Thanks for answering.

1. The wiper motor is rebuilt, clean, and greased. It moves very easily and holds vacuum internally. The only slight leak is on the switching valve, which is nylon and seals against aluminum without a gasket. There will always be some leakage on it. I could send it to Ficken, but I doubt he could improve this motor any.

2. The balancing valve is not in use since the internal engine vacuum pump is not in use. I am using a double-acting fuel pump/vacuum pump instead with it's own plumbing and internal check valve.

3. All hoses and connections are new, tight, and sealing, including those under the dash for the variable wiper arc control.

4. The wiper arms move easily by hand and the cable pulleys all turn, but I will try oiling them anyway.

Mostly I'm asking about what is normal for vacuum wipers on a double-acting fuel pump/vacuum pump at this kind of altitude. I know vacuum-operated equipment works less effectively up here, so I wonder if I'm just chasing my tail trying go fix something that cannot be fixed because there just isn't enough air pressure up here to make them work.

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.