Wiper motor

[Flatplane8]

My windscreen wipers packed up recently and so for the second time in my ownership I needed to refurb the wiper motor. I thought I'd post that once you get the motor out, all it usually needs is re-greasing and the motor brushes checking. I cleaned up the commutator carefully with a file. New brush sets are available as mini spares if needed.

It's a few hours work, but cheaper than the refurbished units (which would be needed if the armature wiring has burnt out). There are a few threads on here about removal and replacement of the the wiper motor.

Worth having a go if yours has broken.

[flyingdutchie]

Where mine malfunctions is, that the spindle, that drives the plastic wheel, moves. The spindle then moves on top of the teeth and it jams. Is there a cure for this?

[Flatplane8]

On mine there is a screw and locknut to preload the motor spindle. I had to fiddle around with this for a bit to get it to turn freely.

[N1CERB]

I recently removed mine and got the brushed checked as still in good order by local electricians. They also regreased after cleaning all the inside bits up. I refitted everything with is all looking shiney and new, but they still don't seem to be able to move the wipers on anything but the wettest of windows. No good at all in a light shower.

Are there any upgrades to a stronger motor??

Cheers

[pmessling]

Give the windscreen a coating of rain x, seems to help a little.

[N1CERB]

I recently bought a bottle of that actually, thanks. Its on the ever growing list of jobs to get around to!

[flyingdutchie]

How do you preload the spindle of the motor.Is there some kind of strenght figure, with how much load this should be preloaded?

[Adambul]

You may have the same problem that I have which is voltage drop at the motor. My window wipers hardly made it across the screen and would stall all the time. I had my motor refurbed but very little improvement, I put new wipers and rainx on and still very little improvement. I then found the wiring diagram and put a direct earth from the battery to the earth connection on the motor, yet again no improvement. Finally I connected a direct feed to the ignition wire from the battery and bingo my wipers are now fine. I haven't tracked the exact fault down yet but it's a good temporary fix for the MOT. I suspect mine may be cured with a new connector on to the motor as it looks in very poor condition and has signs of being previously very hot which can only be caused by a poor connection creating heat through resistance.

[N1CERB]

Adam, did you just connect a fused and switched wire directly to the motor itself then? How many wires are there going to the motor itself? Im a little confised as to how the normal wiper switches work the motor to be honest. My mind is telling me that a direct wire to the motor would just make the wipers run all the time? Any help much appreciated as this sounds like somehting that would help me no end.

Cheers

[gluedl]

My control box melted multiple times during my first year of ownership. I replaced the switch on the motor, rebuilt the el. board of the control box and finally got myself a rebuild motor from Power. When I took away the panel that hides the wiper linkage, I found that the foam underneath had transformed itself in a granular mess. Mixed with the grease in the tubes and some dirt, this made the travel of the cable VERY hard. Just my 2 cents...

[N1CERB]

Mine has been refurbished and was running real free inside. But alas its still not so good when on the glass!

[gruffalo]

check the control box in teh passenger side foot well, they often start to fail by causing the wiper to struggle across the windscreen and park itself in funny locations. Clean teh contacts and open the box up and look for signs of scorching on the compenents inside.

[N1CERB]

I will do that thanks. It must just live beside the main ECU then does it?