I have a curious little leak in my 68 dodge dart 270 (4door).

But first a little background info....
A few yrs ago I had some leaking that I thought was coming from the wiper arms, so I bought the seal/gasket kit for those and replaced all that. Later I found that I had also had some leaks around the windshield so I replaced the gasket and that took car of that. My leaking appeared to be stopped until I noticed after being out in the rain for a long time a small little drip was falling down into the floor. Although my leaks were all but gone it appeared that something was missed. I finally spotted the last place I was getting a leak. Please look at the picture and I'll explain below..
<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3176/5710713271_1eca740163_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="wiper leak"></a>
If you'll notice in the picture you will see where the passenger side wiper arm comes down through the hood and enter into the car. It comes down and connects to a flattened bar, this bar in turn, connects to the other wiper arm and eventually the wiper motor. You'll notice the area where the passenger side wiper arm meets the flattened bar, I drew a line w/ gray and black dots to highlight it (looks like a pearl necklace). That is where my leak is coming from. It's actually coming from INSIDE the wiper arm from that seem where the two pieces meet. It is not coming from the sides of the wiper arm and then running down. No, I actually saw the water drop appear, originate from the inside of that seem.

What I can't figure out is how is water is getting inside the wiper arm. The wiper arm seal kit I got only accounts for keeping water from getting in the car, by keeping it from coming around the arm ( and it's doing that well)..but from inside the arm? What do I do about that? I did notice that by looking through the cowl I can see some of the wiper arm before it enters the car. Maybe something there is at fault? Please chime in with suggestions for solving this issue.. cheap and easy fix I hope
THANKS

The wiper seal kit included cylindrical seals to push over the splined outside end of the wiper pivots -- sounds like you might not have installed those. It also includes Zerk fittings and instructions to install them and fill the wiper pivot housings with grease to prevent exactly this leak you describe. I don't see a Zerk fitting on the wiper pivot housing you've pictured.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Ditto what Dan said. I really like the illustration, too.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Dan, this is interesting. A few years ago while my dash was rather disassembled I ordered what I thought was the proper seals for the wiper to cowl mating; a foam doughnut.

Where dose one purchase a kit with all the fix’ins; foam doughnut; grease fitting; and exterior seal protecting shaft to housing under spined head as I have not seen this before?

Bill

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Get them directly from the source, without paying a secondary vendor's markup: Schumacher (you'll have to dig around and search by year/body type; the new website is different than the old one, but no better organized. )

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I got my kit from Schumacher as Dan mentions, and w/ my brothers help, installed everything that I got in the kit. The cylindrical seals to push over the outside end of the wiper pivots were installed. But I remember not getting the Zerk fittings w/ the kit. I do recall this because I remember when reading the instructions the Zerk installation directions were there, but we didn't have any w/ our kit. At the time all this occurred I was rather new to dealing w/ something like this, and I just thought the Zerk items were something extra that one could get and install but not necessarily required. Guess I was wrong.

So what's the solution... Would it be possible to add that fitting now w/ out pulling out the wiper arm? The wiper in question is easier to get at ..perhaps it can be done? Also would both wipers need the fittings, because only the passenger side wiper has the leak.

Can't say for sure, but seems to me if you had adequate access and line-of-sight to take that photo, you probably have adequate access and line-of-sight to drill and install a zerk. But it might still be easier to R&R. "One or both" isn't the question, the question is "one now and one later, or both now?".

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks Dan.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Going to look it all over this weekend. If I can get the fittings put in place, how much grease will it then take? When do I know to stop adding the grease, when it starts coming out everywhere? I don't think I can over do it, I just don't want to under do it.

Thanks

I would guess that the grease is partly for lubrication, but mostly to form a barrier to impede migration of water because that shaft has gotten a little sloppy since its manufacture.

A little dab will do yeah. Just pump enough grease in until it can be seen starting to ooze out.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

UPDATE: Well I managed to do what seemed initially to be impossible. I installed both grease fittings in the wiper arms w/out removing the wipers. I drilled the holes, tapped in the fittings, and finally pumped in the grease ..which worked great. The passenger side wiper arm was easier to do because there was simply more space to work. The drivers side however was very difficult but doable. Now the wiper noise I thought was just normal sounds of movement, is gone and best of all the water leak should now be history too.

Thanks everyone as always, for your learned responses.