Wiper linkage popped out - any ideas how to reconnect?

[AJS]

My wipers on my Chim 450 (2000 Model)stopped working last night after hearing a mechanical clunk. I decided I would try and fix this myself and had great fun taking the dash off to access the mechanism :-)

I found an rectangular inspection hatch that gives me access to the wiper mechanism, removed that and now can just about see what is wrong. There is a cylindrical rod that should connect to a short (~1 inch) stub/ball joint on the wiper linkage.

I've been fiddling around for about an hour and cannot work out how to reconnect - am I missing something obvious that I should be doing or have I gone about this the completely wrong way??

Any hints/tips/ideas before I take it to the dealer - I feel like I'm almost there but just missing that last piece of the puzzle...

Thanks.

[Greenv8s]

quote:My wipers on my Chim 450 (2000 Model)stopped working last night after hearing a mechanical clunk. I decided I would try and fix this myself and had great fun taking the dash off to access the mechanism :-)

I found an rectangular inspection hatch that gives me access to the wiper mechanism, removed that and now can just about see what is wrong. There is a cylindrical rod that should connect to a short (~1 inch) stub/ball joint on the wiper linkage.

I've been fiddling around for about an hour and cannot work out how to reconnect - am I missing something obvious that I should be doing or have I gone about this the completely wrong way??

Any hints/tips/ideas before I take it to the dealer - I feel like I'm almost there but just missing that last piece of the puzzle...

Thanks.

I've never seen inside there but on other cars I've seen linkages where a ball-shaped peg on the end of a crank or lever fits into a spherical hole in a push-rod, with a sleeve stopping it falling out again. Does that make any sense? If this is similar, maybe the hole you're looking for is on the other side of the rod?

Hope this helps,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

[AJS]

quote:
I've never seen inside there but on other cars I've seen linkages where a ball-shaped peg on the end of a crank or lever fits into a spherical hole in a push-rod, with a sleeve stopping it falling out again. Does that make any sense? If this is similar, maybe the hole you're looking for is on the other side of the rod?

Hope this helps,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

Thanks for the response Peter.

I've attempted to attach a photo to this post with the two parts I think that need to be connected. I've had to use a makeup mirror (not mine I hasten to add!) to show the two pieces I'm talking about - the push/pull rod is at the bottom right of the mirror, and the brown stub/ball joint connected to the flat bar that connects the wipers can be seen at the top left.

Photo below:


I'm assuming that the brown stub needs to slot into the black push rod but I just cannot get it lined up correctly to achieve this (bear in mind the inspection hatch is about the size of a letter box so it's basically a one handed job!)


The black rod is the part that moves in an elliptical fashion when I switch the wipers on, and the brown stub moves when I manually move the wipers.

Any more hints or tips much appreciated...

[Greenv8s]

Sorry I can't make head nor tail out of that picture, can't see brown bits, black bits or even the mirror come to that!

Sorry,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

[AJS]

quote:
Sorry I can't make head nor tail out of that picture, can't see brown bits, black bits or even the mirror come to that!

Sorry,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

Point taken, I'm forgetting not everyone has spent the last hour getting intimate with their wipers

I've taken the liberty of attaching another photo with more detail, if for nothing more than to give you an idea of what I'm going on about.

I'm debating whether to try and remove the main section of the dash to give me more space to play with, or whether I should put it back together and head for the dealer before I make an @rse of things.

Overview Photo:

http://icd.internetphotoservices.co.uk/lib8788/scale500x500/425831.jpg

Detailed Photo:

[Greenv8s]

OK now I've gone cross-eyed and got a headache from squinting at the picture but I think I see what you're getting at. It definitely looks like the push rod should have an end fitting that somehow clips over the and of the ball/peg thing. Can you get the push rod into touching distance of the ball? If so I'd guess either there's a socket cut into one side of the rod, that we can't see from this side, or there should be an end fitting of some sort screwed into/glued to the end of the push rod. If an end fitting had dropped of, do you think you would have spotted it lying around or does it have a nice big hole to drop into? The third option is that the two bits don't actually fit together at all and the wipers never worked in the first place!

If you find somebody who has ever seen one of these connected up properly, its probably only a ten second job to put tab A into slot B or whatever. Top marks for persevering with it but I think I'd be asking my local TVR mechanic for hints by this stage!

Cheers,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

PS remember that the wipers and the motor may not be in the right positions and you may have to move the wipers to get the two bits lined up.

Edited by Greenv8s on Friday 30th November 19:42

[AJS]

Thanks for the tips.

Well after looking like I've been juggling razor blades and seriously considering a career in Keyhole Surgery, I've finally got things reconnected, reassembled and been out for a blast this afternoon.

If anyone has the misfortune to suffer the same problem, then here's what I did to fix it, otherwise non of this probably makes much sense until you actually have to do it yourself.

The brown plastic piece in the photos is the connector/socket piece that is attached to the 'ball', and should be inserted into the end of the black push rod. This is what had popped out, but it was still attached to the ball. I managed to prise the brown plastic piece off the ball so I could then tap the stub into the end of the black push rod.

Then using various techniques I managed to line it up with the ball and snap it back on so everything was reconnected. I've attached a picture below of what it looks like when correctly connected.

[pic] http://icd.internetphotoservices.co.uk/lib7183/scale500x500/427440.jpg [/pic]

As you mentioned, knowing how it is done I could probably redo this pretty quickly but it took me a while to figure out - hopefully saved myself a few quid though and have learned something in the process!