206 wipers - grrrrrr

Are your splines on the shafts okay they may not be engaging?set them up off the windscreen for best results.

 

Have you checked the wiper mechanism when working you might notice something slipping or not engaging ect,you have probably done all this any way, very frustrating but probably something simple we hope.
Cheers

 

I just finished this job and will share what I learned along the way. Please excuse the length of my post but I do not have any in process photos so I will need to explain what I did. On the early 246's they were fitted with the same clap style wiper blades as the 206 with the only difference being that the 206 had wiper arms that pushed onto the ends of the motors while on the later cars the arms were held in place with nuts.

In my case I was starting with a system that had been totally disassembled, re-greased, and checked for wear. In the end I had a smooth operating system with no play. If your system has play in it due to wear it must be fixed first because the tolerances of the operating system is pretty tight and slop anywhere will cause the blades to be out of time and hit. When disassembling my system I made the mistake to not note the relative position of the arms which meant I was starting totally from scratch as my motor assembly was not oriented correctly with the park mechanism so hopefully my instructions here are even more useful as I had extra steps to do.

Before going on to the procedure I want to identify the two main parts of the system:
1. The motor assembly: This holds the electric motor, park mechanism, and drive for one of the wiper arms. We'll call it the Motor Side or MS for short

2. The slave side: Operated by a flex cable that takes the drive from the motor it transfers rotational movement to the other wiper arm. We'll call it the Slave Side or SS for short.

Now on to the procedure:

Start by protecting everything. We covered our glass in paper that had a slightly sticky surface on the back so that it would not move around. We used the transfer paper that decal makers use on vinyl cut decals and it worked wonderfully. Also slide a bag over the wiper blades or wrap them in waxed paper so that they slide over the glass more easily. This prep allows you to do a lot of wiping on a dry window with no grabbing or risk of scratching.

Step 1: Make sure the MS starts, stops, and parks properly

Make sure there are no blades or arms installed and work only on the MS by disconnecting the SS entirely where the flex cable meets the motor. I taped a toothpick to where the wiper arm goes to mimic an arm and act as a visual reference. With this setup ready I would turn the wipers on via the steering column switch and ensure that when I turned the system off. That the toothpick would always stop in the same place (forget the upsweep for now as this cannot be adjusted). I would hold a pencil eraser side to the glass and perpendicular to act as a visual stop placing it so that the toothpick would 'just' touch it. This way I could be certain of accuracy.

Once you are sure that the wiper always stops in the same place then check that when you start it that it does not track downwards a little before starting the upsweep. In other words when the wipers are parked they should never go a little in the down direction before starting their sweep. In my case I had my timing off having not re-assembled things as they came apart. To correct this the whole wiper motor has to come out and the relative orientation of the two drive arms needs to be changed. It is here where guesswork will kill you and eat all kinds of time. Take a scientific approach and turn the motor by hand counting turns and relate them to the sweep taking particular note as to how many turns of the motor take place when the wipers are changing direction as there are a few 'dead' turns where the motor is turning but because the system is changing direction the wipers do not indeed move at that time (similar to the few degrees of movement at TDC or BDC in an engine where the crank turns but the piston is stationary). In my case I set it so that when the park mechanism parked the wipers, the 'dead' turns of the motor had yet to spin before starting the upsweep. This was the most tedious part and took 3 removal and re-calibrations to get right.

Step 2: Set the MS Wiper arm.

With the MS assembly operating properly it was time to fit the MS wiper arm. I fitted it complete with wiper and set it so that the wiper was parallel to horizontal when facing the front windshield. I then held the arm physically spacing the wiper away from the glass and had a helper start the wipers. Following the movement with my hand I ensured that the wiper would not touch the glass or more importantly come off the glass if the placement of the arm was wrong. After some cycles I would stop and adjust the position of the arm on the drive spline accordingly so that the outer tip of the wiper would come as close to the window molding on the A pillar as possible without touching it.

Once I achieved this holding the wiper a little in the air I eventually placed it on the glass and ran the system again making any adjustments as needed. To add more accuracy I used a pencil again to make marks on the paper covered glass exactly where the wiper stopped as I wanted to be totally sure of accuracy. Make a line the full length of the parked wiper to help imagine its position when the assembly is removed later. Also remove the entire arm. At this point the MS is set and should not be touched any more.


Step 3: On to the SS

Just like the MS it is necessary to make sure the SS has no play and that you understand its movement. So with the SS disconnected I turned it by hand noting the exact start and stop points as well as the number of 'dead' turns when the direction was changing. It is the relation of the 'dead' turns between the MS and SS that most people are sloppy on and cause all the problems. If you set your MS properly and methodically then it becomes very predictable leaving only the SS to worry about to get the timing between the blades correct.

Assuming the system is properly parked (cycle it if you are not sure) and that the SS is at the point where it is changing direction. Connect the flex cable to the motor and fit a toothpick to the SS arm drive following the same procedure as for the MS to ensure that it is parking and starting properly. The only difference is that if there is a problem here the only adjustment you have is to disconnect the flex cable at the motor and turn the inside of the cable a bit, and re-test. You NEVER turn the motor because its park position is set by the park mechanism so to turn the motor will mess up your timing.

Keep playing with it so that the toothpick always stops in the same place and does not track downwards when you start the wipers.

Step 4: Testing the SS with a wiper arm

Following the same precautions and procedures as the MS install the SS wiper arm again ensuring that the outer tip of the wiper blade does not touch the window frame.

At this stage you should have a SS that will track a wiper along the glass without touching the A pillar trim or the rubber trim at the base of the windshield. Mark the position of the wiper at the bottom and visually compare it to the mark made for the MS. The lines do not necessarily need to be parallel to one another but they do need to be spaced from one another and not overlap.

Step 5: Re-install the MS wiper arm and blade

Using the line made in Step 2, re fit the MS wiper arm and test the system to make sure the wipers track properly. Here are some important tips:

- Remember that because of the park mechanism once you start the system it will continue until it is parked. As such I removed the black negative wire from the battery, turned the wipers on, and then 'pulsed' the system by touching the neg wire back to the battery just long enough to move the wipers a few cm. This careful approach helped avoid having freshly restored arms smash into one another if the timing was off and also helped visualize the relative distances between the blades.

- We are assuming here that the correct length 14" blades are installed. Any longer and the system CANNOT BE CALIBRATED. It is so close that the blades will hit. 14.5" blades will hit (it is THAT close)

- At this stage the only adjustments you have are the position of the blade on the drive spline (this applies to MS and SS) and the adjustment of the 'dead' turns on the SS only to make up fine differences.

- If you are re-setting the arms on the splines remember that the top position has already been set to as close to the A-pillar trim as possible. As such you can only move DOWNWARDS to get your adjustment.


This may sound like a lot but if you follow the procedure methodically it is not terribly hard. In my case the wiper system was totally out of whack after its restoration and the complete timing and assembly took about 2 hours total.

Best of luck with your project and remember to remove the paper off the glass before driving

 

Don't know if this applies to the 206, but here are the 246 wiper alignment specs from the Ferrari Tech Bulletin.
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These specs refer to the later 'non-clapper' style wiper arms. Note the wiper blade lengths of 18 inches. That size could never work on the older clapper system. Also the VIN numbers listed are for later cars.

 

I see the differences in the later E style wiper blades but what about the arms are there differences in the arm lengths?

Dario

 

I just spent a few hours fitting these the wiper motor and arms back on the Dino.
I made a bit of a stupid mistake, I took the assembly off because it was slow but I marked all the various spines and spindles with a red permanent marker.
I found the spindle on the slave side had corrosion and wasn't easy to move so I lubricated it and got it moving ( lubricant washed off my positioning marks) I should have used paint dots.
I also stripped the motor side out and checked that and regreased/oiled it.
It was at the point of refitting I found my oversight with the marks, spent ages lining these up then found this useful thread here.
This forum is a goldmine. The wipers all working and not hitting now.
Thanks for such helpful posts