The single-speed stock wipers in my 63 Dart are acting up. You'll rotate the dash switch to ON, they may wipe for a few cycles, but then they'll start jerking, and stop mid-cycle nearly right away. A short time ago while driving with the wipers on, I noticed something like a burning hot smelly motor so I immediately cut the power to the switch. They did wipe after that, but they never have been the same and it's time to fix the problem, whatever it is.

Any of you have any ideas to remedy and what I may need to do?

I'll take "Questions that Answer Themselves" for a thousand, Alex?

"Questions that Answer Themselves" for a thousand it is. And the answer is "1963-only, Dart and Valiant with single-speed wipers."

»pushes beeper« The interchange on the wiper motor Evan needs!

Form of a question, please.

Sorry, What is the interchange on the wiper motor Evan needs?

Yep, and the board is still yours.

"Questions" for 800, Alex.

The 1964-'66 wiper motor won't fit a '63 for this reason.

»pushes beeper« What are the firewall shape changes made to accommodate a V8 engine option in '64?

Yes, pick again.

"Questions", 600.

The answer is a Daily Double. Wiper motors can be rebuilt by this Mopar-crazed outfit. You've got 15 seconds…wiper motors can be rebuilt by this Mopar-crazed outfit.

(theme song plays)

Okeh, let's see what you've written down…looks like "What is Passion4Mopars.com, that's correct, and how much did you bet? Sixty-three. Go again.

"Questions", 400.

Before replacing the motor, the resistance across this other component in the system should be checked.

»hits beeper« What is the wiper switch?

Yep, check that switch.

(dig around on the not-very-designed Passion4Mopars website and you'll find all kinds of info. Motor and switch part numbers, diagnostics, etc.)

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Not very designed? Sorry, I put the information up there on the venue I have currently and if I'm doing web work, I'm not doing bench work...gotta choose my priorities.

I'll do what I can to categorize and clean that up, as soon as my shop and inventory are categorized and cleaned up and inventoried...it's 106 here today, alot of my work is done outside until I hit the bench so I'm thinking....oh, about winter before any of the web work happens. I could be wrong.

If you need any info and can't find it, pm me here, contact me on the site or email me, I'll provide it for you

Sorry, didn't mean it as a slam -- just meant there's more to it than first meets the eye and it's worth sticking (and clicking) around to see it all. My own website is a severely outdated mess!

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Oh believe me, I'd like it like a library, categorized, alphabetical order, blah blah blah, but I just have no time for web work right now to get it how I'd like to see it. If I have to go hunt for info for someone and I put the mess together, that's a bad thing. I should know where it is, and if I can't find it, how can anyone else??

Didn't take it as a slam and I was hot and cranky when I responded so it might've come off that way. Most of my work is done outdoors or in non air conditioned settings right now and today we're 108 with the heat index...yesterday was 102. It's been this way for too long too early in the season already and I'm looking at another 10 days like this. Oh wait, I'm in Florida, I'm looking at CHRISTMAS for it to cool off LOL

Thanks. I pulled the wiper motor yesterday and worked on it with a friend who's an electrical engineer. We found some 'solder splatter', but the motor coils weren't burned, and the commutator and armature look good. No breaks in any wiring that we could see, and the wear components didn't look as though they'd seen much use.

There was some powderized carbon inside the motor casing in the rear which we gently cleaned off. The commutator had buildup between its bars which needed to be extracted. A dental pick and a gentle hand got that crud out of there, so that's ready for more service.

Lubricated the Oilite bearings and re-assembled with new red tacky grease to replace the old stuff that looked OK but probably was due for replacement.

Did take pictures before disassembly of some components but the one thing we didn't take a picture of was the position of the lever arm and where it was in relation to the body of the motor when we pulled it off. Darn it.

Anyone know how best to gauge where to re-set? Otherwise a bunch of trial an error is in my future.

Update: we got the wiper drive arm positioned correctly (wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought it would be).

Reinstalled the wiper motor last night and gave it a test - works and wipes excellent with no signs of stopping like before. Thinking it probably needed the carbon cleaned out from between the commutator bars and off the surface as well as any loose grit removed from the field windings/coils, then re-greased to work well. I guess once every 50+ years is ok!

A couple things I noticed:

1. The wiper motor has a three-footed frame that mounts to the inside of the cowl via 3 threaded studs. 3 thick black rubber grommet bushings are pressed into the frame holes as vibration/noise insulators. These bushing on my frame are pretty hard and toasty, especially once I pulled the motor off. Pics below. The vibrations and noise level from the motor are now not as silent as before despite functioning fine, so these grommets definitely need replacement. Is there a good source for replacement bushings or generic equivalents that will work? Original MoPar part #: 2421482. Don't look standard size to me.

2. I am realizing that one of the black foam 'donut' seals that surround one of the wiper pivot stems is actually rotating as it wipes and is making some undesirable squealing noises. The seals are great and are a Detroit Muscle Technologies product. The inside hole of the donut seal needs some kind of lubrication between stem and the foam so it won't rotate. I'm thinking some kind of silicone lubricant but I don't want to use anything that will degrade or impact its sealing performance. What would be a good lubricant to use for this?

Thought I'd post a quick update to help other people out in case they have either of these issues.

Your local Lowes may stock a Hillman rubber grommet sold for $1.58/ea. that is probably about as perfect a match as you'd need in order to replace the stock toasty grommets for the 1963 wiper motor frame mounting. The Hillman grommets are thicker than stock, but in all other respects, they fit perfectly: I was surprised to find these. Using and over-tightening the stock washers does cause the new grommets to bulge, so don't cinch them down more than firmly unless you plan on using larger washers to contain the bulge-out.

On the second issue, if anyone else has problems with those foam donuts rotating with the wiper stem, I sprayed a little Blaster Dry lubricant and so far, it's worked like a charm.

Hello Evan, Peter from Australia.

How do you set the plastic gear relative to the crank arm?

I have pulled my wiper apart to replace the plastic gear (it was damaged) but did not note its position relative to the crank arm.

The workshop manual does not use plain English to explain the assembly.

Thanks.