Wiper motor removal, stripping down and reassembly

For the past couple of weeks, I had trouble with the window wipers on the MGB.
Once switched on, they were moving slowly, and after some time they were stopping halfway, stuck on the windscreen... Not very safe when it's raining! And no other possibility to restart them than park, get out of the car and help by hand the wipers to go back to their storage position.

So, I have decided to have closer look.
The motor and mechanism were encountering mechanical resistance somewhere.
The first idea was to extract the motor and the gears attached on top, and open them to check inside.

How to remove the motor and gears:

• The motor is under the dashboard on the right side of the car.
• It is attached to the car with a metallic strap and 2 bolts. Undo the bolts and disengage the motor from the strap.
• Once this is done, you should be able to have access to the electrical connector located at the back of the motor.
• The mechanism (cable) that goes to the wiper arms is connected to the extremity of the motor/gearbox via a olive nut, that need to be removed. Be careful, it is very greasy. 
• If you cannot disconnect the cable, you will need to unscrew the cover hold by 4 little hex bolts. Be careful, it is very very greasy, and also be careful as all the parts remain in place.

And finally, you should be able to remove the motor and bring it to a bench.

What is inside:

Once the cover is removed, you should see something like that:

It was easy to see the mechanism was full of old sticky/ solid grease... Consequently, the solution was simple: strip down, clean everything and reassemble.

NOTE: be careful to take picture of your mechanism to re position the components at the same place during the reassembly phase.  Failed this and your wipers will not stop at the correct place when you turn them off.

Once all the parts have been cleaned (I have also taken apart the motor):

Pay attention to the circle on the picture below:

Inside there is a kind of spherical plain bearing, and mine was seized, contributing to the difficulty of the mechanism to work properly. You can give back its mobility to the spherical plain bearing by using penetrating lubricant, and moving it around with a lever (screwdriver for example).

The reassembly is quite simple: just put everything together as shown on the pictures you will have taken earlier.

Put a bit of grease on the bump at the back of the main gear, and also put some grease in the groove (left side of the picture above) and on the endless screw from the motor that connects to the main gear.

Reinstall the wiper motor on the car:

You will need ti remove once again the cover.

Be careful that all parts inside remain in place.

Connect the extremity of the cable to the motor mechanism, and close the cover with the 4 small hex screws and tighten back the olive nut:

Plug the connector at the back of the engine.

Reinstall the motor on the strap (be careful that the rubbers are positioned correctly).

And once everything is tighten, then... You just have to make a test.

... And the wipers are back to life!! :D