3/20/05
Joe Curto’s Shop

From the recommendation of several people, I contacted Joe Curto of Queens, NY for help with my wiper motor. From our phone conversation, he seemed very knowledgeable on the subject of Lucas wiper motors, so I decided to take the 20 minute drive out to College Point Queens to drop off my wiper motor last week.

Tucked in a residential neighborhood is a small shop that has been operating for over 30 years.  Joe Curto Inc specializes in British carburetors, but also has a good rebuilder for Lucas electric motors. Joe’s guy replaces what’s worn, repacks the gear boxes with new grease, and installs a new wiring harness.

Although I had taken my gears apart years ago and removed all the dried out English Grease, they’ll check everything out before sending it back to me.

Here’s another picture of the gears inside my wiper motor gearbox almost 4 years ago. The old grease gets hard and even seems to crystallize on the gear shaft. This crud is probably forming on all wiper motors of this age, causing them to run slower and slower, or even failing.

As Joe shared his knowledge with me, we turned our attention to my wiper motor switch. In all my attempts to find a wiring diagram for my switch, this was the first time someone was able to give me real information! Joe pulled out a copy of a schematic for my windshield wiper motor and switch! He was even able to look up the part number for my switch to confirm the switch on the right matched what I had! I could barely contain my excitement. I may have finally found the person, the ability, and the diagram to get my wipers working! As I left my wiper motor with Joe for rebuilding, I was in wonderment how someone with perhaps all the solutions to my wiper motor problems was right next door in Queens! As we say in NY, “Who Knew?”

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