Wiper Problems

[janrapacz]

Hi,

I have a 1999 Galaxy 2.3 Auto Ghia X and have been quite happy with the car - even managed to get 60,000 miles out of a front set of Dunlops! Is this a record??

 

However whilst driving back from the Birmingham area yesterday in heavy rain and wind, I noticed that on the normal setting the wipers were beginning to struggle to complete their wipe and were slowing down quite considerably.

 

On several occasions the wipers would stop before the park position and there was nothing I could do to restart them for what seemed like ages. This is very bad news if you are travelling on a motorway at speed in heavy rain. After about 20-30 seconds I saw the wipers return to the park position and I was able to regain control. This is very worrying and very dangerous and must have happended four or five time in all. Does anyone have a similar experience and what is likely to be the cause of this?

 

The wipers seem OK today on a normal drive around town. Perhaps the wipers could not cope with the heavy force of wind and rain on a motorway at 70mph? Or is the wiper motor about to fail? Or does some part of the linkage need lubrication?

 

Also I notice that whilst travelling fast on the motor way the intermittant wipe seems to take a long time between wipes (10-15 seconds). Whilst driving around town it seems to wipe every 2-3 seconds. What is controlling the wipe interval?

 

Many thanks in advance!

JR

[Guest boomoottna1]

The wiper interval is controlled by the engaging the wiper to intermittent, then switching off, and then, switching to intermittent again at the time interval you require. This will program the time interval.

 

Had a wiper problem recently (not the same problem) . If your wiper config is the same - motor + electronic module then the motor is connected to an electronic module that controls the wiper speed, interval etc. The motor and module do not fail intermittently.

 

Worth checking the linkage first and lubricate all the moving parts.

[Guest Bri]

I also had the exactly the same problem, the wiper spigots (under the wiper arm) seize up. The proper thing to do is take the whole linkage apart, separate the spigots and re-grease/refit. I did not do this but it's working at the moment, I took the arms off and drip fed oil into the housing until they freed up.

[MrT]

There seems to be a variety of Galaxy intermittent wiper controls. I have had the on-off timed interval (Mk1), a small additional 4-pos switch on the wiper stalk (Mk2) and there are also rain-sensitive versions.

[HJT]

....and some that are speed sensitive so they drop down a speed when you stop.

 

Howard

[Guest SA Intruder]

The wipers are cutting out because they are too heavily loaded. The GEM module has a current sensing function.

 

This is normally because the linkage and/or motor are worn or partly seized.

 

The other factor could be the wrong wiper blades. Genuine items have specific friction properties.

[janrapacz]

Thanks for the input. I finally managed to take a closer look today and had the wiper arms off. Guess what! The drivers side spigot heats up after a very short time - so I suspect that this one is seized up. Took the circlip and washer off the top of the spigot and prised out the rubber o-ring. Also found a lot of gunge beneath the o-ring. Have tried dripping oil and wd-40 but still find that the whole thing heats up.

 

I see that there are 3 bolts holding the linkage onto the body. I was able to loosen all these. Does anyone know if the linkage can be removed easily? Or do I need to remove other bits from the engine compartment?

 

Is there an easy way to seperate the spigot to see if it is worth greasing it? I may find that this is so badly seized that I need to replace the whole linkage. Any ideas as to the cheapest place that I can get a new linkage?

 

Cheers

 

Jan

[Nige F]

I think that this type of linkage can be repaired. There have been a couple of posts from Wolfman 62 who had the same problems as you and fixed it by stripping it down.

 

Try a search, it will probably bring it up