MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - TF wiper motor switch

Folks
My 13 year TF restoration project is coming to fruition as I had my first ride in it and of course found a few systems that I needed to tweak! One of the systems is the TF wiper motor switch. When I turned the ignition on the wiper motor would immediately start to work. I checked everything in the wiring setup and everything was correct but with me not being able to turn the darn thing off. Went back to basics with a multimeter and found that the switch attached to the wiper shaft mechanism had a dead short. I took it apart and sure enough the 66 year switch basically fell apart in pieces.
Now! I could simply wire in a separate individual switch and be done with it and if necessary will do so; however, I would prefer to somehow rebuild/fix the old one. So! Has anyone had this self same issue and has fixed/modified the old switch to work or know of anyone who has?
Many thanks for any help.
Best regards
Rod Murray TF 3006
Rodney G Murray

Hi Rod, firstly it would seem that you are lucky that an original TF motor has enough torque to move the blades across a dry windscreen! I haven’t heard of anyone rebuilding a switch successfully and many of us have moved on to two speed motors from later models. I have put a rotary switch where the accessory pull switch was.
Chris
C I Twidle

Hi Chris:
No way! Knowing the “weakness” of the motor I work on the unit only with the wipers off of the shafts. I was hoping to hear that someone had modified a micro switch to fit in place of the old switch or modifications to make the old switch work! But, I realize that is a faint hope.
Best regards
Rod
Rodney G Murray

I have had my TF for on the road for 46 years and never had any wiper problems.
The switch is a simple make & break opened by a cone wedge when the shaft is pushed in and turned dropping back to engage with the drive. Easy to repair with brass strip if broken.
The main problem is that the springs in modern wiper arms are too strong loading the blades. This is because the makers expect them to deform curved blades on later cars like midgets. I strain the spring to un load them and drive in all weathers, the car is only off the road when salt is down for ice and snow. Luckily I live in an area that does not get much of that, we make up for it with rain :-).
I also have a bypass switch, my wheel is all the way forward and putting my hand through the spokes is not a good idea.
Ray TF 2884
Ray Lee

I have the original switch in my TF and after cleaning and lubricating it works fine. I did replace the motor with one from an MGA and it will wipe a dry screen faster than the original on a wet screen.


PJ Jennings

Watch for the double earth arrangement: one of the two wires to the switch from within the loom is earthed and so is the body of the wheel box. Arguing the wrong wire will blow fuse A3-A4. My problem was wiper failing to operate properly and was found to old dry grease in the wheel boxes and the cable drive, cleaning and re-greasing solved that problem. Over time the gears that engage with the cable drive within each wheel box wear with the teeth sometimes jumping the cable drive and thereby the wiper arm is no longer wiping the screen properly. Despite much searching I have never found any good condition gears - all have worn teeth - so my solution was to make and fit a very thin piece of metal strip above the cable rack to get it to engage more deeply with the gear.
N D Wallace

“Arguing” should read “earthing”.
N D Wallace

This thread was discussed between 12/10/2020 and 24/10/2020

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.