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front windshield washer pump quit OR how to rebuild cluster switch


tinkering
05-26-2007, 09:39 PM
The fuses were good so I went up under the passenger side inner fender to access the washer pumps. Someone else had already been in there and had a piece of the inner fender broken away (along with a piece of the side skirt) so you could access the crazy place Ford put the pumps! They had then screwed the broken section of inner fender back into place. I switched the front pump electrical connector with the rear pump connector and found that the front pump was good.
I then removed the cluster switch from the steering column. It was pretty easy; just a few screws and a couple of clip fit plastic panels. Looking at the switch in my hand I could see that the wee wires spanning between the lever and the switch housing were fatigued and broken from the contant flexing of the lever (these wee wires also control the wipers/ delay). Because we are in the boonies with no wreckers nearby, I carefully took the switch apart, stripped the wee wires and soldered them. I flagged some electrical tape on the open solder sections. I used some 'GOOP' (Great product!) on the wires that had cracked insulation with the copper wire still intact. This should cause the wire to flex in a different spot and prevent immediate breakage.
This sounds like a job for a brain surgeon but necessity is the mother of invention. Carefully refit the switch halves and screws.
SUCCESS! Everything works like a dream (also fixed the wiper delay). I bet it will outlast the vehicle:) Someone will probably scavenge it from the wreckers one day and reinstall it in their own unit:) Time will tell...

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