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The Windscreen Wiper operating mechanism on the Scorpio is directly inherited from the Granada.  It can provide many years of reliable service, but it has an inherent fault - the long and short linkage between the motor and the wiper arms have cup-and-ball joints.  As these wear, the linkage detaches and the wipers stop.  This can be inconvenient in the pouring rain, to say the least.

Above, a Catalogue image of the unit.  A short arm carries the motion from the motor eccentric to the offside wiper, and the longer arm carries the motion across to the nearside wiper fulcrum.

'Derekne' when his failed reported that this was accompanied by a burning smell - caused by the arm wedging in place, seizing the mechanism and overheating the wiper motor.  Fortunately once the trapped operating arm was released everything returned to normal - oddly, the wiper circuit fuse didn't blow as you would expect.

The question of how to repair this is often raised on the List and the Forum.  If you enquire, an FMD parts guy will tell you that the entire motor assembly for the Scorpio has to be replaced.  This is true - if you look at the Scorpio catalogue.  However, as I mentioned earlier, the entire wiper mechanism has carried over from the Granada, and both long and short arms for the Granada are still available separately.

Short Arm -  Finis 6 127 673  about £6

Long Arm -  Finis 6 127 684  about £6

The entire mechanism is available as a unit - cost £85

But what do you do before the FMD opens in the morning? It's no fun driving on a motorway in the pouring rain when the wiper arm keeps popping off.

Eddie on the list sent pictures of the fix he used.  It's been going strong without problems for several months.  His method is to keep the existing arm, but put small cable ties in a cross over the top of the cup on each side of the ball.  This keeps the ball inside the cup and allows the arm to traverse.

Front view.  Eddie has crossed the cable ties each side of the ball joint over the cup.  This physically prevents the ball from popping out and yet allows free movement of the arms in relation to each other. 

Side view of the fix.  The first cable tie prevents the second tie from slipping over the end of the wiper arm, and the ball is securely held into the cup.  An ingenious solution.

One more fix has been suggested, but no picture of this.  Dart on the Forum fixed his by means of drilling through the cup into the ball, then drilling the cup again slightly oversize and driving a self-tapping screw through the cup into the ball.  This prevented the ball and cup from separating, and the slightly oversize hole on the cup allowed for lateral movements of the arms as they moved.  This was only a temporary fix, however, for it failed again eventually.

Pix and his idea by Eddie.

EricR