1989 Carlsson 2.0l

During the cold weather in December I made teh mistake of leaving the wipers running on intermittant (leaver up) and then turning off the ignition. Unfortunately snow fell, partially melted and the froze my wipers solidly to the glass. I then started my car up the next day not realising that the wiper motor was trying to operate!

Since then my wiper patterns aren't working, the wipers won't return to the rest position on any setting other than intermittant.

Am I correct in assuming this is a blown relay? If so where is it located and can it be easily changed by a novice (that being me)?

Any other help would be appreciated.

Can anyone help ... please ??

Sounds like you have damaged the self-parking contact inside the motor. the motor is below the false bulkhead cover and is not too hard to get out and take apart.

I'm confused! Are the wipers not working at all on any setting other than intermittent, or is it just that they won't park whilst on the other settings?
The wiper relay is on the board behind the glovebox.
Pete.

They won't park on any setting other than interminttent. More correctly they won't park if the switched off during a sweep, i.e. they only park correctly IN intermittent mode AND only if swicthed off when the wipers are stationary.

Hope this makes sense, cheers for the help so far I guys. I will look for a salvage motor before i start stripping the one I have.

Cheers,

Jason.

I'm prepared to be shot down in flames here but I'd like to share an experience I noticed with my 9000....

When I bought the car I knew that the electric ariel & the n/s headlamp wiper didn't work. I bought salvaged ones from a breakers yard & fitted. The lectric ariel was sorted but the headlamp wiper was still not working & I eventually took it back to the breakers to get a replacement that works fine. Problem solved. However...

Whilst I was fiddling with the original replacement I did get the odd occasion where the wipers (Windscreen & headlamp wipers) would not switch off like you're saying above. So I'm wondering if the three self parking sections can influence each other if one of them is out any. One in the main widscreen wiper motor & one in EACH of the headlamp wiper motors. They all "seem" to have a common electrical 12v feed so if the parking is out on one motor it can influence them all.

So what's my point?.. Well I'm wondering then if the problem might be one of the headlamp motors & not the main windscreen wiper motor?? They are certainly subjected to a lot more of the elements so they might fail more readily. Don't know. Thoughts anyone?

Also, how about disconnecting the headlamp wipers at their electrical connectors from inside the engine bay?

If you do that does this influence the main wipers any & does it restore self parking?

I'll finish this in a minute...

And if it does sort it, can you not determine which of the two headlamp wipers is at fault by swaping them in or out to see which one restores your problem?

!?

I get your drift, it's quite possible that the headlamp wipers could be at fault if what you're saying is true. Although (I've not checked this) I thought the headlamp wipers only operated on the wash/wipe function (stick pulled towards driver).

I'll have a play and see what happens.

You're right about the wash/wipe being the thing that starts the headlamp wipers running however, IF (And I'm not sure about that) the feed to the three motors has a common source AND the self park is incorrect in one of the motors, will the three motors fire up regardless of whether you've asked for a squirt of cleaner?

Like I say I'm prepared to be shot down here.

DON'T SHOOT!!!! ;o)

Back in my young day self parking wipers were very hi-tech at least when they were introduced on minis. The principal was basicaly that there was always a live feed to the self parking arc such that it powered the wiper motor untill the wipers had completed a sweep after the wiper switch was turned off. I would imagine the principle is still the same therefore all the self parking motors should be independent. although the switched & parking supplies may be common.

You are correct Paulrivnd. The self parking still works on the same principle that it always did. I've just checked the wiring diagram and there is no way that the headlamp wipers could have an influence on the windscreen washer parking. The problem lies either with the the internal self parking contact, or the brown wire to terminal 53A of the wiper motor has no volts (unlikely since this also supplies the wiper relay and the wiper switch from fuse F8)

can you send the wiring diagram please