Windscreen wiper motor... think it might be buggered.

[touching cloth]

Well have been doing some diagnostics following "failure to wipe". Looking at some old threads I have done various tests and ruled out I think most of the factors apart from the actual motor itself. To run through, fuse in boot appears fine swapped anyway and no change. Washer fluid pumps out ok so am ruling out ribbon cable (am I right to do this though, am assuming that if it was buggered I would not be able to operate the pump either) - also did a thing I read on an old thread which was hold down the 2 wiper buttons and then pressed the high beam, seemingly if full beam then stays on the wiper control box is working (odd but as I say it is an old thread and seems to tally with what happened).

So given the above I am leaning towards sadly it being the motor itself which has died, took the top cover off and removed the connector block to check it wasn't just a bad connection, terminals on the motor look a wee bit rusty but not that bad and not bad enough to stop power I don't think, tried to clean them up anyway but hard to access without removal first by which time I might as well have replaced the motor anyway for good measure. However as a final check, is there any easy and clever way to fire power straight into the motor prior to removal to see for sure that it is buggered (i.e. bypassing all other factors)? Final question is, if I do need a new one, am I right in saying it is from a (proper) mini and if so is there only one type or do I need a particular year?

TC.

[fidgits]

not sure, but wouldnt applying a 12V DC current directly to the terminals show whether or not it was working?

Though, it could also blow up in all fairness, my mechanical skills are infamous for a reason

[touching cloth]

Yep that's the sort of thing I have in mind, however it is something like a 5 pin plug that goes into it so not sure which terminals I need to activate - what I guess I need is a spare pluggy thing and to work out which cables to wire up to mock a live feed. Am guessing you must have 3 cables, one for each of the speeds and then one for intermittent, then maybe a permanent live and then a negative earth. So likely you need to feed it power to the permanent live and also to one of the other speed ones, only when both are live will it operate.... but I am using guesswork and old distant memories of physics lessons and "AND gates" here so could be way off - don't want to fry it just in case it wasn't broken before I started messing

Edited by touching cloth on Monday 2nd April 16:59

[SlvrCrb]

touching cloth said:

Well have been doing some diagnostics following "failure to wipe".

mmm, best see your own login name for that one.

touching cloth said:

Looking at some old threads I have done various tests and ruled out I think most of the factors apart from the actual motor itself. To run through, fuse in boot appears fine swapped anyway and no change. Washer fluid pumps out ok so am ruling out ribbon cable (am I right to do this though, am assuming that if it was buggered I would not be able to operate the pump either) - also did a thing I read on an old thread which was hold down the 2 wiper buttons and then pressed the high beam, seemingly if full beam then stays on the wiper control box is working (odd but as I say it is an old thread and seems to tally with what happened).

touching cloth said:

So given the above I am leaning towards sadly it being the motor itself which has died, took the top cover off and removed the connector block to check it wasn't just a bad connection, terminals on the motor look a wee bit rusty but not that bad and not bad enough to stop power I don't think, tried to clean them up anyway but hard to access without removal first by which time I might as well have replaced the motor anyway for good measure. However as a final check, is there any easy and clever way to fire power straight into the motor prior to removal to see for sure that it is buggered (i.e. bypassing all other factors)? Final question is, if I do need a new one, am I right in saying it is from a (proper) mini and if so is there only one type or do I need a particular year?

The degree is a 170 sweep on the cerb as opposed to a 110 with a mini, so after you buy a one (about £25-30) you'd need to then strip it down and swap the gearing over (after stripping down the old one). However, But and Caution, I followed this advice having pciked it up off varios threads and basically, all things considered, it's just a lot easier to pay £50 for a 2nd hand one from Douglas Valley et al and just be done with it with it in less than half the time without grease, screws and wrongness.

[BLUETHUNDER]

Are you sure the wiper motor is at fault,and not the wheel boxes?

[byker28i]

TVR Shop sell the wheel boxes
www.racetechdirect.co.uk/product-subsection.asp?MakeID=1&ModelID=6&CATID=6&SUBCATID=47

I'm sure I'e seen the wiper motors new somewhere

[touching cloth]

BLUETHUNDER said:

Are you sure the wiper motor is at fault,and not the wheel boxes?

Not 100% no, that's why I am thinking if I can get power into it directly then if it works I will know it is something else. The control box for the wipers seems to be working due to the three button test thingamy seemingly doing the right thing, haven't yanked it out for a fiddle yet so will probably do that tomorrow, think it is with the ECU in passenger footwell if memory serves.

[BLUETHUNDER]

If its the wheel boxs then what will happen is that the motor will go through the motions but the wipers wont move.They are from the series 3 jag.About £15 from a breakers.

[touching cloth]

Ah gotcha, thought you meant control boxes rather than a mechanical part hence my bizarre answer, I'm good at this fixing lark me... give me three days of head scratching and then you'll find me at APM

[Ballsy]

i just had the same thing happen to me and had to replace the wiper motor. like you say there are 5 pins 4 vertical (2 at the top, another 2 directly below them) and one horizontal, the horizontal one is the earth and it you connect a live feed to amy of the top vertical ones the motor should operate!! If you search back a couple of weeks some nice person had a picture of it

Oh and prices i got from the breakers were

Bell hill........Wiper motor £70 plus vat
Douglas Valley...£99 plus shipping and vat

[touching cloth]

Ballsy said:

i just had the same thing happen to me and had to replace the wiper motor. like you say there are 5 pins 4 vertical (2 at the top, another 2 directly below them) and one horizontal, the horizontal one is the earth and it you connect a live feed to amy of the top vertical ones the motor should operate!! If you search back a couple of weeks some nice person had a picture of it

Oh and prices i got from the breakers were

Bell hill........Wiper motor £70 plus vat
Douglas Valley...£99 plus shipping and vat

Perfick, so bottom pin and any single one of the others with a live feed and it should fire up, if the wipers operate then the problems are back in the car somewhere. If they still don't work then either a buggered motor or this wiper box sproggetty thing mentioned above, either way it is then a motor out job (wiper motor that is not the AJP )

[Ballsy]

Yip either of the top 2 vertical pins and the earth! If youve got very very very small hands you can get the wires on without removing the motor, but if its like mine and its knackered then you need to take the motor out anyway.

[FUBAR]

Dont go out if its raining? :dontknow: