Hey Guys,
So...I get called into work Saturday-right when Irene is starting to pickup. I tried flicking my wipers on and I noticed they only work on high speed. Wasn't too concerned because it was raining pretty heavily. So on the drive home, its still raining and I try turning the wipers on again...this time nothing works. When the storm let up today, I check the fuse- it checks out fine. I wanted to check the multi-function switch to test continuity between the pins and cant get the steering cover off. So I decided to test the motor. I got 12.33V between the ground terminal on motor ("L") and the battery ground on high speed. 10.6V on lo. Then I took the connector off the motor and got .11V for the RD/YW, .02V for DG/BK, 12.2V for the DB/BK, and .03V for the BR/WT. And now I am having a complete brain-fart. What are the chances that the motor's bad like internally. Theres no hum to the motor like I expected, just a click which sounds like the relay. Is there a chance some rainwater got into the cavity and shorted the motor/wiring? Also, I still wanna test the switch but can't figure out how to remove the cover. Any ideas?

 

The cover comes off with a few screws. I believe they are star (torques?) heads not phillips. Water getting into the motor itself won't damage it because brushed motor are waterproof. If there is a relay or something that could go bad but the motor itself would be fine. A brushed motor can run fully submerged in water and be perfectly fine afterwards.

 

Grab the 95 service manual from here. Wiper diagnosis and testing procedures start on page 8K-1

 

Wow thats oddly specific...thanks! I was going off the 2nd gen service manual and haynes. didnt know this one existed. Well see how this goes

 

Yea, i think they are torx. I found the main one easily...there's 2 recessed screw cavities, but the screwdriver I have won't fit in there-bit adapter is too big. I even tried using the cheater gameboy hack way and just using a similar size mini-screwdriver and it feels like its biting, but it turns forever...I'll try again I guess. Ya know, in all my years of messing with electronics, I did not know that brushed motors will be able to run like that. I guess that's really a good thing as this is a motor that handles wet things. :-) Thanks for the tip

 

You need a set of torx drivers. (like a screwdriver set) you can't use just the bits.

 

Yes, but that is if it is water proof. If it ain't it wont work right.

 

Brushed motors don't need to be waterproof then can run under water. Brushless motors do need to be waterproof tho. Here is a brushed motor being broken in under water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8qZ7w6hSqc

 

We used to break in the brushes for our RC car motors in a glass of water.

 

Alright, so I did the tests in the manual and there were no amps in the motor and the disconnect test did not pop the fuse. Ordered the motor from advance and installed. still wont work. The motor works when the wipers arent connected. The motor moves the linkage but it seems rather slow. With the wipers connected, it starts to go and then just stops. Almost like the little engine that could...realized it could not and then gave up. No obvious signs of binding, im at a loss. everything points to motor, but i just got it and would like to think that cardone wouldn't f*** up. Also, in semi-relevant news, it needs to stop raining here.