Blue oval disease or poltergeist?
#1
Blue oval disease or poltergeist?
My 98 XLT's speed-dependent interval wipers began acting up. There were no interval speeds in the delay switch positions, the wipers were dead until the 2 constant speed positions were reached. Then there was 1 interval speed & high speed. A couple of times the wipers reverted to normal, then stayed screwed up. Discovered wipers worked perfectly w/ignition in Run position w/o motor running - start motor & wipers mess up. Theory was the mysterious GEM acting up. Haven't found location of wiper control box or GEM, just lived w/it.
Driver's remote mirror never worked correctly since I got it w/7,500 miles, only 3 out of 4 switch arrows moved mirror. Was easy to adjust mirror by hand so I just lived w/it. Dad probably adjusted the mirrors once when new & never moved them again. Now approaching 18,000 miles I discovered the passenger mirror would no longer move at all & neither did the driver's. Suspected the switch & knew the contacts can be cleaned. After confirming power to the switch I tried opening it up, worried small spring loaded parts would pop out. To my relief it was easy to pry the switch apart w/jeweler's screw driver & nothing went flying. There was a faint green corrosion & tiny spots of black schmutz at contact points. Apparently rare wettings from rain and/or cleaning products caused the green cast. Presume the 12 year age is involved w/contact point corrosion, certainly wasn't overuse. Cleaned all w/needle & scapel, then wet w/anticorrosive. Now mirrors work perfectly again.
To my surprise now the wipers also work perfectly.
Driver's remote mirror never worked correctly since I got it w/7,500 miles, only 3 out of 4 switch arrows moved mirror. Was easy to adjust mirror by hand so I just lived w/it. Dad probably adjusted the mirrors once when new & never moved them again. Now approaching 18,000 miles I discovered the passenger mirror would no longer move at all & neither did the driver's. Suspected the switch & knew the contacts can be cleaned. After confirming power to the switch I tried opening it up, worried small spring loaded parts would pop out. To my relief it was easy to pry the switch apart w/jeweler's screw driver & nothing went flying. There was a faint green corrosion & tiny spots of black schmutz at contact points. Apparently rare wettings from rain and/or cleaning products caused the green cast. Presume the 12 year age is involved w/contact point corrosion, certainly wasn't overuse. Cleaned all w/needle & scapel, then wet w/anticorrosive. Now mirrors work perfectly again.
To my surprise now the wipers also work perfectly.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
phoneman91
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
62
03-13-2024 09:16 PM
FordTruckfan89
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
1
01-11-2014 05:10 PM
John Boyd
1948 - 1956 F1, F100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
23
07-14-2006 12:58 PM