Marge

:P After all the hassle, it turned out to just be a loose/damaged wire! Frauds told me I needed new wiper motor, hence my going down that route. Decent local garage found and mended the wire! :( So a word of caution for anyone else in this boat. Forget what Frauds tell you, always check the fuses, wiring, etc first!!! :P

Can anyone tell me where I can get hold of a window regulator (driver's door) for my 1986 Gal at something less than the quoted

Put the motor back today, still no further along. In addition to my previous questions (see post above) can anyone tell me what the relay should be doing if it's working correctly? If I put the wipers on, the relay clicks once then nothing until I turn the ignition off and on again. We have of course tested the relay itself (working fine). Is there any way of testing the wiper system to find out which bit is not working, before handing the vehicle and excessive amounts of cash over to Frauds to try to identify/fix? Help please!!

How do I check if power is getting to the motor? We checked appropriate fuses first (according to Haynes and the driver's handbook). However, at least one of the fuses listed is in the wrong place in my gal compared to the driver's manual diagram. There is a block of six fuses above and to the right of the main row (of about 22 fuses). In the driver's manual there is only 5 fuses shown in this block. One of these 6 fuses is actually diagonally opposite the place the driver's manual says it should be, and the fuseboard has upside-down writing on it, so I'm wondering if it was therefore fitted upside down, hence it not matching Ford's diagram. Or is it possible that other random fuses are also in the wrong place? However, in the auxilliary fuse box under the bonnet there IS a blown 30 amp fuse. The technician at Ford's said he didn't know what it was for, and after poring over the driver's manual, it would appear to be the fuse for the 'secondary blower' (whatever that is?). We tried replacing it but it made no apparent difference to anything! So the situation so far is that we have removed the motor (another hint to add to the list there, which I'll mention in a minute!) and the wiper arms. On the passenger side, the cone-shaped part where the wiper arm fits is lovely and shiny/clean-looking, whereas the driver's side is very grimy. The motor also looks shiny and almost 'as new'. So we are wondering whether this has been tackled before. I got the car nearly a year ago (a 1996/P reg 2.0L), and it had a good service history up until about 18 months before that, but nothing is listed regarding the wipers/linkage/motor, so we wonder if this was one of the problems the dealer 'fixed' when he took it as a cheap trade-in. Now the wiper motor... took us hours to get the thing unplugged. Both in Haynes and on here we got the impression there was only one plug which you pull out, but we actually had to unplug the wiring from two places (one side if I understand correctly goes to the wiper relay box - no info about that in Haynes). The other side we pulled and pulled to no effect ('wrench it off, carefully' I believe was one suggestion, lol). We tried spraying in some WD40 to loosen it up, and after some further pulling I realised it was moving more than before, but not in the direction we expected. It turned out I had to slide the black plastic plug away from me (towards the car) and out that way. So the moral is... slide NOT pull! We now want to try and test the motor, but there's about 5 or 6 wires going into it (the spindle will not budge at all by hand). Anyone know which wires are which? The linkage moves, though we think the driver's side may not be as free as the other side, so it doesn't seem like it was that (there was no slowing of the wipers, just a sudden not-workingness!). The other possible culprit seems to be whatever is in that silver box - the thing I'm led to understand through googling is the 'wiper relay box' - but we can't find any detailed info on that. Anyone know more? If the motor turns out to be working (or we can't test it sufficiently) then I will be pulling and checking every damn fuse! These motors are stupidly expensive new (and virtually unavailable second-hand it seems) so we don't want to splash out unless we're certain it was a motor failure and not something else we've so far overlooked. Oh and it's a Bosch motor by the way. So if I give that part number to VW or Seat, are they also likely to be able to supply it?

I've had no success finding a wiper motor online. They seem to be like hen's teeth. :ph34r: One local car electrics place said they wouldn't guarantee a wiper motor unless we also bought linkage at same time (

Hi mo4. Time is in short supply recently :lol: but we've finally got a bit further along with this. The linkage was seized onto the motor, finally got it off. The motor spindle will not turn at all so it seems like it is the motor that's gone. The linkage appears to be moving okay now (not sure whether it was before or not - when it was on the motor spindle it didn't move much). I've read lots of people's comments about problems with the linkage (including at least one that has resulted in the death of several motors before diagnosis :ph34r: ) so it seems to be a common problem. Many people mention that the wipers slow before failing altogether. Is this typical of linkage problems? In my case, I turned the wipers on one day (in sudden heavy rain on the motorway fast lane!) and nothing happened. I want to be sure before we replace the motor that it is just the motor at fault. Any thoughts? Secondly, I'm searching for a replacement motor just now. Can anyone recommend a good place to get one online? We've already tried local breakers, car electrics and Frauds. The Fraud price was scary (and probably incorrect it now seems, as my car is older and therefore should take the cheaper wiper motor). Marge (mum of 3!) (I've ticked the 'notify box' again - hope it works this time).

Out of interest, have you taken the linkage apart and greased again since you posted MO4? Just wondering how long it can be expected to last.

As if my wiper problem isn't enough, I managed to back into a carefully crafted hidden tree stump last week that smashed the middle of the reflective panel on the back of the car. Can anyone tell me if this is relevant for MOT purposes? There are some sharp edges on the broken reflector but I could cover these with tape. Would that suffice for MOT purposes? And can anyone give me an idea how much it would cost for a replacement panel?

Hi Arnie. Is the price you quote just for the linkage, not fitting? After reading elsewhere I am getting the sneaking suspicion that this is the problem I'm facing. :16: I don't have the time and I'm not sure I have the ability to deal with this myself, but a bill running into hundreds is a scary prsopect.

Hi there. I'm also having a problem with non-working front wipers on my 1996/P Galaxy. The rear wash/wipe works fine, the front wash works, but the wipers simply do not budge. Bearing in mind the advice given above, we tested all the relays with '53' on them (five in total, 3 in the box under the bonnet, 2 in the box under the driver's-side dash) and they all apear to be working okay. The fuse that claims to be for the intermittent front-wiper (no. 5) under the dash is fine too. The single 30A fuse in the box uder the bonnet seems to have blown (can anyone tell me what this fuse is for, 'cos Haynes isn't telling me much), but trying a replacement makes no difference to the wipers. Everything else electrical appears to be working fine. The car has been fine since I got it, but typically has a problem now that the MOT is due! Any advice much appreciated.