Wiper Woes

[Deuceman]

I'm having "intermittent" trouble with my windshield wipers. They run fine for a time, then run/wipe erratically, then quit altogether (usually at 65 mph on the turnpike). I pull over, turn off the engine, start up again and the wipers will work again, then go wacky again and stop again. I had the "wiper wash control unit" replaced, but that did not solve the problem, and now my mechanic is stumped, except to replace the wiper motor. A new wiper motor I think will run me about $300 and is, of course, buried under the engine somewhere.

Any advice/suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aussie320]

Hey Dueceman,
I would check out the wiper motor before replacing. To remove:
Remove wiper arms (undo nuts and pull from spindle)
Remove grille cover of air collector
Loosen wiring harness on end wall
Bend soundproofing mat to one side and undo screw
Remove screws of cable channel located in air collector
Remove air collector screws and brackets
Pull out air collector to the left ond upwards
Undo wiper arm mounting nuts
It would pay to wrap some tape around the end of the wiper arm spindles
You can now undo the two mounting screw holding the wiper assembly
Disconnect the wiper motor plug from the firewall (rotate to undo)
Push the spindles through the body
The entire assembly can now be removed with a bit of jiggling around, care not to scratch paint work
Once out the motor can be removed from the assembly
Remove the through bolts to open the motor
Check grease hasn't fowled the park micro
It would pay to clean the commutator
There are two capacitors in the motor that should be checked for short/open circuit, also check for dry joints
If you do not have multimeter or soldering iron I would suggest you get an autoelectrician to do the above motor checks.

Hope this fixes your problem.
My problem was similar but the fault ended up being dry joints in the control unit for one of the capacitors. Quick resolder and functioning wipers again.
regards
aussie320