Electrical: Wiper Motor queries

[Jungle_Jim]

Hi All

Can anybody confirm if there were different wiper motors in 240s over the production years?

I'm asking because I recently bought a 2nd hand SWF Wiper Motor and refurbed it to replace my current one as a swap. It's running well, and I was about to fit it when I discovered that it has a different diameter of casting where the very end of the motor goes through the grommet in the firewall, just near the point where the wiper crank arm bolts on inside the car. The SWF motor casting has a ~18mm diameter, while the original in my car (1992 240) is 24mm in the same area. All other dimensions of the two wiper motors are compatible.

The point is, this is very relevant because this part of the motor needs to be a water-tight seal in that firewall grommet, and with the SWF motor installed, there's daylight around the firewall grommet, and I don't fancy making a mess with butyl trying to get a seal (or I suppose a sleeve could be made). Plus, it's better if the motor is braced at that point by the grommet, rather than being able to move.

Looking on the internet, there are various non-genuine motors for sale around the world, LHD or RHD, but each appears to have the 24mm diameter. So what's the story with this SWF motor, or is it pre-1981 or something?

BTW I am refurbing my original motor, to get around this problem, but I don't know what to do with the SWF motor.

And next question: can replacement brushes be bought for these wiper motors? These would be such a generic part, you'd think there'd be an option even if they were not available through regular Volvo part channels...
They are carbon brushes...
~4mm x ~5mm x ~10mm long with braided flexible copper leads coming from the middle of the 4mm face.

Thanks
John

[Bugjam1999]

Interesting timing- by chance I just bought a replacement wiper motor as a spare from someone breaking a car, it is also SWF and also has an 18mm diameter casting- it was from an A plated car, which would make it 1983 or thereabouts.

As my car is 1988 and therefore likely to have a 24mm casting, I’ll probably have a friend knock up a sleeve on his lathe when he has a moment which will fix the issue.

Cheers

Edit: turns out ‘bearing sleeve’ is what you want to search for on google, they’re available in all sorts of variants for very little money.

https://www.ashleypower.co.uk/amc182...-x-24mm-x-12mm

[Jungle_Jim]

Comparing the original (later) Volvo 240 wiper motor and the SWF - putting aside this difference where the motor goes through the firewall - they seem to operate exactly the same, but looking inside them, they appear to be quite different designs. The Volvo one appears to have more components in it, and the brush mounting part of it looks better quality, and it would be easier to check or change the brushes in it as opposed to the SWF motor. I have now refurbed the original Volvo one, and I'll just put that one back in and be done with it. (BTW the problem the Volvo one had was that one of the magnets had come loose - a common issue - de-rusted it, epoxy glued it back and it's fine).

And also - to follow-up my own question about brushes:
Firstly - the original Volvo wiper motor has brushes of these dimensions: 6mm x 4mm profile, and when new the brush would have been 10-11mm long. They have braided wire of around 40mm coming from the 4mm face. There are three of them in a wiper motor.

Anyhow - I tried to source replacement brushes as part of the refurb, and... the fella at Brookhouse kindly contacted the people who refurb motors for them, and the information that came back was that apparently when they refurb wiper motors, rarely have the brushes worn out and therefore usually don't need replacing.

But if there was a damaged brush, there are plenty of generic motor brushes available, and it seems that graphite can easily be shaped by abrasives, if the exact size wasn't available.

The brushes in mine looked short - around 8-9mm - but I'll take that advice and just re-use them and see how it goes.

Thanks
John