Yep, Same thing happened on my 2006 adventurer. Chap next door sorted though, as he worked at Lucas when they existed!
Turned out to be a micro switch on the wiper motor, it tells the system where it is on the stroke...if its not working the wiper motor doesn't know where it is, so keeps going.
You have to remove the spare wheel carrier and door trim to remove the wiper motor, and split it open to reveal the switches. A quick clean solved my problem, and two years later no probs.