MG Car Repair: wiper motor, voltage drop test, dry windshield

Question
I have a 1974 MG Midget. It has a 2-speed & all its functions work fine but it runs very slowly. There is little speed difference between the two speeds. I rarely use them. Do these things need to be lubricated occasionally?  Thanks

Answer
Hi Phil,
If the wipers run too slow first make sure you are not operating them on a dry windshield as even when they were new they ran very slow on a dry windshield.

The wipers operate by a wiper motor that has a worm gear on the end of it's shaft and that turns a gear that has a connecting rod that is attached to a cable that is pushed and pulled by the action of the connecting rod. The cable goes through the two wheel boxes that the wipers are on or three on some MGs. Even though it is not in the maintenance to lube all of these components the car is 35 years old and I doubt MG had any idea that these many of these cars would still be alive after 35 years. Any one who restores these cars usually disassembles all of the components and lubes every thing.

First wet the windshield to see if they operate normal and if they are very slow on a wet windshield check all the wire connections including the ground and with the wiper arms off do a voltage drop test on the power and ground wires. If you are not familiar with a voltage drop test let me know. You will need a wiring diagram and if you don't have one let me know and I will put one on my web site for you to copy. You will also need a volt meter and a test light. It is also possible that the motor itself has a problem. When removing the motor and cable system you should check the motor to see that the shaft spins freely.
let me know,
Howard