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HowTo: Fix your windsheild wiper motor for FREE!

23452 Views 20 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  SPHILINDER, 
rabbit
Finally put a write up together on how to fix your faulty windsheild wiper motor. written pretty hastily and makes many assumptions about your mechanical abilities. This is all pretty basic stuff.... the fix anyone can do, but to get to it, you need to drill out rivets and then drill and tap new threads where the rivets used to be. If your unsure, call your dealer and see if they got one in stock, just in case ;)

Description of problem: Wipers only work on High/Low, intermittant does not work. Wipers do not park properly or at all. Washer fluid also may not spray.

Cause: Corrosion on park switch that is inside the wiper motors transmission.

So here's how to do it.

1. Remove your windshield wiper motor assembly. If you don't know how, search I know its been written up before.

2. The First pic below is of the winshield wiper motor assembly. The linkage for the wipers is still attached, just out of frame of the picture. The black round disc on the left is teh wiper motors' transmission, the part on the right is the wiper motor.

3. Drill out the 6 rivets that hold the black plastic cover on the tranny. Take note of the bottom most rivet location in the picture, we'll come back to that in just a bit.(Pic 2)

4. Remove the cover and flip it over, (Pic 3) you can now see the subminiture park switch. There is a pointer on the white plastic gear that actuates teh park switch as it goes round (Pic 4)

5. Lets go back to (Pic 3) again... you know that rivet location I told you to take note of, well it is now the left-most of the cover and the right-most of the trans rivet location, and its corroded to hell. The pics don't help in seeing it but its bad. This rive location is where one of the park switches contacts' is connected to chassis ground. You can see the copper trace coming off the switch and heading to that rivet location.

Before I go any farther it may be important to tell you how the wipers park function works. If you noted a brown wired attached to the black trans cover, that wire supplies a constant 12v rail to the switch. The other side of the swtich should be connected to chassis ground, when the park switch is engaged the 12v rail is pulled down to 0v (chassis gnd), the car computer sees this change in voltage and determines that the wipers are not parked. If the car does not know if the wipers are parked, then inherintley intermittent, spray, and park functions will be lost... enough already...i got some bad ADD sometimes.... back to the write up

6. Clean the corrosion. (Pic 5) a gentle file or sandpaper and some isopropyl acohol will do the trick nicely. I've only got a pic of the switch side, but the trans side should be just a clean!

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rabbit

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Discussion Starter · #2 ·
7. Now you'll need to file smooth the ridges left from you drilling out the rivets, a file will work, I used a dremel carefully. sorry no pic.

8. Drill and tap. You'll need to drill and tap where the rivets used to be. I used an M4 cap screw, so you will need a drill bit and a tap for an M4 - look it up. (Pic 6) - drilled and tapped trans.

9. Assembly time. My gasket seemed to still be ok, so i'm gonna leave it, you may choose to seal it on your own. Put the trans cover on and get a couple screws started loose.. Again I used M4x0.7 10mm thread length. Back the the rivet location we need to attend to.....I wasn't sure I would maintain a good contact from the switch to the trans b/c it depended on compression. So, I ended up just sandwiching a few small layers of tin foil between the cover and trans and then again ran the screw through some more. Now you can finish tightening all the screws and then install back into your saab.

If this fix doesn't hold up, I'm gonna fly a a seperate wire from the gnd side of the park switch to the gnd wire in the wiper motors' harness.

Oh, and check the new (to me) wheels! theyre a little rough, but I plan to have the repainted.
 

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quemSAAB

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#5 ·
Hey, my wipers recently started to park midway up the windshield, i tried resetting and after a few min its given me the same problem. Could this be the issue effecting the motor? Also how can i access the motors? Thanks alot!
 
jlrdrony

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#8 ·
the signal (parking service) for started to park midway up the windshield is given by the switch and not for the ground terminal.
that is what I think!!! just note my post as another possibility of your problem......
 
rabbit

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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
Yes, one side of the switch inside the wiper motors' trans is connected to chassis ground. That connection is corroded. It may only be marginally comprimised though - sometimes work, sometimes not.

quemSAAB said:
so the microswitch or the ground contact that is corroded in the example on this thread?
Click to expand...
Check to see if your intermittant wiper setting works, if you only get low and high speed, then I think this fix would work.

You can always test this with a voltmeter if you are unsure. You'd want to test the brown wire coming from the black cover on the wiper motor. put your wipers on low setting and and see if you can see the voltage drop out.
 
rabbit

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
I wonder if maybe the wipers/wiper arms themselves have stripped out the from where they attach to the wiper motor asssembly?? If everything else works ok, just that they stop in the middle seems a bit weird and I'm not sure this fix would work then. Do both left and right wipers seem to stop in the same position?

A realy easy thing to do would be to park you wipers wherever they think they are supposed to be parked. then take you wipers off, and put them back on in the actual park position down low. Plus you'd be able to see the splines that may stripped out.

Did you try using them while they were ice'd in place?

quemSAAB said:
Alright, Im still not sure how to access the motor though.

Also, i does work on intermittent(delay), really the only problem in the parking position..
Click to expand...
 
quemSAAB

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#12 ·
I tried resetting them, the splines were not really stripped and it worked for a bit then started to park incorrectly again.. it happened for the first time while i was driving in the rain, for no reason really, quite odd.
 
M

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#18 ·
Only the washer pump not working - Is this my issue?

Thinking reviving this thread is the right place to ask...my 08 does not spray fluid. I can hear the relay click in the underhood fuse/relay center but no pump noise.

Does the motor resistor circuit trigger the pump relay or does the relay trigger the motor and the motor then supplies power to the pump?

Thanks!
 
J

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#20 ·
Resurrecting an old thread to say "thanks" for the write-up. My 2004's wipers would not park correctly, nor would the intermittent speed work. Took everything apart and found
the ground connection (expertly kept in frame in the picture below) was covered in grime. Cleaned it off and also cut away (oddly enough) the portion of the gasket seal (?) that covered the top. Re-installed and works great.



 
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