Windshield Washer

[baker462]

in a 1973 280C, how do you get the winshield washer fluid to spray?
I see in the book, there is a pump (near the pedeals) do you push it once and release, push it and hold it, or pump it?
thanks for the help,

[Mike D]

It should just be a foot pump. It squirts when you pump, the pedal goes down and contacts a momentary switch for the wipers. You need more fluid? Pump it again.

[meltedpanda]

rubber diaphram might be bad, or you got a hole in your lines. To work properly all must be air tight, all runs on manual "vacuum" by pumping action of rubber bladder on foot vavle

[Shab]

The spray nozzle heads on these get pretty gummed up and clogged as well over the years. You can take a sewing needle and poke away any built up crusted washer fluid. You can also pop them out all together and replace with new ones, cheap enough. You can then use the sewing needle to aim the nozzles, which are little ball & socket arrangements. Might want to bleed the air out a little also. I got mine working pretty good on my 250C years back, but overall it's pretty weak, nothing like the modern electrics of today.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

The rubber pedal pump on my '72 250 was shot internally with rubber particles constantly plugging the nozzles. I plumbed in an electric pump, from a late '80s Chevy Cavalier, made a bracket to mount it above the original washer pump and wired it to the pedal switch wiper activation circuit. I also had to eliminate the two-way valve on top of the washer bottle, run the original hose direct from the bottle to the electric pump, then a second hose from the pump, back through the firewall, to the nozzle connection. Also wound up disconnecting the wiper motor wire from the pump pedal switch due to feedback from the new electric pump keeping the wipers running all the time, but they still work normally from the stalk-switch - a small sacrifice to have a really effective washer.

Alternately, it may be simpler to mount the electric pump underhood, leave the OE pump swich alone and wire a separate (and fuse protected) push-switch in a convenient spot under the dash.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[meltedpanda]

Mark
you da man

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Now if I really wanted to get fancy, I could have wired a relay between the pedal-switch and electric pump to preserve the factory pump-wiper function. Maybe I'll try that on my 250C eventually, after I've completed all the other projects I'm going to finish someday!

Happy Motoring, Mark