window wiper troubles - tried everything

hey yall,

bought a 1989 one ten, window wipers didnt work, they were unplugged when bought it so i guess the previous owners knew about the fault.

i took the wiper motor out of the bracket, pulled at it to see if the window wipers moved any (after undoing the nut onto the motor assembly) and it wouldnt move, so that meant to me that the wipers were jammed.

did a bit of research and tried freeing them up with wd40 and lithium grease and a bit of wiggling. which ended up with 2 snapped spindles as the wipers wouldnt budge.

so a very helpful article on this forum led me to order 2 spindle boxes which i installed, then tried to refit the motor after greasing them up. the motor worked for a short while but then stopped and started to burn out.

i pulled the plug immediately and started to look for any jams, to which i found that the motor gear had worn and jammed against the spiral screw.

so i replaced the motor gear and tried again. this time finding that id misplaced the plastic end cap of the motor that the cable goes through and the nut screws onto to secure the cable housing in place.

after rigging up a plastic end cap with the use of some gaffer tape to secure it, the motor started to work again, but only for 5 minutes, then burn even more.

the weird thing is that the fuse i fitted is the correct ampage, yet it didnt blow, the motor just continued to burn, and whats more is that since the motor started to burn, the washer jet has now ceased to squirt.

im baffled as to whats wrong, could it be that the motor was on its last legs when i got it anyway?

it cant be the park switch as ive tested that and it works perfectly.

do i have an electrical issue after ripping out all the beacon wiring and double battery setup that the previous owner (fylde council airport) had installed.

now that the motor is burnt and totally black inside the magneto, is it FUBARd or can it be cleaned and refurbed.

to be honest i think the whole system is a relic of a design and an easy upgrade should be available but ive never read of one.

also theres a td5 motor assembly on ebay at the moment, could i use that motor with my cable housing and spindles (i know the td5 has it mounted differently but the motor looks the same to me)

please help, if it rains i cant go on the motorway

According to title, you've tried everything, so guess nothing else to try...never mind...at least it's only motorways you can't go on in the rain, not the right place to be in a Defender anyway! Stick to A roads, don't need wipers on them! Gulp!

what parts are you using ,a lot are crap ,rack is too tight through wheel boxes on many you should be able to pull and push easily on end of rack before fitting motor ,check voltage to motor

jamesmartin said:

what parts are you using ,a lot are crap ,rack is too tight through wheel boxes on many you should be able to pull and push easily on end of rack before fitting motor ,check voltage to motor

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i used these eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

and bought the motor gear from foundry 4x4

electronics is the one thing i hate more than anything, so im gona have to wait for some help to see what voltage the motor is being supplied with.

but now my motors all burnd inside, am i better off ordering a new motor before i start fiddling again?

check how easy mechanism moves ,and you will need anew motor ,ebay ones wouldnt be genuine id think as there £30 each

bought a brand new td5 wiper motor with park switch wheelbox cable, swapped wheelbox cable out and fit the whole lot.

now works perfectly at both speeds but park in the upright position instead of laying flat.

is there any way of calibrating the park switch, or is the td5 wheelbox assembly upside down n back to front?

Do they wipe through 180 degrees or 90?

If just 90, remove wiper arms, rotate and replace

they rotate through 90 degrees only. but cant swap the position of the wipers or orientation in any way.

the drivers side wiper wheelbox is to the far right of the bulkhead in front of the steering wheel so no room to the right hand side to swap the wiper arm onto that side.

i was thinking maybe the td5 park switch is wired up differently, ie when the park switch button is pushed in it registers the park position on the original park switch, but on the td5 maybe the park switch button releases to register the park position.

i dont want to break the park switch clip on the new motor so dont want to unclip it and test my old park switch, and also dont want to take out the motor gear to check any differences as the dash is all back together now with brand new shiny self tappers.

any ideas?

Won't the wiper arms come off the spindles allowing you to reposition?

Thought they were just on splines?

Station House said:

Won't the wiper arms come off the spindles allowing you to reposition?

Thought they were just on splines?

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But then when he switched them on he would wipe the bulkhead and not the windscreen.

Tazz070299 said:

But then when he switched them on he would wipe the bulkhead and not the windscreen.

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Good point!

hadn't noticed whether they are running clockwise or anti clockwise from where they are parked

i have got a problem that the fuse just keeps blowing even after a new motor and wheel boxes anyone got any ideas what it could be would be greatly appriciated. could it be the switch or the relay? or is it a short?
henry

Something is drawing too many amps - sounds to me like it might be a short.
Check the wiring from the switch to relay to motor.

Daz

A bit late I know but I'm bored, regarding wipers working in reverse.
You need to split the new motor and remove the gear,seperate the nylon gear from the park switch cam and rotate it 180 degrees and rebuild job done.