Wiper motor issues

[netdream]

Good Evening all.

I am hoping for some guidance on my wiper issues. I have an early Griff - 1991 - looking at the images on the park switch and wiper motor it would appear to be the same motor and park switch as in this topic.

Having had a fusebox meltdown some time back, I am in the process of rewiring my car with partial success !

I have been attempting to rewire the wiper motor over the weekend but have drawn a blank. I think that my problem may be more fundamental than I assumed, I have replaced the park switch and all the connectors on the block connection at the wiper motor end, but when I test the wipers I have nothing. The washer works - that's as far as I have got.

Taking a back step I disconnected the three wires from the wiper motor and park switch, and attempted to test the wiper motor independently.

It operated - but not on the wires I expected.

I took an earth to the blue wire - I tested the park switch operation with a metre and expected the connection that takes the ground feed from the fusebox should map to the blue wire on the wiper motor ? In looking at the photos provided I believe that I am correct in applying the ground to the blue wire.

I then applied 12v to the red connector, - nothing
same when I applied power to the yellow wire - nothing

If I connect the yellow feed from the motor to ground and apply 12v to the red feed from the motor - the motor turns
If I connect the yellow feed from the motor to ground and apply 12v to the blue wire from the motor - nothing

Could someone please confirm what the purpose of each wire from the motor.
ie
BLUE - Ground
RED - Speed 1
YELLOW - Speed 2

Thanks in advance.

[phillpot]

Does this help, from my "useful stuff" file (otherwise known as Google ).....................

[netdream]

Thanks for the reply - I'm not sure it helps me any further though ! I pinned out the park switch which shows pin 1 maps to the pin the Blue wire is connected to from the motor. As Pin 1 is ground I would expect that if I connected the Blue wire directly from the motor to ground and then apply 12v to the red wire from the motor the motor should run (1st speed). This is not the case for me. I can only make the motor run by connecting power to the Red wire from the motor and taking the Yellow to ground. At no point can I get the motor to operate when I have the Blue wire connected to ground.
Am I being totally dumb ?

Thanks again

[Steve_D]

netdream said:

...................Could someone please confirm what the purpose of each wire from the motor.
ie
BLUE - Ground
RED - Speed 1
YELLOW - Speed 2

Ignore the park switch for now as your testing may have identified the problem.
Your table of motor wire colours is correct so you likely have dead windings in the motor or more likely dirty/worn/damaged brushes in the motor.

Steve

[Penelope Stoppedit]

netdream said:

Good Evening all.

I am hoping for some guidance on my wiper issues. I have an early Griff - 1991 - looking at the images on the park switch and wiper motor it would appear to be the same motor and park switch as in this topic.

Having had a fusebox meltdown some time back, I am in the process of rewiring my car with partial success !

I have been attempting to rewire the wiper motor over the weekend but have drawn a blank. I think that my problem may be more fundamental than I assumed, I have replaced the park switch and all the connectors on the block connection at the wiper motor end, but when I test the wipers I have nothing. The washer works - that's as far as I have got.

Taking a back step I disconnected the three wires from the wiper motor and park switch, and attempted to test the wiper motor independently.

It operated - but not on the wires I expected.

I took an earth to the blue wire - I tested the park switch operation with a metre and expected the connection that takes the ground feed from the fusebox should map to the blue wire on the wiper motor ? In looking at the photos provided I believe that I am correct in applying the ground to the blue wire.

I then applied 12v to the red connector, - nothing
same when I applied power to the yellow wire - nothing

If I connect the yellow feed from the motor to ground and apply 12v to the red feed from the motor - the motor turns
If I connect the yellow feed from the motor to ground and apply 12v to the blue wire from the motor - nothing

Could someone please confirm what the purpose of each wire from the motor.
ie
BLUE - Ground
RED - Speed 1
YELLOW - Speed 2

Thanks in advance.

Good Morning netdream. You have given a very good description of your test procedure and have proven what the fault is without realising you have done so
The blue wire that is used for the earth/return wiper motor brush is open circuit and the cause of the problem is very likely to be a worn out brush
You have proven that the 1st and 2nd speed brushes are in contact with the armatures commutator by being able to get the motor turning when applying voltage between the 1st and 2nd speed brushes
It is very common for the earth/return brush to wear out first due to it always working when the motor is at 1st speed or 2nd speed
Below is a image to verify your test was correct
Have a good day

[netdream]

Thanks all for the help - I opened up the motor and found exactly that - The blue, neutral feed had corroded at the brush connection - I have ordered replacement brushes and hope that wipers are dealt with. Now on to my heating which I will open a new topic on. Thanks again.
Greatly appreciated.

[Penelope Stoppedit]

Very good
While the motor is in pieces it will be worth your while to knock the gear out of its bush, clean it up and lubricate the bush, also lubricate the front and rear motor bushes as long as they don't have any play in them, if there is play in anything you will need to fit new bushes. Check the end float of the armature before refitting the gear and adjust if needed

[netdream]

Thanks again - I have started the clean up !

[Griffith500user]

I have just been through this complete process where my initial symptoms were that the wipers only worked on the fast setting, not on normal or intermittent, and they didn’t park either. As soon as the wipers were placed on the screen, they did not have enough power to move.

Things I found:

The park switch connector and the car connector were completely fused together with rust so I replaced the car side connector with one from minispares.com (same item). I bought a new park switch too.

I stripped the motor and could find nothing wrong with it so cleaned it all up and reassembled it with new grease.

Then I stumbled on the issue which I think must have contributed heavily to the problem which was that the two DU bushes pressed into the housing that the nylon gear shaft runs in had badly worn the casting and made the hole that they sit in oval. The bushes and the shaft themselves were still ok. I removed the old bushes and drilled /reamed the casting to 14mm then turned up a new 30mm long bush to size and pressed it back into the housing. This is now a great fit and provides a lovely action.

On refitting the assembly having tested it I noticed that the park switch wiring where it exits the connector was hard up against the body of the car, so much so that when I tested it the park would not work, a bit of motor wiggling later proved that the foul to the body had jammed the park switch plunger preventing it from parking. I decided to dremel a pocket in the body where the connector sat for clearance which worked a treat.

All reassembled now and with the original motor the wipers are happy to scroll across a dry screen on normal or fast settings which I believe is an achievement in its own right!

So worth checking the clearance to your body and also the fit of the nylon gear shaft in the bushes for any slop.