Repairing Your Imperial's Windshield Wipers

Imperial Home Page -> Repair -> Electrical System -> Wipers

Question From David (1954):

El Nino has struck in Southern California, so naturally, the wiper motor on my daughter's 1954 Imperial has gone kaput. I got on the front seat of the car with my back on the floor and my legs over the seat.Whoa, really uncomfortable.But, I could read the motor number: EMG 4102.But, the one I have in the car may be fixable. But, how the heck do I get it out? There seems to be no room to get-at-it by going under the dash.Can I remove the front of the dash?I am not a seasoned mechanic, but I am fearless. I once started to take apart the dash, but I got stuck and made no progress on getting the front of the dash off.Are there any suggestions?

Reply from Jay:

I'm not familiar with the '54 Imp to offer any mechanical help, but I have a suggestion that will make the car usable in subsequent storms until you get the motor situation resolved. May I suggest treating the windshield with Rain-X?  Rain-X is a glass treatment that seals the pores in glass surfaces. The surface tension of the water where it meets the glass is reduced and only VERY SMALL droplets are able to form on the glass before it runs off. Treat your windshield with this stuff and you will not need windshield wipers. (I'm not kidding!) Sitting at a traffic light or at highway speeds, the tiny spots of water are constantly moving and either run down the windshield while the Imp is stopped or get blown off anywhere above 40 mph.  It's really amazing to see such small droplets of water move and dance around in the breeze where larger drops of water tend to glob onto an untreated windshield.  I have treated all the windows and outside mirrors of our '66 Imperial and drive it in the rain regularly (although I wish I didn't have too).  I have run my '66 at speeds up to 80 mph in pouring down rain in very close proximity to trucks and other traffic (LOTS of spray) and never have I had to turn on the wipers. The Rain-X treated windshield clears itself. I'm sure that people that see me think that I'm crazy running in a hard downpour with no wipers, but what they don't know is that my visibility is better than theirs!   Any major auto parts chain carries Rain-X. You shouldn't pay more than $4.50 for a bottle. I am about halfway through my first bottle and I have treated probably about 45 to 55 running feet of Imperial glass. It sure beats having a malfunctioning wiper arm or blade digging grooves into your Imperial windshield!

Follow-up from Chris:

I too have a bottle of Rain-X in the garage but that's where it stays now. I found that the car becomes addicted to it, and if I didn't reapply it (and every once and a while use alcohol to strip it off the windshield), it just smeared after a while when I did use the wipers. And then nothing would let me see clearly at night or after I use the washers. You'd be surprised how easy it is to drive in the rain without wipers on a "natural" windshield. I do it all the time in my Grand Cherokee (above 40 it runs right off) and my '87 Honda CRX, back when I'd drive that car in the rain (after 11 loyal years the CRX has earned the right be treated like the rest of my collectibles), and in fact most any car I've owned. (I discovered this on my first car while driving to high school and have always been kind of fascinated by it.)

Question from Joe (1956):

I need 12 wiper refills for my 56 Imperial. NAPA has them only as the blade assembly. I purchased 2 they are flat grey. I the wiper refill out and tried to use it in my existing Imperial blades but they do not match up. they do not have the squeeze connections. Does anyone know where I can find some?

Replies:

From Rodger:

If your '56 has two red [or maybe faded pink by now] tabs on each wiper assembly, as does my '55 DeSoto, it's an Anco unit. Check an Anco display and you should find a replacement.

From Ross:

Call Ficken Wiper Service in West Babylon, NY 631-587-3332. They've been in business since the beginning of time and have loads of obsolete wiper items. Ficken also does wiper motor rebuilding. I've always been satisfied with their work.

Question from Kerry (1957-59):

How the heck do you get the vent screen off on a 57-59. This is the screen directly in front of the windshield between the wipers. I'm stumped.

Replies:

From Philippe:

You'll have a lot of work to access the nuts which hold the grille.. The Imperial engineers had a very bad day when they planned this air intake grille.  In fact the 58 grille was modified (even if it's the same grille when you look at it from the outside). To remove the '57 grille:

- Remove the fiber heater cover (engine side) + hoses + blower

- Remove the heater & the A/C evaporator if so equipped. (you've to remove the distributor cap and perhaps the distributor). But to remove the evaporator, you've to disconnect the damper door linkages from the inside ! !

- Now you've access to these stupid nuts which hold the grille. In '58 the nuts were replaced by studs with spring inserts.

From Ken:

Just pry out the center section and you'll find a screw. Remove it and the two screws on the portside ends of the grill and it comes right out.

Question from Greg (1961):

Windshield wipers on my '61 Imperial are now erratic. They operate a few seconds after you turn off the switch, and only work on full blast. We replaced the switch, but still have the problem.

Is this likely a short in the wiring? Or should I try having the motor rebuilt?

Reply from John:

It sounds like a ground problem. When I got my '60, the switch was loose in the dash they only worked full speed unless you moved the switch a certain way Tightening it properly cured the problem.

Question from John (1965):

I'm trying to get my headlight switch out to replace the breaker to solve my flashing headlight problem.

But to get the headlight switch out, I have to remove the bezel and to remove the bezel I have to remove the wiper switch knob.

I haven't been able to locate a push tab on the back of the wiper switch to release the knob like I did for the headlight switch. I can barely get a hand back there to feel around, much less do anything. So how much of my dash do I have to take apart to do this? Does the knob come off from the front?

Replies:

From Brian:

I can't say for sure on a '65, but most Mopars have either a set screw in the knob, or they just pull off. The headlight switch is the only one that has the tab to remove the knob. If you cant find a set screw on it, try to just pull it off, should come off without a problem.

From Thad:

I went out to the Grey Ghost, to double check my thoughts and I was actually right for once! LOL! There is a slotted set screw on the knob itself.

Question from Randy (1965):

I have a problem with the windshield wipers on my '65 Crown. They sometimes do not park correctly, that is the tip of one of them will remain about 3 inches above the other when the wipers are turned off.Any ideas on the fix???

Replies:

From Don:

I have what seems to be the same problem on my '65 Crown. If you turn the wipers off when they reach the lowest point of travel, do they both stop evenly then? If you turn the switch off when they are not at the bottom oftheir travel do they park unevenly?

From Norm:

Remove the arm from its splined knob by pressing in on a tab underneath the wiper arm close to the windshield while lifting it straight off. Then, rotate the arm on the knob one or two splines until it lines up properly and snap it back on. This will work if your arms are not bent or any other problems exist.

From John:

Check that the motor is mounted tightly also check for any bent linkage. Not sure if this will do the job, but had a '61 Newport wagon with this problem that was the cure.

From Chris:

This appears to be one of those situations where they all do that. At least it's true of the 60-66 era Imperials. I've only known of 2 Imperials (both'64's) that always parked their wipers neatly at the windshield molding.Usually I can get mine to park properly by turning them off while the arms are in the downswing mode. But, if for any reason your wiper arms were ever removed from the posts they may have been re-installed a bit out of phase. Try removal, then re-install in the correct position. Note: give them a test run on a wet windshield to be sure they still sweep the glass properly.

Question from Joachim (1968):

Question regarding wipers on 1968 Crown Coupe

My car still has the original type wipers, that is the arm and blade are in one fixed assembly, therefore not separable, I only can replace the rubber, but the wiping of the rain remains poor. Can anybody tell me if there are newer types of arm/blade combinations available for this model, if YES please supply brand name and part numbers.

Replies:

From Chris:

I am not sure that you cannot separate the refill (the rubber insert) and the blade (the metal part that holds the refill) and the arm (the piece that goes from the blade to the pivot on the car) into three separate pieces.

My '67 has its original wipers, and they used the airfoil design in '67 (which I think went away for '68). They are completely separable as described above, and they actually worked quite well the one time I got caught in a rainstorm (and it was on a freeway, so I got to test them at speed). If you truly cannot detach the blade from the arm, maybe if you find some 1967 wipers you'll be happier with them (yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of those lying around Australia, but maybe a search on the 'net would reveal some... they are the same for all C-bodies). 1967 and 1968 should interchange fine... and 1965-66 Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge wipers would fit, but they are chrome in the those years, the antiglare matte silver finish being new for 1967.

From William:

The air foil wiper blades that Chrysler used as standard equipment back then was unique to Chrysler products and generally not supported in the replacement parts end of things. The blade assembly should disengage from the arm unit at the pivot point. Possibly some hidden tang to depress or something?

I have observed that the quality of replacement wiper blade inserts has seemed to deteriorate in the past decades. Nothing like back when Anco and Trico were their own companies. On your existing blades, make sure they are not kinked or slightly twisted such that when the new inserts are installed, everything lays in there smoothly and "straight" of wiping edge.

Stateside, there might be some NOS parts vendors that might have new blade assemblies to fit your vehicle. Some of the muscle car blades might fit too, but be not quite so long compared to the Imperial's blades.

Converting your existing wiper arm/blade unit might be an option, but it would take some careful measuring and eyeballing to make sure they would work correctly, park correctly, and not hit the left hand windshield pillar at full sweep. I suspect the mounting stub might be the same diameter for many years and also for non-Chrysler products, but finding a arm with the correct length and angularity would be the trick. All of the newer vehicles up here seem to be going to the shepard's hook style of arm, in black, and use wiper blade assemblies are very industrial in design, plus stick up pretty high too.

Question from Dave (1968):

Also, I understand that the original, metal, airfoil-style wiper arms used in 1967 and 1968 may still be available. My search of the NaPa and Anco catalogs hasn't turned up a useful part number. Anyone know the right numbers?

Replies:

From Bob:

The wiper numbers are:  arm w/o blade, wiper 2889958 blade w/refill 2889960 refill (only) wiper blade-2427671.

From Michael:

The wiper arm without wiper blade (according to the Mitchell Manual) is part #2889958.

Question from Roger (1974):

What is the plastic part that holds wiper arm on its in the fresh air intake area?

Reply from Rob:

Do you mean the bushings that hold the linkage on? They are little white plastic bushings. I bought the whole set from a Dodge dealer for a few bucks ($6?) a couple of years ago. You can just squeeze the parts on with a Channel Lock. The only real difficulty is that you have to do them in the right order.

Question from Tim (1975):

When I turn the wipers on, the one in front of the driver hits the A-pillar. How can I adjust it? They also don't park in the concealed position. They stay up where they're visible.

Reply from Elijah:

Two possibilities on this one.

1. Someone has taken the wiper arms off, and not put them back on in the right position. This sounds most likely, since the one wiper is overextending. To correct this overextension, turn on the wipers -- as soon as they have extended all the way (and the driver's side one is bumping the pillar) turn off the ignition key to stop them in that position.Then remove the driver's side wiper arm (the arm will lift away from the car on a pivot at the bottom of the arm. Underneath this will be a small tab which will pull out. Wiggle and gently pull the arm, and it should come right off). Reposition the arm so that it is about an inch or so away from the A-pillar. Turn the ignition key back on, and let the wipers go back. Then turn off the wipers. I suspect that the one you've adjusted will return to the concealed park position. If so, repeat this process for the passenger side, adjusting it approximately the same amount of space. You may have to experiment a couple of times to get them in exactly the right place.

2. The other possibility is that the park position is screwed up in the wiper motor. I've seen this happen, and actually, it will often go away if you use the wipers frequently for a while. The other option here is to get another wiper motor.

Question from Gene (1975):

How do I get to the windshield wiper linkage connection point: left side, link from motor to wiper arm assembly (the linkage between the wipers is OK). I have removed the plastic grille as instructed in the shop manual but can't find a way to get my head in a position to see the connection point. I've tried a small inspection mirror but hope there is a better way! Even if I find a way to see the connection point, I'm not sure how to get to it to install the clip, etc. I can't even feel the point. I did find the pieces of the broken plastic clip. This may not be a 1975 unique problem (may be 1974 also).

Reply from Elijah:

I remember performing this task on my Grandmother's '78 New Yorker a couple of years ago. I also remember a high level of frustration. I can't quite recall what all it took to make it happen, but I think that I had to remove the chrome strip at the bottom of the windshield, then remove the driver's side wiper arm, disconnect the linkage between the two wipers, remove the three bolts holding the driver's side mechanism in place, and then take out the whole thing as an assembly. I seem to recall that I had to remove the armatures at the end of the wiper motor as well. I know that sounds like a lot, but I remember getting it all done in an hour or two. It is not easy to get to where the clip fits on -- that's why I took out the whole assembly, put on a new clip (why in the hell they used plastic for that...), and then put it all back in at once.

Follow up from Gene:

Haven't had nerve to tackle this job again - yet. But in a day or so I'll have to! Do you remember, did you have to remove the hood to see what you were doing?

Reply from Elijah:

I did not have to remove the hood. Now that I think about it, it might have made the job easier! But I think that you can work around it.You just have to be flexible and enthusiastic!

Follow-up and Tip from Gene:

I finally got up enough nerve to tackle the wiper linkage problem on my '75 Imperial and learned a lesson - again: The shop manuals, good as they may be, are often seem to be written by people who have never had to do the job! But this job turned out to be a lot easier than I tried to make it! The manual just says to do it! But it immediately becomes apparent there is not room or visibility to just do it! I should have my wife take a picture if my 6' 4" frame laying across the engine trying to see and reach the wiper linkage pivot points! Removing the trim strip below the windshield is a help but there is the problem of getting tools in the cramped space to press on the new bushings -- Soooo -- After several hours of fussing, muttering and trying every tool I own, I stood back, said a brief prayer, and rested for a few minutes.When I went back to the job I had a real Ah-Ha moment -- it was clear how to proceed!At the risk of boring everyone, but in hopes it will help someone, I'll try to describe the entire procedure.There are a few steps the manual fails to mention! CAUTION: As pointed out by Bob and Robyn Clark, do not remove the hood unless you have help and are prepared to deal with some rather imposing torsion bars!

1. Open the hood. (how much more basic can I get!)

2. Remove the sheet metal screws holding stainless trim strip at the bottom of the windshield and slide the strip up about an inch. (This may not be necessary but I think it helps).

3. Remove the washer hose from the clips on the left plastic grille covering the wiper mechanism.Remove both plastic grilles .They snap in place.

4. Carefully remove the drivers side washer hose from the plastic tee (about three inches away from the arm). (This step may be out of sequence,but should be done before the arm is removed to avoid damaging the hose.

5. Remove the windshield wiper arms. The manual is OK here - once you understand how the arms are made.But for clarification: Turn wipers on, then stop them anywhere near center by turning off the ignition switch (or, if the link between the motor and the left arm is not connected - like mine wasn't, just move the arms to a convenient position. Lift the arm and wiper away from the windshield. Gently pry the little clip open (it is right alongside the arm attachment point). NOTE: the clip is captive - it does not come off - it slides out about 3/16 of an inch. When the clip is out far enough it releases the arm AND locks it away from the windshield. When you get there you'll understand what I mean. With the clip out and the arm locked, you can remove the arm with a rocking motion just like the manual says. The right side arm still should have the washer hose attached so just carefully lay it aside where the hose won't be damaged. (You can remove arm, hose and all if you want and get it completely out of the way.)

6. Using a 3/8 end wrench, remove the nut holding the arm that connects tothe wiper motor.This is the most awkward step - an inspection mirror is needed, along with the ability to work backwards (looking into a mirror). The nut is very similar to a Tee-nut but without the points and comes off easily. If you don't know what a Tee-nut is, forget what I just said, it isn't important!< Slip the arm off the wiper motor shaft.

7. Using a 5/16 socket, remove the three bolts attaching each wiper pivot assembly.

. At this point you should have all the linkage free (if not, figure out what I forgot and remove it). Slide the assemble to the right far enough to allow it to be removed through the left opening.

9. With the linkage out and on your workbench, change/replace the plastic bushings as required.It's easy now!The manual says to use Channel lock pliers to press on the new bushings but I used a wooden mallet and a back-up block, with holes as needed (to support the assembly without damaging it) as I FIRMLY tapped the bushings into place (They require a bit of friendly persuasion).

10. Put it all back together in the reverse order and you're all done.

Note: When putting the left arm on, be sure the hole in the small arm (that pivots the blade) goes onto the pin at the right side of the arm pivot. The end of this little arm and the pin are covered by a piece of metal that is part of the main arm so it is a little hard to see unless you are looking.Also, getting the wiper arms on in the correct position so they park and overlap correctly per the specs in the manual may take a few tries. when putting the stainless trim back, make sure it lays as smooth against the windshield as possible so the wiper blades don't hang up on it trying to reach the park position. This may all be obvious to some, but I don't think I am a complete novice (having worked on all sorts of cars for nearly 50 years now), and I wrestled with it quite a while, taking the manual at face value, trying to repair the linkage in place. Maybe this will prevent someone else from making the same mistake!

Tip from Ed (1981-1983):

I was driving in a local tour last month when a line of rain and thunderstorms moved through. As the rain ended, I turned off the wipers and KLANK---PLUNK, and they parked. That was the end of their action. What had happened, which I have seen on both of the other Chryslers that I've owned with this system, is that the Drive Linkage from the motor to the left wiper, had fallen off of the motor linkage, due to wear of the plastic assembly that holds it on. I also needed to replace the motor, as it was intermittently failing to reverse and park the wipers; this too happened on my other cars, so I did not even bother to check the wiper switch, as I was sure it was the same failure again internally in the motor.So I've got all the genuine MOPAR parts I needed, including a new MOPAR wiper motor and put them in today!  Boy, I really skinned some knuckles with this task. Anyways, the wiper arms are attached to the pivots with this clever little locking device. To unlock it, you must lift the arm up off of the glass and then slide the locking tab up---This all came back to me VERY SLOWLY Well, I found that the left (driver's) side arm did not have this locking device on the arm. You could see that it was once there, but must have been broken off under previous maintenance.Nonetheless, it was a real PAIN toget that one off. It was really on there tight. I got everything all back together, but now I am worried that that left arm may come loose at an "inopportune" time.  I'm afraid that by removing and replacing it a few times as I got the arm placement adjusted that it will not be as securely attached as it was before. Does anyone know if there is a repair kit or something for that locking device; perhaps I could drill out the rivets and screw in a new one.The arm is in very good shape, and I hate to go to my friendly MOPAR shop only to have them tell me that I must buy a new arm (if it is even still available.)