Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

Hi Folks,

I tried and tried (tried rebuilding my old one, including repairing the cracked acrylic piston, bought another NOS one and put new rubber on it, etc.) but could never get my vacuum-operated Trico windshield washer pump to work reliably. It might squirt a few times, then it wouldn't.

So I finally decided to see what I could do otherwise. I tried a few options and finally settled on the following items:

1) A Universal Trico 12V replacement, which I purchased for ~$10 from Amazon. Trico Part# 11-100. I installed this on the same bracket I had installed my remote brake reservoir.

2) A 50A-rated starter-button which I installed in the passenger compartment using the same bolt that holds the radio bracket.

3) I ran a tube from the pump to the existing washer jar, I just ran the tube through the center hole where the vacuum connection had been.

4) I wired the pump into the battery using a 20A inline fuse, but didn't put that through the ignition switch. Since the button is spring-loaded, it ensures that operation is only intermittent, and only when the button is depressed. I had to make sure the polarity was correct so that the "negative side" was coming off the battery and the positive side was going to ground.

Even though the pump is 12V, it still works fine! Now I have reliable squirts to both the drivers and passenger sides - the previous owner had plugged the passenger side, probably because the vacuum-operated one worked so poorly.

As a bonus, my vacuum wipers now work much better! Plugging the outlet to the Washer Pump was the key to improving things, since that valve was/is probably leaky, and the whole washer pump mechanism itself was leaky as well.

The nice thing is, because this setup uses the existing washer bottle and cover, unmodified, and does not drill any additional holes, the car can be easily converted back to stock within minutes if so desired.

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  50A_StarterButton.jpg (8.04 KB)


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This is great advice! I am constantly learning more about how this car i am restoring used to be.

Tim

Did U use positive or negative ground?

The 12V pump should be negative ground, curious that it's running correctly. It may heat up, so I wouldn't use it for long periods.
They make a convertor for this, convert (+)6VDC to (-)12VDC. So you can run radios, etc.

That pump actually runs backwards if you wire it backwards. So you have to run the negative side from the negative side of the battery, and the positive side to ground, because the car itself is 6V positive ground. Since it has 2 wires coming from the pump, setting it up that way isn't a problem.

None of those washer pumps are really designed for anything other than intermittent use, and at 6V it is actually not working as hard, so you can probably run it longer, all else being equal.