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TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System
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wizard
Posted 2008-04-14 3:12 AM (#125266)
Subject: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island		This is an article written by Dr. Tony Rinaldo, with an appendix that I have written

The 300-F "Co-ordinated Washer" System
By: Dr. Tony Rinaldi
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For one year only, Chrysler installed the "Cadillac" of washer/wiper systems in the 300-F. The Trico vacuum washer pump was initially used on the 1956-58 Cadillacs, with a different shaped reservoir and lid. The windshield wipers are co-ordinated to turn on automatically during the pumping of washer fluid and continue to operate for a short interval after the pumping stops to dry the windshield. Thus the name "Co-ordinated Washer" System.
The system is difficult to troubleshoot since little documentation was available in the original Chrysler literature. Fortunately, Trico supplied the "Co-ordinated Washer" System to Chevrolet for its 1958-62 Corvettes. A little known fact is that one of the models supplied had the exact same gray lid, pump and reservoir as used in the 300-F. Much of the information, in this article, was obtained from various Cadillac and Corvette vendors and restoration services acknowledged below.

The pump has four connections. Only the first three are plainly labeled on the gray lid.



1. "Vacuum" is connected, with rubber tubing, to one of the two connections on top of the vacuum reservoir can. At least 15" of vacuum source is required to operate the pump.
2. "Water Coupler" is connected, with rubber tubing, to the hose that feeds the two nozzles directing washer fluid to the windshield.
3. "Control" is connected, with rubber tubing, to a valve in the back of the wiper switch. The front of the valve has a nylon rod that projects, through the center of the wiper switch and knob, and is connected to a push button. When the push button is pushed in and then released, the valve vents and instantaneously breaks the vacuum pull within the pump. This activates the pump and fluid is pushed out for 10 to 15 seconds. The Control head of the pump is marked with the number 88693.
4. The last connector should be called "Co-ordinator" and is connected, with rubber tubing, to the Trico Windshield Wiper Co-ordinator Switch mounted adjacent to the electric wiper motor. When the pump is activated, vacuum is supplied to the Co-ordinator Switch. A vacuum activated diaphragm slides electrical contactors, within the switch, and sends electrical current directly to the wiper motor, bypassing the wiper switch. The Co-ordinator head of the pump is stamped with an "X" or "XN".
.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a "bleeder" screw on the side of the pump. This adjusts the number of drying sweeps of the windshield wipers. To adjust, remove the screw and activate the pump to fill the side chamber with fluid. Replace the screw and tighten gently against its rubber gasket. Test the pump and note the number of drying sweeps. To decrease the number, of drying sweeps, unscrew the adjusting screw slightly and continue the testing procedure until the proper number of drying sweeps are obtained.

A rebuilding kit, AWS-4, is available for about $50 from McVey¹s (913-722-0707), in KS, a Cadillac vendor. This do-it-yourself project is not for the faint of heart. Our experience was poor and we were not successful with our pump rebuilding attempt. The directions were sparse and McVey¹s support was dismal.

A complete NOS pump assembly was obtained from W. F. Grossmueller (908-213-8832), in NJ, a Corvette vendor.

Reconditioned (using McVey¹s kit) good used pump assemblies are sometimes available from earlycorvetteparts.com (858-451-1933), in CA. The assemblies are known in Corvette circles as "gray top washer bottles".

Pump rebuilding services are available from Tom and Jay Maxwell of Capital Auto Restoration (301-948-9481), in MD. Tom claims to have rebuilt 150 pumps and has gaskets manufactured for their own use. They have a collection of various spare parts and have a jig to attach the rivets and assemble the pump back together properly. Tom was the most knowledgeable and forthcoming source of information contacted. We did not, however, have any experience doing business with him.

You now have a good excuse to go looking for Chevy parts for your Chrysler 300-F.

Tony Rinaldi


Appendix by Sven Andersson;

To renovate these pumps is definitely not easy and demands patience, accuracy and pure stubborness.

I started to remove the corroded aluminium rivets and opened the pump - I could establish that the membrane was broken.
I took ordinary garden pound rubber film of 0,50 mm ( 0,020 in) cutted it to the same contuors and made the same hole pattern.
The rivets was changed to M3 stainless steel screws with washers and nyloc nuts.

The pump worked correctly again after this renovation.






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Attachments Resize of Coordinated washer system.jpg (71KB - 1060 downloads)
Attachments Resize of IMG_1316.jpg (120KB - 448 downloads)
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adventurer
Posted 2008-11-03 8:34 PM (#150557 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Northeast Tennessee		Sven,
Thank you very much for this article. I did a seach on this site and found this post. My 60 Desoto Adventurer has this co-ordinated washer system on it and I am tring to get it working, so I really appreciate you posting this it is a big help.
Thanks
Larry
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NicksGarage
Posted 2016-05-04 3:53 PM (#510810 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Ramona, CA		Looking at parts for the system on ebay I saw this one with Trico decals on the lid. Did our Chryslers come with these decals originally?





(trico_labels.jpg)



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wizard
Posted 2016-05-04 4:43 PM (#510817 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island		The dry cycle adjustment is indeed very plausible. The semi-circle label is for the glass jars, but perhaps Trico used them on the rectangular tanks as well.
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NicksGarage
Posted 2016-05-04 5:07 PM (#510820 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Ramona, CA		Obviously this lid is different as the writing is a different layout and it doesn't look like it has the markings for the vacuum connections. My car still has it's system but the lid has a small melt mark or hole on it. The button is broken on the wiper switch and I'm missing the vacuum tank so I haven't tried it.
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sermey
Posted 2016-05-05 9:49 AM (#510863 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System


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Sven, a technically perfect "resurrection" of this pump.  What we would do without metric threads? - SERGE -

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di_ch_NY56
Posted 2016-05-14 1:28 PM (#511552 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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The nipple of the water to the wiper nozzles (water coupler) has broken off on my coordinator washer tank. It was a very thin brass tube. I think it was corroded by the ambient (open hood for years).

I think it's repairable.

 

Happy Restoring!

 

Dieter

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grunau
Posted 2016-05-14 8:45 PM (#511581 - in reply to #511552)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System


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Location: North of the 49th		Hi
Boy am I glad mine still works perfectly!!! I really didn't give it much thought until I saw this posting....
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di_ch_NY56
Posted 2016-05-15 12:31 PM (#511633 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: ZH, Switzerland

I took two pictures of the cover of my co-ordinator washer container.

 

Happy Restoring!

 

Dieter





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Attachments IMG_2756_resized.JPG (202KB - 399 downloads)
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wizard
Posted 2016-05-15 12:55 PM (#511635 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island		You need to take a suitable pipe of aluminum or copper and drill up the tube and just a little in the body, then glue the parts together with Epoxy glue. Both of my tubes has been "fixed" this way.
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miquelonbrad
Posted 2016-05-15 4:27 PM (#511654 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Hay Lakes, Alberta, Canada		If anyone needs a rebuild kit for these, McVey's sells them. I did the one in my Caddy.

mcveys.com
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di_ch_NY56
Posted 2016-05-16 12:43 PM (#511717 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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I'm going to repair it even though I found the spare cover that looks similar to Nicks cover, but without of the stickers.

 

Happy Restoring!

 

Dieter

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NicksGarage
Posted 2016-05-16 1:54 PM (#511733 - in reply to #511717)
Subject: RE: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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di_ch_NY56 - 2016-05-16 9:43 AM

I'm going to repair it even though I found the spare cover that looks similar to Nicks cover, but without of the stickers.

 

Happy Restoring!

 

Dieter



Dieter, mine looks like yours. The picture I posted with the stickers was one that was online from a General Motors vehicle.
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imopar380
Posted 2016-05-16 10:51 PM (#511772 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada		Another article on the system http://rarecorvettes.com/RARE/Windshield_Wiper_System_files/Windshi... I still have yet to actually try and repair my own.
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imopar380
Posted 2019-02-23 7:25 PM (#578567 - in reply to #511772)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada		Just an update about my own 1960 Chrysler, which also has this Trico Co-ordinated washer system. It has not worked since I owned the car. I pulled it apart today and there is a broken plastic ring that sits against a rubber seal up inside the internal part that sits inside the bottle, and the lid is not in the greatest of shape either.

NOW getting to another point, I have had an annoying rough idle for years that no one has been able to figure out. I've had to keep the idle higher than normal so as not to have the car rock when you're sitting at a stop light with your foot on the brake in drive. It occurred to me about a week ago that this Trico System which is vacuum operated, probably has a vacuum leak at somewhere. Today I finally had a chance to pull the car out of the garage. There is a vacuum line that runs from the intake manifold to a vacuum canister mounted on the right front inner side of the core support. From there another line runs from the canister up to the washer bottle. There are a number of other hose connections as you can see from the notes above. So today I pulled the vacuum line off the nipple at the top of the washer bottle and plugged it completely. (It had lots of vacuum, and I could actually get it stuck on my thumb and hold it stuck to my thumb). I then started the car, turned the idle screw down, got in the car, put it in drive and put my foot on the brake. Dead Smooth Idle after all these years. Since parts for these systems are virtually unobtainable, I am going to use a small electric windshield washer pump that was used on the 1961 Chryslers that went back to using the jiffy jet system. I'll mount the pump on the core support under the bottle and run the hose from the outlet on the bottle to the inlet on the pump, then the pump outlet gets another hose that runs up to the washer nozzles. To turn the pump on and off I can mount a small push button on the bottom of the dash, OR use a 1961 Chrysler windshield wiper switch that has an electrical connection for the electric pump, which the 1960 wiper switch doesn't have. The 1960 wiper switch has a vacuum connection on it. This Trico system was complicated!!
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56D500boy
Posted 2019-02-23 7:58 PM (#578569 - in reply to #125266)
Subject: Re: TRICO Co-ordinated Washer System



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Location: Lower Mainland BC		Good find Ian. That will be nice to get rid of the vacuum leak and the nasty idle. Your electric motor solution sounds good too. Good luck. Keep us posted.

I have a NOS Jiffy Jet for my 56 Dodge but would consider integrating an electric pump it it was easy



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