Mymerryoldsmobile

I'm almost there and reaady to put the car back on the road, at least that's what I thought before we noticed that the wipers and the heating system don't work.
I'm no expert at all and might be asking funny questions....

about the heating system:



I was trying to test these vacuum pots with a hand held vacuum tester. The trouble was that I didn't know what I was looking for.
1. How much pressure should I apply ?
2.How long should those "pots" be able to maintain it ? One showed no reaction at all, so I guess that one is broken. The other four droped down to 120mbar which I think are 1.74 Psi. Are they all okay ?
3. As far as I know they make new ones for the 59 and upward. Could I use those for my 58 ? -greetings from Switzerland - Christina

Mymerryoldsmobile

Thanks to posts in other threads, some questions have been answered.
The dashpods are apparently 4" pods. 4 of the five are working.
Question remaining: could I use a 4" pod for 59 models ?

We took the heater housing inside the car apart. Everythings is cleaned and greased and should work now.

I think the problem is elsewhere. Please bear in mind that I don't know much about vacuum systems ....

There is a vacuum manifold underneath the carburator, correct ? Mine has three ports on one side and one of the ports is closed by a screw.




There should be a connection between the port and the vacuum pump above the fuel pump, correct ? Since the engine is supposed to produce the vacuum for the heater valves and wiper motor, correct ?




The vacuum pump above the fuel pump only supports that vacuum , correct ?
So not having a vacuum line coming from the engine and connecting the two lines coming from the fuel pumpinto one line connecting to the wiper motor is pretty wrong ?




The line from the fuel pump which says "wiper" should go directly to the wiper motor, correct ? I have a Y-style connector in this line. Is anything supposed to lead into that wiper motor line ?

Am I right in guessing, that this wrong connection leads to not having enough vacuum for the heater valves, dashpods and wiper motor ?

Oh and please, if you should notice anything else being wrong....I appreciate all the help we can get. Thanks Christina

redoldsman

Christina:

My 54 doesn't have most of these vacuum hoses. The fuel pump is actually two pumps. The top one is a vacuum pump. You want to be sure it is working. If you don't have a factory shop manual, you should buy one. Be sure an get an original one and not a reprint. I checked ebay and there are lots of reprints on there. Here is a link to an original at the best price I found. Prices can vary a lot on these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GM-shop-manu...FUj4Js&vxp=mtr

Mymerryoldsmobile

redoldsman, thank you very much for the research . I have an original one. I agree with you on buying an original one, since it has some of the important graphics in color.
I think the "mistake" was, that we didn't connect the engine's vacuum manifold with the vacuum pump/fuel pump unit. We thought that the vacuum pump/fuel pump is responible for the necessary vacuum but it only adds to it. I hope to change that tomorrow and maybe, maybe that's all it takes to bring the wiper motor back to life. It does move, just not enough - even for a vacuum motor.

I hope to post a positive result tomorrow. Have a nice Sunday - Christina

Rocketowner

Christina,the wipers on my '55 that I just sold,were not hardly working at all and I read several post online, where several people had taken the line off the wiper motor,attached a piece of hose just long enough to submerge into a bottle containing brake fluid,then by hand ,move the wiper arm the full motion ,allowing the fluid to be drawn into the wiper motor,and it will soften the seals,and cause them to work well again.Just be very careful not to let any brake fluid get on any painted surface. It worked on mine. Best of luck, Larry

Mymerryoldsmobile

Larry, I also read several posts on that issue and finally asked Eric (MCDanic) . He agreed on treating wiper motors with leather seals like that. He adviced against it in case of rubber seals. Since I don't know about the material, I'll try to just lubricate them a bit. I've already oiled all the other wiper parts which helped a tiny bit too. Slowly but surely......I'll hopefully get there. Thanks for the advice, Christina

Tedd Thompson

If you get irritated enough with your vacuum wipers (I did) there is a easy and clean electrical conversion that looks almost factory made by Newport Engineering you might take a look at.

I did mine about three years ago and have never regretted it..... Tedd....http://www.newportwipers.com/