Technical Windshield Wiper Issue

[johnsalomon]

Hi there,

my wife has a 2000 convertible - the windshield wipers have stopped working (front obviously )

All the forum threads I can find seem to either concern weird sounds while the wipers are working, or nothing working at all, which isn't quite the case. Fuses are fine (at least according to the fuse diagram), wiper fluid spray works, wipers are tight.

I removed the hood cover, and turning the wipers to any setting creates just a heavy "click" from the wiper motor, but no movement. This at least makes me think some kind of current is arriving at the motor when I move the wiper stalk.


Is this likely to be a problem with a) the relay, or b) the motor, or is this insufficient information? I have no issue just outright replacing either (she's only here on weekends and I don't have the time to reliably disassemble the wiper motor)

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Dave-M]

Hi.
The wiper assembly is known to be prone to seizing up. So I would in the first instance disconnect the motor from the mechanism, just to check that the motor is working.
If that's the case dissembling the mechanism is probably required. If you use the search on this forum you will find threads on this .
Hope this helps
Dave

 

[jimboy]

Yes, as Dave said start looking at the assembly first. A volt meter is a handy thing to have as well. I have a Coupe, similar set up, I changed the wiper assembly to brand new a year ago, purchased off eBay genuine part at a ridiculous low price.

 

[Noideadave]

I had the same problem a few years ago. Water gets inside the spindles and they rust and seize up. This causes the motor relay to click making you think the motors knackered.
Disassemble it, clean it, grease it and reassemble it. You should be fine then. Good look.

 

[Dave-M]

I have to apologise, I actually couldn't see any links in the search. I did think I had posted a method of cleaning the mechanism. In short the main issue is that the splined shafts become stiff, these can be disembled but first you need to remove a very small C clip. Remove the shaft and generally give it a good clean. Resembling with grease,

Hope this helps
Dave
No offense meant regards Stiff Shafts.

 

[gar074]

No offense meant regards Stiff Shafts.

Better than rusty ones!

 

[s130]

Just for information I too had a wiper issue:

From my notes:

1)Wiper intermittent wipe and sometimes slow wipe not working

Removed steering column cowls.
Tested switch by bypassing / hot wiring as suggested in Workshop Manual
Switch OK as same problem occurs
Fault lies in relay unit attached to wiper motor

Solution for time being is to use Flip Wipe or put to Fast Wipe and then
back to Slow Wipe if required. Going straight to Slow may not work. Also
after Fast to Slow to Intermittent then one may get two wipe cycles.

Relay unit seems to be wired to be sequential type of control requiring
transition between states to get the correct wiper motions and correct self
parking.

Long term solution is fix or replace relay unit or bypass relay unit to
have just Flip, Slow, Slow, Fast or have Flip, Slow, Fast, Fast.

2) Note: When I removed the old motor the black plastic water shield was a folded bag
type of assembly and the bag when unwrapped was full of very wet dirty/old leaf
and other debris.

So on refitting the new motor I chose to cut the plastic shield to provide only
top down cover and to NOT enclose the motor unit.

 

[daviddevereux]

I just did this 20 minutes ago! nothing was working opened it up voltage at the relay. Seesm to be parking issue or stiff linkage? normal speed works ok. intermittent works but once it stops does not always start again :-( improved with wd40 but it looks like I will have to a take it all out :-(

 

[s130]

This is where I started my journey with the wiper problem:

http://www.barchetta-lexikon.de/?artikel=s015

 

[s130]

This is the circuit I worked out for the relay unit:

 

[Noideadave]

Grease the spindles.

 

[daviddevereux]

Anyone know where you can get relays? all the suppliers i have tried are out of stock! What other Fiats have the same one?

 

[daviddevereux]

how loose should the linkages be? does not seem to bad, mine seems to lock up the park position a push gets it going again. But not very convenient ......