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SAAB/Lucas wiper motor reconditioning time again--three of 'em at a time. Most of 'em look like the one shown above when I take 'em apart---YUK! No wonder they don't work worth a damn. Well...over 40 years of working wiper blades....
Here are three of them--reconditioned. One assembled [on the right], two ready to go together.
Ahh...that's better. The brush plate inside has been replaced on this one--you can see where the wires to the self-park switch and main connector have been spliced.
Here is one of the motors on my test bed. I can test any style Lucas motor with this unit. The electrical connections are exactly the same as if the motor was mounted in a car. No guess work here---I run the motors for a while, on both speeds, and test the self-park feature. Nothing like the right tools for the job--aye?
Lucas square body wiper motors! For Saabs once again. This is how they look--usually--when I get them....YUK!
All the "innards"... At the top---a motor that hasn't been taken apart yet...Yup, that's how they look when I get the suckers. At bottom right---that's how they look when I'm done with 'em. In the middle---all the "stuff" that goes to make up a wiper motor. Starting at the left: Main housing and drum gear. Round cap below that contains the self park plate. Next on the right is the field winding module, which also carries the brushes. Next is the armature assembly, then the armature housing, and finally the end cap assembly. The sort of triangular "thingie" below the armature is the mount plate, then a worthless sponge dust seal, a washer and the actuating tab. Good stuff!
Here are two reconditioned Lucas/Saab wiper motors. Same, but sightly different. Note the connectors. On the left is the early [1966 Saab 95/96] motor, with two connectors. On the right is the later [1967-69] motor with only one connector. Inside, the motors are identical, and will interchange if you switch connectors...AND...if you hook them up correctly. Some fun!
This photo shows all the internal gubbins of an ANCIENT Bosch windshield wiper motor, as used in Saab 93/95/96 two-stroke models of the late 1950's and very early 1960's. It turns out that these early motors were quite high quality, with a lot of brass and evidence of a well thought out design. This motor, which is over 50 years old, showed little wear and tear, and required nothing more than a thorough cleaning, fresh lubrication with modern lubricants, and careful re-assembly.
These early motors did require a careful alignment of the brush holding "saddle" [bottom right in the photo] and even more careful alignment of the permanent magnet assembly [bottom left, in the photo], the latter to assure even clearance of the armature from the permanent magnet.
The bean counters at Saab got busy after the first 20,000 cars or so were built, and changed wiper motor suppliers to the German SWF company. Saved a few pennies, but the quality of the SWF motors was crap compared to those early Bosch motors.
I always bench test ANY wiper motor I recondition and this is the setup for this little Bosch motor. The interesting switch on the right is a Saab wiper motor switch, which incorporated the windshield WASHER. You pulled the switch OUT about three inches and let go, and as the washer fluid began to spray on the windscreen, you turned the switch clockwise to start the wipers.
There were TWO different switches used by Saab, and they looked pretty much alike, but the second series switch had TWO "ON" positions, for the TWO speed motors that were used in the GT 750 and GT-850 Saab 96 cars. The second series switch still used the same windshield washer setup.
This all worked pretty well unless the washer fluid froze and cracked the plastic pump portion. Then washer fluid--when it thawed--pee'd on you leg. Hmmmm....not cool. So in 1967, Saab switched over to Lucas wiper motors, with an electric motor attached to the washer reservoir, which was now located in the engine bay. No more pee-ing on your leg. What fun was THAT?
This is the classic "Before and After".....the top photo is the before, as you might suspect. It is a square body Lucas windshield wiper motor out of a '68 Saab 96V4, just as it looked when I took the sucker apart---YUK! This one had more GREASE--old, nasty, hardened crap--in it than any wiper motor I've ever worked on before. The owner said it only worked on one speed, sometimes. Given the amount of nasty gook inside it is a pure wonder that it worked, ANYTIME! I suspect that some "wrench", at some time, figured that "if a little does a little good, a LOT has to do a lot of good", and applied grease by the handful....
The second photo shows the same unit--cleaned and ready for reassembly, adjustment and testing. There were NO bad parts, just greasy parts, in this one. Even the armature and contact brushes were quite good.
This shows the wiper motor on my test bed. The different switches, and the relay that you can see duplicate the wiring for ANY Lucas wiper motor that I rebuild. This one passed all the tests with flying colors.
Isn't that one pretty! Ready to go to the customer, LOOKING, and WORKING like a new one. Good Stuff.
