Calling all electrical gurus

OK, first time I've had a problem with my Jeep. Slight drizzle today when I went down to the store, so I turned on the wipers, or what they call wipers R) . So far so good.

On the return trip, I also turn on the heater blower--all work.

All of a sudden the wipers stop in the parked position to the Pass side, not the usual drivers side.

Then I notice my amp light is on--Oh Sheet! But I also have an amp guage and it is showing 0, until you rev it up a bit then it moves to the + or charge side. Turn on the lights, rev the engine and the amp guage moves 1 mark to the + side. According to the guage I'm charging. But the red amp light is on. :?

What I have: Orig. 35 amp Prestolite alt. with external fenderwell mounted regulator. Wiper switch is not really a wiper switch--It's chrome knob marked "Lights" that you twist to the right to get wipers.

Any ideas? I have a sneeking suspicion it has something to do with the wipers. I can have the alt checked here and if it's bad a 63 amp GM is going in.

Stuck now for further diagnosis because it's raining outside.

 

Sounds like the linkage is jammed. Motor is on but not moving. Try to move the wipers back to park by hand.

 

Tim: That crossed my mind too. Do you think that a jammed wiper motor would cause the amp light to come on? Remember I have upper separate motors, so there is no real "linkage".

 

Yes, definitely, because there's a microswitch in the motor that turns the motor off when it gets to the park position. The on/off switch is in parallel with the park switch. The motor stops when both switches are open, at the park position. I think you'll find that if you unplug the motor, the amp light will go off.

 

Tim: Guess what? I went out and turned on the ign. to see if the blower motor was working--forget to check that. Well, when I turned on the ign. switch to "on" position, the drivers wiper motor came on and moved that wiper to park. So I turned on the wiper switch till they were both on the same plane and turned them off and they parked in the "drivers" position as they should. So I started it and NO amp. light. Now that they are in the proper "park" position, no problem. So is what you are saying, is that if the wipers are not in the park pos. I have 2 dead shorts in the wiper circut. Makes sense that that would cause the amp light to come on.

Thanks for your insite. Aren't these old things wonderful!

Think I'm going to invest in a proper wiper switch as this one is almost behing my downtube for the cage. And it's obviously not a "wiper" switch if it has "Lights" stamped into it. R)