If Your Windshield Washer Doesn't Work...

[Gary Lewis]

Today I resolved a problem on Big Blue that's been eluding me for some time - the windshield washer pump wouldn't run.

I checked the wiring with a test light and the hot wire was hot when I pushed the washer button. And I tested the motor by using jumper wires and it worked perfectly. But it still wouldn't work when I put it back together.

So I started checking further. I could see the ground wire was coming from a known good ground right up to the connector, and the hot was proven good, so what could be wrong? As it turned out, the ground circuit was broken inside the connector, but the terminal was still in the connector.

With a bit of probing the terminal came out, and in the pic below you can just make out that the right/ground side of the connector doesn't have a terminal.

So I got to looking around for connectors to replace it, and found one from another harness. But to make sure that it would fit I tried the old connector on another windshield washer reservoir and it wouldn't go on. But, it looked like it should so I took a closer look. Lo and behold, there was already a terminal on one of the pins!

Apparently this is a common problem if out of three connectors I have a bad one, and out of three reservoirs I have one that's had a bad connector on it - from another harness.

Given that, if you are trying to figure out why your windshield washer pump won't work take a look at the connector!

[grumpin]

Good job! Good to know!

[Gary Lewis]

Good job! Good to know!

Thanks, Dane.

[ArdWrknTrk]

My truck had a similar vibration induced failure years back. (The wire had fatigued from flexing, but the socket stayed in the plug.

This was before I knew pigtails available.

So I used a couple of small female bullet connectors (from a motorcycle harness, I think) and made a plug of Sugru. (a silicone putty)

Glad you've tracked it down. 👍

Open grounds can trick you, because it's not what you'd expect.

[Gary Lewis]

My truck had a similar vibration induced failure years back. (The wire had fatigued from flexing, but the socket stayed in the plug.

This was before I knew pigtails available.

So I used a couple of small female bullet connectors (from a motorcycle harness, I think) and made a plug of Sugru. (a silicone putty)

Glad you've tracked it down. 👍

Open grounds can trick you, because it's not what you'd expect.

Yes, a broken ground is tricky. I was scratching my head 'cause the test light was saying all was well. But after testing the pump and it worked fine I realized I'd only tested half of the circuit. So I put the test light's alligator clip on the positive post on the battery and touched the tip to the ground terminal in the connector. The light flickered. Turned out that the terminal was still in there and apparently touched when I pushed the tip in.

I was wondering about making a connector. But the whole reservoir is probably going to have to come off if the evaporator is bad, so I really wanted a factory connector on there. It took a while looking through the harnii I have to find this one, but I was a happy camper when I did.

[kramttocs]

Interesting and thanks for sharing. Definitely not the first thing one would think of as the culprit.

[rcarlisle]

Yes, a broken ground is tricky. I was scratching my head 'cause the test light was saying all was well. But after testing the pump and it worked fine I realized I'd only tested half of the circuit. So I put the test light's alligator clip on the positive post on the battery and touched the tip to the ground terminal in the connector. The light flickered. Turned out that the terminal was still in there and apparently touched when I pushed the tip in.

I was wondering about making a connector. But the whole reservoir is probably going to have to come off if the evaporator is bad, so I really wanted a factory connector on there. It took a while looking through the harnii I have to find this one, but I was a happy camper when I did.

My wiring going in to the pump looks awful. But it's working. I may attempt to fix it when it gets cooler to work outside. These 90 degree days are too much for an old fat guy.

 

[Pete Whitstone]

This was exactly the problem on my truck. The ground side pin, female side, was stuck on the male pin when I pulled the plug off, so no continuity to ground. It's on my to-do list to find or make a new plug, but what I have done in the meantime to get my pump working again, is to simply use a female "spade" connector. I think these are also called "quick-disconnect" connectors. I'm talking about the plugs where one side (male) is just a flat piece of metal about a quarter inch wide, and the other side (female) kind of looks like this:

_____

U U

One side of the U fits pretty well over the single male round pin in the pump. Once they're installed they almost look as if they belong. It works for now.

Anyone got a source for new plugs for that? I wonder how hard it would be to mold something up out of a liquid rubber compound that either sets up by itself or with a catalyst.

 

[Gary Lewis]

This was exactly the problem on my truck. The ground side pin, female side, was stuck on the male pin when I pulled the plug off, so no continuity to ground. It's on my to-do list to find or make a new plug, but what I have done in the meantime to get my pump working again, is to simply use a female "spade" connector. I think these are also called "quick-disconnect" connectors. I'm talking about the plugs where one side (male) is just a flat piece of metal about a quarter inch wide, and the other side (female) kind of looks like this:_____U UOne side of the U fits pretty well over the single male round pin in the pump. Once they're installed they almost look as if they belong. It works for now.Anyone got a source for new plugs for that? I wonder how hard it would be to mold something up out of a liquid rubber compound that either sets up by itself or with a catalyst.

I thought about doing exactly that, Pete. But since Big Blue is going in for A/C work and the reservoir might have to come off I decided I'd be better off finding the right connector, which I was able to do via another harness.

 

But if you are looking for a pigtail to replace it I'm afraid you might be out of luck. I've cut the relevant pages from Ford's Wiring Pigtail Kits catalog and will embed them below. And the closest I see is WPT-826 in the upper right of Page 9, but it isn't quite right as it doesn't have the hump on one side. Might work, but how many do you really want? They are $37 at Amazon.

 

 

[Rembrant]

But if you are looking for a pigtail to replace it I'm afraid you might be out of luck.

If you're talking about the plug/pigtail for the windshield washer pump, LMC sells it. I have had one on my '84 for a couple years now. (I believe RockAuto has them as well in the electrical-connector section).