I'm getting some detail stuff done in the cool (9C - 45F) mornings, but I worked on the rear tailgate wiper bracket yesterday, and noticed that it can be repaired, so I went on the WWW and looked around for brushes, etc. Surprise, surprise, to me at least, about how many Ford Wagon owners had problems with the little darlings - even with new replacements! http://ford.justanswer.com/JA/ASP_ASK/FID_24/K_1659/P_0/TR/Club-Wagon-Questions.htm It seems that the motors are generally OK. Its the lack of a proper ground that makes them work sometimes and then appear to be NFG. So I dug deep into my Electro-Mechanical training with the Canadian Army (RCEME) and remembered how they taught us about using lead to solder up a tool box made of light-gage sheetmetal (steel). As I was stripping my car for the full-restore project, I noticed some places where the factory ground screws had accumulated dust, muck and rust. After I scraped them down and phosphated them (POR's Metal-Ready), I heated up an old bar type soldering iron with my brazing torch and put a little dab of solder where the ground screws go back on to hold the ground wire in contact with the body. My car didn't come with the wired rear glass (defrosting grid and circuit), but thanks to some vandals in March 2006, the Ford Dealership replaced my rear tailgate glass with the wired one, even though I had no circuit for it. The 2-door donor did and so I had to add a ground wire from the body to the glass. That doesn't ground the tailgate though, so I had to add an extra one to ensure the wiper motor has good ground. I just ran a separate ground to the same ground screw on the body, and the other end right to the motor's mounting screw inside the tailgate. I had to re-tape the wire harness anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. Make sure you get the ground connectors with larger 'rings' to make good contact. The extra diameter will help make sure there's contact for longer, especially with the new solder in place. I still prefer soldering to the crimp-type connectors, and where mine looked shabby, I switched to the soldered type. For the wiring I use an electric soldering iron. The tinning on sheetmetal needs to be evenly heated and although you can do it with an electric iron, it may take a few beers' worth of patience.:banghead3: You could use a propane torch to heat up an old jack handle tip. If its about 15" long or wrap a wet rag where you're holding it.
