knob to the right of the key

On my car, it's the wipers - which I suppose not surprising, don't auto park

There's an adjustment feature in the mechanism Julie but it will require a person to get into the driver's side of the car on their back among the tunnel, foot pedals and forward of the gearshift lever with a light looking upwards and making that adjustment.

Isn't your car new mfg. ? Get them to fix it ?

@David Stroud IM Roadster D

I've never heard that there is an adjustment that can be made to autopark the wipers.  How is it done?

If you run the stock switch and wiper assembly, it has auto park in it. I'll look for my diagram. I was working on the wiring layout a few.months ago.

.

I've often wondered about why there's no (apparent) provision for self parking on (most of) our wipers, and just assumed there wasn't any parking feature in the original VW wipers.

(One of my greatest Eureka moments came when I discovered how self-parking wipers work by studying the wiring schematic in the owners manual of my 1968 BMW.)

After reading this thread on the Samba, I've just learned that VW's did have self-parking wipers, but that seems to have required a special switch, and three wires from the motor to the switch (besides a special ground wire to the switch as well).

So, most of our replicas were just wired with ordinary switches (no provision for parking) and two wires for the two speeds. (The wiper switch in my 2013 VS is actually just another headlight switch.) The utilities in an old-school car usually switch just the 'hot' and wire the ground with an entirely separate circuit that doesn't go through the switch.

Here's a wiring diagram I found with the details, including the special wiper switch that incorporates its own grounding circuit:

I've only just discovered this and haven't worked through all the nuances yet, but if you really want self-parking wipers, there's probably a way to make that happen if you persevere.

And why am I not surprised that Henry would have sorted this all out and made it work on his cars?

It turns out you don't think about this too much if you never turn your wipers on because you never drive in the rain.

.

For 6 years I went without having to turn on my wipers.  Before a few weeks ago, I didn't know if they worked.  To my surprise, they did.....and worked quite well.  But that's when I soon realized there was no self-park feature; which didn't bother me.  I made a game out of it, trying to park them perfectly.  It took my mind off how much I was cold and soaked.

So for that, I'm thankful for the no self park.  I believe that is what they were hoping to achieve when creating our little speedsters.

As I may have mentioned in a previous thread, I was aware I would encounter rain on our recent 750-mile rally.  And it didn't bother me.  There have been many images of the historic Mille Miglia or LeMans; which all seemed to encounter rain at some point.  In my head, I developed this romantic images of automobiling in its rawest form.  Man battling man and the elements.

It took roughly 4 hours of getting soaked in heavy downpours, and freezing in 43-degree temps to realize I am no race car driver of the early era of motorsports.

I love the speedster because it is raw, mechanical, and flawed.  Or at least I thought I loved the last part about it.  But getting soaked while driving is not fun.  Watching helplessly as your car literally turns into a bathtub sucks.

The only thing I could find to escape the grips of frustration with the situation was humor.  There was a professional race car driver that participated in our rally; who approached me at lunch to offer his sympathy.  I simply responded that I feel bad for him.  Unlike his boring Ferrari, my replica speedster has the luxury option of a therapeutic hot tub that makes up the entire interior area.  Now if only I could get the bloody heater working to heat up the water, I would be rockin'!

I uploaded a few images below that came to my mind prior to our event.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) no photos were taken of me, and how I actually felt about the real-life situation.

I've been just as drenched as you were, Kevin.  I got pelted with hailstones in the forehead too. They really HURT!

As to the self-park feature, it is built into every single VW wiper motor. It is an existing function but just needs to be wired in. If you use a VW wiper switch(my car has one) it is a matter of wiring it properly. As Mitch states, there are 4 wires to get this done. A separate ground, a 12v ignition hot, then the two wires for high and low speed on.

My 2002 Vintage Spyder did not park when I got it, and I stumbled through how to change that in the late 2000s. But it isn't that hard, be prepared to replace some burned out fuses and see a few sparks when you futz with it. But after I figured it out, it is pretty simple and easy. Mitch's wiring diagram might save you the sparks. I didn't have that.

I may be wrong, but David Stroud MAY be referring to changing the side the wipers park on, which can be done from underneath, depending on the year of the wiper mechanism.

@Troy Sloan posted:

@David Stroud IM Roadster D

I've never heard that there is an adjustment that can be made to autopark the wipers.  How is it done?

I did it so long ago on my Speedster that I can't remember the exact procedure. It's likely also that the wiper mechanisms have changed over the years but the feature is there.

There are points and a cam in the mechanism, I have no idea how that gets fixed to be able to restore the park position use that quits on all 12v VW wiper motors .

Learning how to be wet, cold, and miserable and still pretending to have fun is what motorcycling, hunting, snow skiing, and ice skating are all about. The ability to gut through it is a huge predictor regarding somebody's suitability and ability to succeed in my chosen profession. I've spent a large portion of every winter of my life wet, cold, and miserable. It's my least favorite part about living where I do.

I'll never go looking for it, but being prepared is 99% of the battle. Wipers gotta wipe. You've gotta know where the car leaks in order to work on keeping it dry. Material selection will dictate (to some extent) whether you even want to fight the battle. Fine Italian leather does not fare the same as nice modern vinyl in the rain. Super-exotic (and super-nice) wool carpet doesn't hold its shape like something that originated in a petrochemical plant.

In this age of the >$60K base replica, it's important to continue to remember the genesis of the car and the limitations that are baked in the cake. These cars are (at the heart) really beautiful dune buggies. That beautiful shape is going to leak air and water. You're going to get wet. Your wipers may not park because the builder believed you shouldn't be driving in the rain anyhow. The wipers may really exist just as a way to get the car through an operational inspection.

It's cut pretty close to the bone. Every now and again, there's going to be a nick.

Look at all the fun these guys are having, dim lights and traffic to boot.

I went through the burnt fuses and sparks when I installed my wipers too, but I did all the futzing with it out of the car first.

@Stan Galat posted:

Learning how to be wet, cold, and miserable and still pretending to have fun is what motorcycling, hunting, snow skiing, and ice skating are all about.

And also cycling in Oregon...

I too used a VW wiper switch and have self-parking and variable speed.

I set the wipers up to park on the passenger side so I wouldn't have to look past them when driving.  It is just a matter of how you hook the bits of linkage together.  You do need to have wiper arms that work for that too.

Just an FYI, in looking through the vw years, the wipers park pointing to the passenger / right side through 1964. 1965-1977 in standard beetles, park pointing to the driver/ left side. From what I've seen, the left side matches the park position in real speedsters.

Note: 1973-79 superbeetles, even though speedsters do not use their wiper assembly, they park towards passenger.

This is all based on the left hand drive beetles.

Jeff

So, back to the original question: if you're keeping the 2 left side switches for wipers and headlights, what are you doing with the other one next to the key. I'm thinking I'll probably make mine the flasher switch.

I wanted mine to park on the passenger side even though real Speedsters park on the driver's side.

Can you get a 64 or earlier wiper assembly and have it modded for 12v?

@Jeff Hicks posted:

Can you get a 64 or earlier wiper assembly and have it modded for 12v?

They sell a replacement ( from 6v) to 12v armature that drops in.

Wiper Conversion, Armature 12 Volt - Bugstuff Online

Oh, good to know!

I have a question for you VW buffs:

Did VW park the wipers on the OPPOSITE side in a same-year right-hand drive car?

Apparently so:

@Kevin - Bay Area posted:

As I may have mentioned in a previous thread, I was aware I would encounter rain on our recent 750-mile rally.  And it didn't bother me.  There have been many images of the historic Mille Miglia or LeMans; which all seemed to encounter rain at some point.  In my head, I developed this romantic images of automobiling in its rawest form.  Man battling man and the elements.

It took roughly 4 hours of getting soaked in heavy downpours, and freezing in 43-degree temps to realize I am no race car driver of the early era of motorsports.

I love the speedster because it is raw, mechanical, and flawed.  Or at least I thought I loved the last part about it.  But getting soaked while driving is not fun.  Watching helplessly as your car literally turns into a bathtub sucks.

The only thing I could find to escape the grips of frustration with the situation was humor.  There was a professional race car driver that participated in our rally; who approached me at lunch to offer his sympathy.  I simply responded that I feel bad for him.  Unlike his boring Ferrari, my replica speedster has the luxury option of a therapeutic hot tub that makes up the entire interior area.  Now if only I could get the bloody heater working to heat up the water, I would be rockin'!

I uploaded a few images below that came to my mind prior to our event.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) no photos were taken of me, and how I actually felt about the real-life situation.

In 2001, I did a vacation cover on my old gig while my replacement got married/honeymooned and then his assistant went on vacation. 2 weeks in Couer D’Alene, two weeks off, then 2 weeks in San Jose. It was a perfect trip to ride my Triumph and in my two weeks off, I rode 5,000 miles zig-zagging across BC and Alberta, followed by a few days R&R in Tofino then down the coast to San Jose.

I rained some portion of every day save one (the day I took the ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. Go figure) And a couple of days it rained all day long. I still laugh when I remember stopping somewhere to get some latex gloves as all my leather gloves were soaked (a trick I learned from Keith Code at Watkins Glen) I left a trail of water from the door to the gloves to the checkout as my Rallye Suit drained.

TL: DR “Wipers? We don’t need no stinking wipers.”

Epilogue: My supposed last day in San Jose was 9/11.  I ended up staying an extra 4 days because the guy I was subbing for couldn’t get a flight out of Las Vegas. He ended up renting a car and driving up.

@Michael McKelvey posted:

I wanted mine to park on the passenger side even though real Speedsters park on the driver's side.

Do you then get a good, effective sweep on the driver's side ?

@David Stroud IM Roadster D, in 10 years I only recall using my wipers once.  Also, I never had the wipers parking on the driver's side.  So, I can't compare the sweep effectiveness of one side versus the other.

I guess I could pretend the driver is on the right side and look at the swept area on both sides.