Lancia Motor Club

Hi, I'm looking at putting in a small electric pump to replace the vacuum system on the screen wipers.
They only work for a couple of weeks then need servicing.
I've found an electrical push button switch that looks very much like the original push button vacuum control.
However I can't see how to get the original push button vacuum control out of the dashboard. It can't be pushed through to the back because of the front bezel and it can't be pushed out from behind because there's a part of the body that won't fit through the hole in the dash.
Before I break anything, has anyone managed to get one out?
There is a small hole in the body that could be a release for the body to come apart, however there are no obvious seams to suggest it's made from more than one part.
Thanks in advance. Chris

Hi Chris
I think you mean windscreen washers, ie the water. If I remember correctly, it’s easily accessible from the rear under the dash, although mine is an series 2.
 
What I did as the vacuum was way past it’s sale by date and didn’t what to pay Holden prices https://www.holden.co.uk/p/trico_vacuum_operated_washer_bottle_later_type although they have come down a bit. Was to add a 12v motor and non-return value under the bottle. Then purchase another Trico vacuum button from ebay and cut the back tube part off and made a simple bracket to hold a push-button switch, so the inner part of the button touches the switch, and looks original.     

Only problem is that I only used it for the MOT and the cheap motors tend to rust or seize up if not used regularly after a couple of years.

I second the advice that you screw off the bezel then extract the unit from the back, at least you do on a Berlina. Mine also has an electrical connection in the operating unit that activates the wipers, an early one touch wash wipe. On the car I dismantled this had been rewired to activate an electric washer pump so retaining the original appearance of the dashboard.

Many thanks for the advice chaps.
Chris

If you need a Trico washer button I may well have one.
Chris

I've checked my spare unit and have some corrections to make. You don't just undo the bezel ring and extract the unit backwards through the instrument panel because the knob it too large to go through the hole. You have to remove the knob by undoing the tiny grub screw that locks it to the shaft.

The other thing is that the electrical contacts of the wiper switch are remote from the knob, connected by a short Boden cable. Twisting the knob pulls the cable and switches on the wipers. The vacuum wash is activated by a little chrome nipple in the centre of the knob. This activates a valve connecting the vacuum to the washer bottle but cleverly it also activates a small vacuum servo attached to the contacts of the wiper switch so the wipers activate at the same time as the screen wash.

I hope that makes some sort of sense.

I have never seen that arrangement before with a vacuum operated electrical switch for wipers . Fascinating and quite sophisticated. Is it Trico design manufacture ( or under licence from)  or Italian design I wonder?
Chris

I recall that on our Flaminia GTL we had in the 1980s the previous owner ( an Observer journalist) had fitted an intermittent electrical control for wipers. I cant remember how the washers operated but they may well had an electric pump fitted by the previous owner.
Chris

Back in the mid-1970s, I bought Walt Spak's old Flaminia berlina - with about 17 different shades of primer grey paint on it, and the rust was free. But delightfully, everything worked on that car - including this remarkable arrangement, which clearly was state-of-the-art in 1959. A guess is that it was a Lancia request/design/special order to the suppliers, who made a small production run for them... if successful, then it would have gone into larger production. Seems like simpler answers prevailed over time, but it really is a wonderful combination of activities in one button!

Frank, that’s very different to mine S2 GT, yours look super complicated. For me the wipe control is sperate to the washer button which is the standard Trico unit, as below.   

I've a series 1 and the button looks like this. I'm pretty certain that I can cut the back off this button switch, attach an electrical switch push button, so the plunger pushes on the electrical switch button to supply power to the electric pump. The elaborate combined washer/wiper switch looks very sophisticated. Perhaps it was too expensive to roll out on all cars.
Chris