Help with windshield washer pump and motor

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Rob Goblin

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So I was going to change parts out from my 86 lwb to my 84 swb and noticed some significant differences. I pulled out the ol’ LMC catalog and found their was a change in 85. Well, I want to sort out the bugs while the 84 is torn apart. However, I’m not sure how the old pump works and how the lines need to be connected. Here are photos of how the 84 is now. There are two lines from the pump that run to where each wiper is located. The passenger side wasn’t connected when I got the truck and no line went to the reservoir bottle. I was also planning to change the headlight wiring harness, but the pump on the 86 is wired into the headlight ha

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Rob Goblin

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The 86 motor and the wiring harness

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Rob Goblin

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Also, I’m going to go ahead and apologize if this is in the wrong location.
 

bucket

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You can use the '86 bottle and pump on your '84, it's a much better setup. Just use the connector from your '84 wiper motor (pink and yellow wires) to power the washer pump in the bottle.
 

bucket

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You can use the '86 wiper motor too if you want. It bolts up and functions the same, other than that washer pump connector.
 

Rob Goblin

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You can use the '86 bottle and pump on your '84, it's a much better setup. Just use the connector from your '84 wiper motor (pink and yellow wires) to power the washer pump in the bottle.
You can use the '86 wiper motor too if you want. It bolts up and functions the same, other than that washer pump connector.
Can I also use the 86 headlight harness that has the pump wire in it and just plug the 84s pump wire into the old pump? Or will I use the plug from the 86? I’m not sure how that would work. I’m guessing there are connectors in the 86s harness at the firewall that aren’t in the 84.
 

bucket

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Can I also use the 86 headlight harness that has the pump wire in it and just plug the 84s pump wire into the old pump? Or will I use the plug from the 86? I’m not sure how that would work. I’m guessing there are connectors in the 86s harness at the firewall that aren’t in the 84.

It all plugs in at the firewall the same. The only difference is, one has a pump harness that plugs into the wiper motor, while the other one has a pump harness that goes to the remote pump.

You don't have to change the harness if you don't want to. I was just recommending using the remote pump because it's more reliable and works better.
 

Rob Goblin

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You don't have to change the harness if you don't want to. I was just recommending using the remote pump because it's more reliable and works better.

My headlight wiring on the swb is a mess. That’s the only reason I want to change. I disconnected both. The 86 had 9 prongs whereas the 84 has 7. The “extra” 2 from the 86 are the pink and white wires. I don’t think it will hurt to have those 2 extra male prongs in the harness as there aren’t any female connectors in the firewall for those spaces. They’ll just sit in there “free”
 

Rob Goblin

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@bucket I appreciate the input. Wiring is a little scary to me. I’ve seen too many of my friend’s cars burn from improper wiring.
 

bucket

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Yeah, that works. You can simply remove those pump wires from the headlight harness and splice them into the existing pump connector if you want to run the later pump.

I wasn't aware that the pump wires were actually included in the headlight harness for the '85-up trucks. I know at some point, the wire colors changed. My '88 Suburban has red and blue wires to the pump like most other GM vehicles with a remote pump, but still has the older style connector like yours.
 

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The photo of the small electric bottle pump is the way I went and plumbed it to the wiper fluid bottle. It works perfect. When you buy the little pump it comes with a bracket that screws to the side of the fender where the washer bottle is. You can put it right next to the bottle and run your windshield hoses from the little pump. One hose goes to the washer bottle and the other goes to the windshield hoses. Usually the washer thing that's in the wiper motor doesn't work that well. Use the two wires, pink, and white, they are the ones that are plugged into the wiper motor. And the pump is strong enough to spray the whole windshield.
 

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