Wiper Motor Blues

[DodgeZ]

Well I took one of my GLHS for a spin over to my buddy’s house since it was nice out. Well the ride home sucked! Some of that hurricane left over came thru so I am cruising around 40 mph and bang! It took me a second to figure out what happened as I tried to turn off the road. My passenger wiper rod popped off then the wiper caught the drivers side blade breaking it off. Lucky I made it off the road. So as I got poured on by the rain I swapped the blade to the working wiper. It was pouring buckets until I got back in the car which was now fogged up. I was only about 2 miles from when it happened.

So I decided it would be a good time to install the Mopar replacement bushings I’ve had for months. I even have the bushing with the hole in it  I had a spare wiper motor and rods in the back of the hatch since I had been planning to do this for awhile. So I pull it all apart install the bushing and install it all on the car. Well everything feels good so try to turn them on. No dice. I thought damn that spare motor was bad so I swap the motor that was in it back in. Still no dice. I checked the fuse and it’s good. Well I found out by spark that wiper motor can be grounded out by a wrench to the body. Then the wipers start wiping away. That works with or without the wiper switch being on. So I know the bushings are good and not locking up the motor but why won’t that turn on?

[DakotaKid]

Bad switch?

[DodgeZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrboVan Bad switch?

It was working right before I swapped it out. I guess it could have died??

[minimopar]

That little ground strap that jumpers one of the rubber bushings on the wiper motor bracket always gives out from corrosion. Disturbing it while you were fixing things probably put the final nail in the coffin. Just run a frsh 14awg or larger wire from the motor body to the chassis-side of the bracket. That should take care of it and any goofy problems you may have had with the intermittent mode.

I'm not sure why they come on with the motor grounded and the switch off, though.

[DodgeZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minimopar That little ground strap that jumpers one of the rubber bushings on the wiper motor bracket always gives out from corrosion. Disturbing it while you were fixing things probably put the final nail in the coffin. Just run a frsh 14awg or larger wire from the motor body to the chassis-side of the bracket. That should take care of it and any goofy problems you may have had with the intermittent mode. I'm not sure why they come on with the motor grounded and the switch off, though.

I don't recall seeing a ground strap. Right before I sent this post out I looked around for one on both my cars and couldn't find one. I'll check again tonight. Which rubber bushings does it go to?

As I was pulling out of the driveway today I turned them on and started working. Maybe some rain got in the switch and that's what was causing them turn on when I grounded it out with the switch off? Everything on the drivers side got wet.

[minimopar]

I can't remember which one it is on. It looks like a little leaf spring and it is crimped between the grommet the brackets. I know I've seen them up through 89.

[russ jerome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minimopar That little ground strap that jumpers one of the rubber bushings on the wiper motor bracket always gives out from corrosion. .

The single most common failure of both GM and Mopar
wiper motors. Add an external ground if only temporary
to confirm. Smacking the tin ground strap with a screwdriver
and hammer will correct it temporarily.

[ptsWolfman]

Yeah, I was going to add, on my 87 Shelby Charger my wipers stopped working (plug for the RainX here.. cuz I agree, when you don't have wipers you can be amazed at how well that stuff works.. but anyway)...

The fix for my Charger was to retorque the bolts that held down the motor. Seems thats the grounding point for the power. I thought the person that was showing me this was nuts, but after a little tweak of the bolts...POOF, wipers ran fine for the rest of the Charger's life.

So I guess the moral to that story is to check the bolts, firewall, and motor (where the bolts go through) for corrosion/rust. Give em a good cleaning and with any luck the wipers should work like a charm again :)

[macncheese]

can anyone be more specific on the location of the ground strap? i couldn't find any on my charger, and damn if the wipers didn't mysteriously stop working about 10 minutes after i swapped the motor. it's got power to it. and they quit working while it was dry out. i flipped them on to be proud of myself on the test drive, heh heh.
thanks
tony

[supercrackerbox]

Somewhere on here, there was a pic posted of the culprit. It's not a typical strap, its more of a piece of sheet metal coming off of the body of the motor to one of the mounting bolts. It's hard to see when the motor is installed. But I had this problem on both my GLHS and my CSX-T. Ran a ground cable from the motor to the body and all was well.

[WickeD87ShelbyZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptsWolfman Yeah, I was going to add, on my 87 Shelby Charger my wipers stopped working (plug for the RainX here.. cuz I agree, when you don't have wipers you can be amazed at how well that stuff works.. but anyway)... The fix for my Charger was to retorque the bolts that held down the motor. Seems thats the grounding point for the power. I thought the person that was showing me this was nuts, but after a little tweak of the bolts...POOF, wipers ran fine for the rest of the Charger's life. So I guess the moral to that story is to check the bolts, firewall, and motor (where the bolts go through) for corrosion/rust. Give em a good cleaning and with any luck the wipers should work like a charm again :)

Just went threu the same problem with my 87 shelby z when I did a replacement on all the bushings, I torqued them to tight, backed off some and they started working just fine..................

[Eastburn_420]

For the wipers to work when the witch was off while you had grounded the motor with a wrecnh would tell me you have a bad switch. Have you broke out the fluke and cheked cont. through the switch, and on the ground side?
If not I would. Dont just take a stab at it and replace wiring and graounds until you know the ones you have are bad. Break out the MULTI METER it wont bite.

[Mobil 1]

Just fixed my GLHS. I ortiginaly thought my wiper motor went bad, so I replaced it. It worked for a while but the failed like the first one did. I drove it like that for a long time (thank God for 'Rain-X"). I read tis thread, ran a jumper and BAM! works perfect. It now has a strong, fast wipe cycle without stopping mid-sweep.

Thanks!

[EvilMonkeySean]

I have a '91 Plymouth Acclaim that's having similar issues. The wipers stopped working. I've tested the fuse, that's fine. The washer fluid squirter works, but it still does not kick on the wiper blades, so I belive the switch is fine (control handle which includes wipers, high-beams, and turn signals). I've also pulled and reseated the intermitent control module, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that.

What sort of current do I need to test the motor itself? If I run straigt 12v to it will it fry anyways?

It's not the most spectacular car, so I'd be fine just wiring up an on/off switch to the damn thing. I just live in a rather rainy state, so having no wipers is rather frustrating at times.

[charger R/T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilMonkeySean I have a '91 Plymouth Acclaim that's having similar issues. The wipers stopped working. I've tested the fuse, that's fine. The washer fluid squirter works, but it still does not kick on the wiper blades, so I belive the switch is fine (control handle which includes wipers, high-beams, and turn signals). I've also pulled and reseated the intermitent control module, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that. What sort of current do I need to test the motor itself? If I run straigt 12v to it will it fry anyways? It's not the most spectacular car, so I'd be fine just wiring up an on/off switch to the damn thing. I just live in a rather rainy state, so having no wipers is rather frustrating at times.

Did you read this? post 4 has your answer.
Tim