Wiper switch recondition

[Guy]

Didnt like the way it felt so I decided to take it apart, bend tabs out of way and it comes apart easily, pull apart remove insulator, cleaned traces and contacts with 400 grit and back together

[mfg]

Nice, interesting work!

[ronmanfredi]

12 hours ago, Guy said:

Didnt like the way it felt so I decided to take it apart, bend tabs out of way and it comes apart easily, pull apart remove insulator, cleaned traces and contacts with 400 grit and back together

I did that to my 63 and there's still a problem.  Rebuilt motor, new wiring harness, (by previous owners) all connections look good.  Switch position>action as follows:  turned all counter clockwise= high speed, next detent clockwise is off, next position range is low/variable.  No parking of arms when turned off in 2nd position.  Any ideas?  Thank you!

[mfg]

52 minutes ago, ronmanfredi said:

I did that to my 63 and there's still a problem.  Rebuilt motor, new wiring harness, (by previous owners) all connections look good.  Switch position>action as follows:  turned all counter clockwise= high speed, next detent clockwise is off, next position range is low/variable.  No parking of arms when turned off in 2nd position.  Any ideas?  Thank you!

I wish I did… My ‘63 is doing the same  thing……

Only clue I have is I replaced the wiper switch with a rather rare NOS part… with no improvement.

These switches need to be grounded to chassis, and mine is.

[ronmanfredi]

Is the switch action correct?  Starting at far counter clockwise left:    High>Off>Low?

[mfg]

55 minutes ago, ronmanfredi said:

Is the switch action correct?  Starting at far counter clockwise left:    High>Off>Low?

Wow!…. I have to admit my ‘63 never sees rain, and the last time I tried wipers was at annual motor vehicle inspection… (which I suppose could be part of the problem… lack of use!)

But if I remember correctly all the way to  left is ‘off’, with wiper speed increasing as knob is rotated clockwise.

( please correct me if this doesn’t sound right)

[mfg]

The issue the wiper system in my ‘63 has is….wipers do not go into ‘park’ mode.. When I turn knob to ‘off’ the wipers stop wherever.. and I have to ‘catch’ them at base of windshield before quickly turning knob to ‘off’…

I’ve owned this Avanti for 35 years and this  problem is something new.

[ronmanfredi]

On 12/29/2025 at 6:54 AM, ronmanfredi said:

I did that to my 63 and there's still a problem.  Rebuilt motor, new wiring harness, (by previous owners) all connections look good.  Switch position>action as follows:  turned all counter clockwise= high speed, next detent clockwise is off, next position range is low/variable.  No parking of arms when turned off in 2nd position.  Any ideas?  Thank you!

I have successfully repaired the wiper system on the new to me R2.  First, the switch works as follows.  All the way counter clockwise is off and the "park" happens at this time also.  Clockwise then goes to slow.  The next movement clockwise runs through a variable resistor and increases the speed to maximum as you turn the switch clockwise.

I read a lot of articles from several online sources about this which helped me understand what was going on.  The previous owner had installed a rebuilt motor and a new wiring harness. I had already taken the switch, which was in fair condition, and took it apart to clean and lubricate the moving parts.  Didn't help at all.  I did read where the switch had to be grounded for everything circuit to work properly yet when I grounded it, nothing changed.  I removed the motor and did a bench test similar to the method shown in the first attached photo.  The park function still wasn't working right, so I removed the cover, studied the mechanism, cleaned the 2 arm contacts and double checked the action when rotating the disc.  Everything seemed OK, but still didn't work correctly.  I finally took the switch out of the car and made up 4 6" leads with spade terminals on one end and female bullet connectors on the other end and connected the switch to the motor.  Then I took a small 12 volt alarm system battery that I had and connected it to the switch, grounding the switch case and motor case.  Next I cycled through the switch and again, not so good.  Then I remembered reading that the switch case had to be grounded, which it was.  But wait a minute, what is connected to the case?  Then it occurred to me that there was a small brass leg coming out of the switch which was under one of the case legs that holds the switch together.  An ohm meter showed that there wasn't any continuity between the brass leg and the case arm WHICH WAS TOUCHING IT. WTF? There must be some residue or film blocking the ground.  Ok, I know how to fix that. I took a piece of "white" wire and soldered it to the brass leg and the case arm.  Connected it to the ground on the battery and now EVERYTHING worked perfectly !!!  So I reinstalled the switch, connected the extra white ground wire to the dash frame and everything works perfect !

[mfg]

Complicated, but very thorough info… I’ll see where it leads me… Thank you.