Hi guys:
We are having freezing rain here, and wouldn't you know, my wipers have started blowing fuses. I suppose that the first problem began when the arms loaded up with ice. I thought that I could just replace the fuse, but POP! ??? >

Has anyone else had this trouble? I have cleared all around the arms, but now the fuses just keep blowing, before the wipers start to move...almost like a short.

george, (who is stranded in the freezing rain.)

 

Some quick suggestions. If you can get to the wiper motor, unplug it. Put in a new fuse and see what happens. If it blows then you probably have a wiring harness short. If it does not blow then chances are that you have a motor that has gone bad. <br>If you have a VOM, check the impedance of the motor. If it is close to, or shows a full ground then something in the motor has died. As you are in a storm right now you probably then have no choice but to install a new motor.<br>

 

Thanks for the reply, Mexstan! Do you have any idea what the resistance should be across the motor?<br><br>I will probably wait until morning now, since I don't feel like working in the freezing rain in the dark.<br><br>Thanks again.<br>george

 

Sorry, can't remember the resistance of a good motor. You can take your VOM and short the two leads together. The reading should be full scale. If not, adjust it until it is full scale. Then go and measure your motor. My guess is that a good moter will not be too far off full scale. To simplify, I will guess that a good motor on the average VOM scale will read about 20% less than full scale. A bad motor will read full scale or very close too it.<br>Hope this helps a little.

 

Thanks again. I am almost sure that I wrecked the motor...a guy decided to help me by tugging on the arm while I was scraping the windscreen.<br>Oh well.<br>Thenks

 

Another thought. If some guy &quot;helped&quot; you by tugging on the wiper arm it just may be possible that he forced one of the linkages to jump out of position thereby just plain jambing everything up. This is a remote possibility, but hey, we are looking at all posibilities here.<br>BTW, I know exactly where you are as I have been there many times. My oldest son went to Western and I have a friend in Granton.

 

Mexstan:<br>It is odd that you know this area, especially the huge city of Granton. I did my graduate work at western many years ago and now work at Fanshawe College. Not many people seem to know London.<br><br>I looked all over the wrecking yards for a motor...no luck. It is a '94 item only. I ordered a new one from the dealer...national BO in the US and Canada. I think that I will take mine apart and try to fix it. i just don't want to do the take apart twice.<br>Thanks again for your help.<br>PS...I was talking to a fellow from Granton this am about cutting trees downed in the ice storm...small world.<br>george

 

Keep us posted on what you find. If the motor is on national BO in two countries it makes me wonder if there has been a lot of problems with these motors. Once you take it apart you may find that the coils are burnt. If you are not sure about any burning stick your nose up close and smell. Any burnt smell is probably reason to turf the motor. If that is the case you may be able to go to a wrecker and find a motor case the same as yours which may fit. Your armature may be different, specially the gear end, but that should not matter as you may be able to make one motor out of two.<br>Glad I am not in your area right now with that 'lovely' weather you are having. I see that Pearson airport (to me that is still Malton airport) used up a months supply of antifreeze in the last couple of days. I also know Fanshaw as I took a course there donkeys years ago.

 

WEll, I got the wipers fixed. I was able to get an aftermarket rebuild for about $85 CDN...that is about $22 USD. No idea how many pesos. I couldn't both playing with it for that amount.
I took the motor apart. There was no Burnt smell and the armature looked good. The brushes were a little worn, but that is expected. I think that the short was probably in the electronics part of the set up (intermittent motor).

Anyway, it is done.

I have been at Fanshawe for over 30 years, so we were there together. Wish that I were in Mexico right now.
Thanks...I will watch for your postings. Seems to me that you were going to be coming to TO in the near future to get paint for your keyed truck
I had my truck keyed...cost me $1400.

 

Glad you got it fixed, specially for that lousy weather you are having.<br>If I do drive up to TO as I am planning, one of my stops could well be to the 'large city' of Granton. TBD.