solly

Well I'm fortunate to not have many problems with my Olds ,however I do have the vacuum wiper blues as most people typically report they travel about 1/3 of the way and stall if you grab the arm and assist they will continue to move then stall again. I went on line and found that many people had success by lubricating them which by the way is considered routine maintenance, I pulled the vacuum line from the unit stuck the other end in a bottle of trans fluid ( most people recommend trans fluid or brake fluid) and manually operated the arms to suck the trans fluid into the unit which it did, must people report great success with this method however I was not that lucky it did not work for me. I considered the electric conversion but have decided against it because I enjoy the vintage automobile experience and I want it to be like it was in 1956, I have researched Ficken Wiper service AKA The Wiper Man, has any body here had experience with them. any assistance would be appreciated.

Tedd Thompson

Haven't ever used Ficken wiper service but I had my original wiper motor rebuilt twice and put up with marginal to poor wipers till I got in a real thunder storm coming home at night. The next week I bought and installed the Newport system and never looked back.

You would be hard pressed to find a member here who is more of a purest than I in the mid fifties class. I'm sure there are but as far as I know I have yet to lose a point because of my wiper motor and I fear not of the rain anymore.

Should you get stuck in the rain with your vacuum wipers sometimes you can remove the passenger side wiper arm and blade and the driver side will sorta soldier on good enough to get you home.....Tedd

maineolds

I’m very interested in the maintenance side of this conversation. I had no idea there was a recommended maintenance on the motor/pump. Anyone know what years this includes? My two different olds service manuals say nothing about lubricating the system. I’m a BIG believer in maintenance! Just curious as to why it’s omitted on my 49. It’s got vacuum wipers

Tedd Thompson

I believe any vacuum style motor needs to be lubed sometime in it's life most don't ever get serviced. Back in the olden days we used Lube-a plate a light grease later a silicone lube was used.
The usual reason they have issues is because the rubber wipe in the motor housing is hard with age and leeks, or the inside of the housing gets rough from corrosion....Tedd

Matthew Saliba

I had same issue and did the ATF lube but it did not resolve issue. What worked was to replace the hose 7/32 in size from wiper motor to fuel pump connection. It is 2 pieces on my 1950 a short run from motor to T then another piece to the tube that comes off of pump. It did the trick and works great. Just wet the glass. Hose only 89 cents a foot. Then there is the piece under dash that goes from T to switch. I have not done that yet but likely will work even better.