Wiper Blade Linkage Seized Up - Big Problem Whilst Fixing! Heeeel

[ATB]

I've had the intermittent wiper blade problem for a while now and on searching the forum I found Mum of 4's excellent 'howto' guide on fixing the seized up spindles and promptly set to work...

 

All went well - everything came apart OK - spindles tapped out nicely, now regreased and moving freely, everything also went back in smoothly (apart from me cocking up reassembly of one of the ball joints!).

 

Having paid attention to the warning about putting the assembly in park before putting the blades on I did as suggested - connected the linkage up to the power before refitting and turned the ignition on - nothing happened - nothing moved. Great I thought, there in the correct position already.

 

However once the blades were put back on I checked to see if they'd work OK, which they do...after a fashion:

 

The blades will wipe from the park position to the edges of the screen OK but when switching off never return to the park position, stopping at seemingly random positions each time - the intermittent and 'qucik flick' wipe functions also seem to do 2 or 3 cycles each time as well before again stopping at random positions.

 

Whilst my wife and I are having a bit of fun at the moment guessing where they'll stop next time, it's going to become pretty tiresome long term and I need to fix it!

 

Anyone any idea on where I went wrong and what I can do to fix it? A response to Mum of 4's 'Howto' seemed to have the same problem and he fixed it by slackening off the motor and letting it park, but I'm unsure what this means or how to do it.

 

 

Help me Obi-Wan-Galaxy, you're my only hope..... :o

 

ATB

[mumof4]

Is everything connected up correctly..and did you put the arms back on in the exact position they were in before you took them off?....Have you tried taking them off..disconnecting...then reconnecting the linkage..then turning the ignition to the first click just to be sure that they are in the park position?..is everything firmly reconnected?

[Guest neil_wiles]

You will find you have a broken wire in the connector which supplies the power to drive the wipers to the predetermined stop position, this is a seperate supply to any of the speed settings and is only used to park the wipers.

 

 

 

You will need to check the diagrams or have a check with a multimeter for 12v to ground on one of the wires which is not getting to the motor, it may be a just a badly fitting plug and socket or a broken wire or indeed the plug may not be fully pressed home.

[ATB]

Is everything connected up correctly..and did you put the arms back on in the exact position they were in before you took them off?....Have you tried taking them off..disconnecting...then reconnecting the linkage..then turning the ignition to the first click just to be sure that they are in the park position?..is everything firmly reconnected?

 

Is everything connected up correctly..

Yes

 

and did you put the arms back on in the exact position they were in before you took them off?

Can't be sure - arm linkage is correct (thanks to your diagrams) but the motor position and therefore the arm position was moved by hand whilst on the workmate to check everything ran freely before refitting.

 

....Have you tried taking them off..disconnecting...then reconnecting the linkage..then turning the ignition to the first click just to be sure that they are in the park position?..

Oh yes - several times! My hands have the scars to prove it today - it looks as if I've been streetfighting!

 

is everything firmly reconnected?

Yes

 

You will find you have a broken wire in the connector which supplies the power to drive the wipers to the predetermined stop position, this is a seperate supply to any of the speed settings and is only used to park the wipers.

 

You will need to check the diagrams or have a check with a multimeter for 12v to ground on one of the wires which is not getting to the motor, it may be a just a badly fitting plug and socket or a broken wire or indeed the plug may not be fully pressed home.

 

This sounds promising - will check. As I type I've remembered that a small black 'sleeve' fell out when I unplugged the connector the first time and I didn't put it back when reassembling - I wonder if that's causing the problem?

 

ATB

[mumof4]

Hmmm....was just checking :blink: ...I'm nay sure what to do...could do as Neil suggested...but i would have thought that if they moved then there is power getting to them..

[ATB]

Right - first, sorry, it's been a while since I've updated this.

 

Secondly, have solved all my problems:

 

Since unseizing the spindles and encountering the park position problem, I've been 'living with it' trying to find the time to take it all out and have a look again. About 3 weeks ago however, the wipers started to judder again and I thought the spindles had seized again (groan). On inspection though they were turning freely, so I knew it must be the motor which had probably almost burnt out having run for so long with seized spindles in the first place.

 

I found a brand new motor on eBay for

Edited February 2, 2007 by ATB