unabated. I don't think the line is hooked to anything inside. The oil pan has been off this car before, so it's likely the oil pump has been changed. It has 65,000 miles. I keep the line plugged.

In a "Hail Mary for the End Zone" move, I installed a double-action fuel pump for a 1955 Nash Ambassador with the 320 V8 to give me a fuel pump-mounted vacuum pump like many cars used. Vacuum booster is more like it... The 1955 Nash manual says it's only good for 10 inches of mercury and that's what I measured on mine. It's not enough to make the wipers even budge. Installing it made absolutely no improvement over manifold vacuum alone.

I've looked into installing a 12v electric vacuum pump, but any pump with sufficient capacity would use about 10 amps and this 30-amp generator seems to work hard enough as it is keeping up with my power windows, power seat, dual heaters...

The elevation that I live at makes everything worse. I am 7000 feet above sea level. Engines up here make 16 inches of mercury at idle if you are lucky. All vacuum-operated things work less effectively.

I feel pretty stuck. I don't see any easy solutions here aside from lifting my foot off the throttle every time the windshield needs cleared. I will double-check the wiper motor again to make sure it isn't internally leaking.