Wipers won't park themselves

[Dawgme85]

New-ish member, here. I just purchased my 1977 Spider over the weekend and am already being indoctrinated into the Fiat lifestyle

Anyway, while the windshield wipers work fine otherwise (on, off, intermittent, fast, slow), they do not return to the "parked" position unless switched off at just the right instant (i.e. when turned off they just stop). Also, when in intermittent mode, they tend to stop willy-nilly wherever they choose; left, right, in the middle, etc.

I would appreciate it if someone could at least point me in a direction where I can a) identify what needs replacing or b) begin to do a reasonably intelligent job of troubleshooting to determine the root cause of the problem.

Thanks in advance.

PS On a related (?) note, the windshield washer only works sporadically. Sometimes it works fine, othertimes...nothing. At this point it seems to be about 50-50 odds of working. Thanks, again.

PPS I did a search on both these topics and came up empty

[Foster48x]

Good question. I'm having the same issue with my wipers but just haven't had time to address it. They work but like yours they randomly stop wherever they feel like it on the way across the windshield. Can any of you guys/gals help me a Dawgme out?

Rick

[kmead]

There is a contact in the wiper motor which provides power to the motor until it gets to the park position even though you have turned off the power.

Likely the motor needs to be taken apart, cleaned and possibly adjusted to ensure the contact touches the traces properly.
Unlikely but possible is that the wire to the park circuit is broken and no longer providing power.

There is a post on here about how to clean it up as I recall.

[Foster48x]

Thanks Karl. I think your first suggestion is probably my problem. When I cleaned it up and replaced the main gear the first time I most likely didn't get it back together correctly.

Rick

[Dawgme85]

Thanks, that's just what I was hoping to find out. Now I just have to do it. Thankfully, it's primarily a nuisance thing, but I'd like to get it taken care of. Probably in the next couple of weeks.