electrical and ignition Wiper Woes...

[Nesset127]

I'm totaly stumped. A few days back I decided to flip my wipers on for the first time in a long while. (Probably 4 weeks). Prior to this they worked flawlessly. I flip it on and they get half way up the wind screen and come to a screeching hault. Shortly after a screeching starts coming from the dash/steering column area.. Great. I don't know what to do. Being a broke 16 year old is rough when it comes to classic car parts so is there a relay I can replace? Checked the fuses and they all look fine... The switch didint go bad I'm sure of that because the car was never really used. Is there a relay somewhere that could be causing the screeching sound? I can't imagine it would be anything else. Not the seatbelt warning thing either. Checked that. If I wiggle the wiper stock it stops the screeching breifly. Any help on this?western Washington with no wipers is rather difficult to drive in...

-Nesset

[PaulTWinterton]

You said this started when you flipped the blades.  All I can think of is to remove the blades and test the system.    Maybe the press-fit connections are badly worn.

 

Also look into the firewall apron to see it anything is dislodged or disconnected.  The pivot arms may be seizing  and would like some lubrication.

 

With your symptoms it's more likely something mechanical rather than electrical.  Don't mess with the wiring until you're sure its not mechanical.

 

Good luck.

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Hi Nesset,

 

Ok, here's what to do, but it will take you a little time so allocate accordingly.  First, take the wiper arms off.  There's a little spring lever that clips them onto the spindles, but with a little rocking they usually come off without too much fuss.  Then, run the wipers in all modes (delay, low, and high) without to arms on there to make sure the electrics are all working properly.  They probably will be, which will tell you that your basic problem is that you have too much friction in the mechanical linkage for the tired 'ol wiper motor to handle.  You can fix this by removing the wiper motor and linkage and cleaning/re-lubricating everything.  To get it out, you need to:

 - disconnect the wiring connector that goes through the driver's side firewall

 - unscrew the chrome (22mm?) nuts that hold the wiper spindles (that you just took the arms off of) through their holes just below the windshield.  Make sure not to loose any washers/seals/etc. that are also under there too.

 - unscrew the nut that connects the wiper linkage to the wiper motor

 - unscrew the three bolts that hold in the wiper motor and pull it out

 - extract the now free wiper linkage (quite cumbersome, but it does indeed come out of there and go back it, but it usually takes quite a bit of messing around to get it).

 

Then with everything out, you can clean it all up and re-grease all of the joints and clean/lubricate the gears in the motor as well which I think should fix all of the problems you're having.

 

Oh, and one other thing, check to make sure your alternator is working properly. The 2002 wipers really need to see >13V to work properly so if you only measure ~12V or less with the car running, then there might be an issue with your alternator and the wipers will really be struggling at the lower voltage.  Hope this all helps!

 

-Carl

[autobon7]

Great explanation Carl......couldn't have said it better myself.

[Mike Self]

One small suggestion to add to Karl's very detailed procedures:  before disconnecting the linkage from the wiper motor (the 10mm nut on the arm attached to the wiper motor) mark (or take a picture of) the relationship between linkage and the arm on the motor.   If you reattach in the wrong place, the wipers will try to wipe down on the hood and mess something up for sure.

 

cheers

mike