I am gonna sound stupid

[amsiegel]

2 questions which are going to make me sound stupid.

1 I am going to work on my wiper assembly. I know it is under the panel in front of wind sheild and the panel is held down by screws and bolts. How do i remove the wiper arms?? I saw a little tab where they slip over the round groove part does that have something to do with it.

2. For some reason the PO has the headlights wired so once you turn the car on the lights come on. The lever on the colum does nothing. The light switch on the dash in the up position is headlights on, in middle position headlights and running lights, bottom position running lights and high beam. Actually I think the highbeams are always on and the regular lights come on with high beams on the bottom position or the lights are aimed wrong. How do i get to the headlight assmebly?

See I told you I would sound stupid. I ask becasue I have a tendancy to get frustrated and then I just pull shit a part.

Oh you want to guess how many times I wiggled the wires going to the coil before they broke. The PO used some really bad wire connectors and they where rusty.

Thanks
I will try to take some pics of the car after the new tires are put on.

[mdrburchette]

I can help with the wipers. First of all, you don't even have to remove the wiper arms from their posts to access the wiper transmission or motor. When you remove the screws from the cowl, you can remove the entire panel and everything is bolted to it....just don't forget the wiring will still be attached. The arms come off by simply pulling them up and off the posts. I use a screwdriver for leverage and wiggle the arm back and forth until they break loose, then I can pull them up.

Good grief, it sounds like those headlights are going to be a pain! Do you have a wiring diagram? It looks like you're going to need it. What year is your car?

[mbouse]

yup. sounds like an off-season repair job for those lights. the P.O. did you no favors there.

getta good wiring diagram, and begin studying it.

i question whether the dash switch is the correct Fiat switch if you have lights in all three positions. when the high beams come on, do the low beams go off, or do the low beams remain on?

[amsiegel]

The car is a 1977. The high beams and low beams come on at the same time.

Thanks

[mdrburchette]

Sounds like the PO bypassed the column lever for some reason. Once you are able to determine what wires are on the dash switch and what wires are supposed to go to the column switch you'll be able to figure this mess out. I'm sure one of us can come up with the multifunctional lever assy for the column if you find it's needed.

[mbouse]

quite the possibility that this major change included a bad multifunction switch on the column. why else go thru all that work?

if the low beams are always on, then maybe the dash switch IS the correct one for the car, just wired differently for the project.

[amsiegel]

Well you where right about the wipers it was easy. Thank you.
I got everything out and sprayed down the linkage. I took the wiper motor apart and sprayed it down with electrical cleaner and put it back together. I pluged the motor back up just to test it out. The return to the down position switch is now working. I will reinstall everything soon after the linkage has some time to soak up some more PB.

[amsiegel]

Oh I am guessing the light awitch is the correct type. Can some one tell me what should be on in each position up middle down? I am guessing Up = off Middle is running lights and Down is Headlights and High beams are controled from colum. Thanks

[mbouse]

excluding perhaps the earliest models...

up is all lights off regardless of the ignition switch position
middle is running lights on, dash lights on and ?trunk light on?, headlights off regardless of ignition key selection
down is all lights on when the ignition switch is on and all lights off when the ignition key is turned off

be mindful of that aluminum housing and steel shaft that go through the cowling when addressing your wiper assembly. bi-metalic oxidation occurs here giving a bunch of resistence to the proper movement of those wiper arms.
http://flumichigan.italiancarclub.com/T ... erArms.pdf

[manoa matt]

My guess is that at some point your steering column switch assembly burnt out and was replaced. There are three different versions of the steering column assembly. The rear stalk on the drivers side is the tell. Some have three positions while others have two. Then the two position version is further sub-divided by how the wires connect at the back ring of the assembly.

The steering column switch assembly was replaced, the lights did not activate as they should, and the PO rigged it up so they would come on however he could.

What year is your car?

[amsiegel]

The car is a 1977

Is the park position for the wiper linkage all the way to one side?

[manoa matt]

Wiper switch is on the right side. 3 positions. All the way up is off/park middle position is slow/intermittent and all the way down is fast/intermittent. It works in conjunction with the little wiper switch on the center dash. With the column switch and the dash switch there are actually 4 different speeds/phases for the wipers.

[amsiegel]

Ok wipers are back together and working.

Something I did not mention earlier along with the high beams comming on when the ignition is turned to on so is the readiator fan. I played around tonight and this is what I found out. Like I said earlier the high beams come on when the ignition is turned on. With the ignition in the off position I played with the light swith.
Up all off
Middle running lights etc.
Bottom regular headlights. Then.
Flick high beam switch high beams come on and so does the raditor fan.

I am guessing at some point the PO wanted the fan to stay on at all times since this is Florida. Maybe he tapped into the highbeam wires to power the fan. Maybe the wires got crossed. Maybe he just decided that he likes highbeams and fans and wired them into the always on part of the fuse box. At least I can guess the problem is not the regular light switch but a wiring snafu. Well next time at the shop I will be running wires and staring at the wiring diagrams. Of course I could just play "lets cut this wire and see what turns off"

Some times I just wonder why

[amsiegel]

I got under the dash and found 2 wires conected to a red wire comming of the ignition switch. I pulled of the connection and the highbeams, radiator fan and fuel pump went off. I reconected the wire for the fuel pump and it works. Well part of the problem is solved. The problem is the other wire is a constant on to the fan and the highbeams. The high beams still work with out the connection but the fan will not turn on. I searched for where the wire goes to but after removing the part of the dash I saw the wire is tied together with all the other wires going through the fire wall. I did not feel like tearing apart the wire harnesses to search for the wire. I tried backtracking from the fan (green wire) and lostthat one under the relays under the hood. I did notice that the wire comming from the radiator temp switch where spliced together so they do nothing but make a loop.

I can not tell you how many wires I found that went to nothing. Some where even labeled but where not connected to where it was suppose to go.

I am going to search again if I can not find where these wires all connect (fan, Highbeam and ignition) I am just going to run a new wire from the fan to the igntion. I might put in a switch to turn off and on the fan when I want or I might try and use the temp switch on the radiator. Any opinions????

[mdrburchette]

According to the wiring diagram http://www.artigue.com/fiat/pubs/Wiring_1977.pdf
it looks like the fan motor has two wires coming from it. A black wire that goes to the thermostatic fan switch (in radiator) and a light blue wire going to fuse "I".