VW wiper motor ala James Seabolt

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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idocdan

VW wiper motor ala James Seabolt

Post by idocdan »

I have a VW wiper motor. 2 wires go directly to the armature (motor) 2 go to the 3 "fingers" as described in Seabolt's article, and the third "finger" leads to a tab grounded to the motor. A fifth wire is grounded. My spider is a '72. I need to cut the tab away from grounding and solder a sixth wire to it. What I am not sure of is where these leads go. Does the sixth wire go to the intermittent switch and the other 2 from the "fingers" go to the speed control (slow/fast)? The wires into the motor are red and white. I don't have the old original motor.
Thanks!
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aj81spider
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Your car is a: 1974 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: Chelmsford, MA

Re: VW wiper motor ala James Seabolt

Post by aj81spider »

Not sure if it applies to your year, but on my 81 this is how the wiper motor was wired (colors refer to the harness in the car at the wiper connectors):

The two wires from the speed switch were wired as follows:
Light Blue went to one of the two armature wires (I think the fast brush)
Gray went to the other

Black went to ground on the wiper motor

Gray/Black went to the common side of the switch
Blue/White went to the normally open contact on the switch
Blue/Black went to the normally closed contact on the switch

Hope your harness colors are the same and this is of some help.
A.J.

1974 Fiat 124 Spider
2006 Corvette
1981 Spider 2000 (sold 2013 - never should have sold that car)
idocdan

Re: VW wiper motor ala James Seabolt

Post by idocdan »

Thanks, AJ. I can compare the wiring diagrams between the 81 and 72 and this will be helpful. When you speak of the switch, you are referring to the worm gear driven disc the "fingers" drag against?
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aj81spider
Patron 2020
Patron 2020
Posts: 1526
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:04 am
Your car is a: 1974 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: Chelmsford, MA

Re: VW wiper motor ala James Seabolt

Post by aj81spider »

Yes - on mine the worm gear drives a plastic disk with a cam on it. There's a long piece of metal that connects two of the wires that the cam presses against to open and move the contact to another wire (to park the wipers). That switch has three connections - the normally open, normally closed and contact that gets switched between them.
A.J.

1974 Fiat 124 Spider
2006 Corvette
1981 Spider 2000 (sold 2013 - never should have sold that car)
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