Wipers not working

[Rileysowner]

So now that the no crank issue has been resolved. I have yet another one.

Just some quick background. Yesterday my wife pulled into the gas station put in gas and the van would not turn over, just a clicking/buzzing noise. The issue turned out to be corroded and loose terminals on the battery lines. I picked up the van today, and while driving home realized the wipers are not working at all. Not in any of the speeds at all. Checked fuses and made sure the plug to the motor was plugged in, but now I have no idea what to do to diagnose this. I have no interest in taking it back to the service place at the moment as I have spent enough having others work on stuff, and while it is possible what they did somehow affected the wipers, I find it unlikely.

So what can I do to try to diagnose this?

[photo_van]

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope it's not raining! And, what does this have to do with engines???

First thing I'd do is check the incoming hot at the wiper motor with the wand switch on. No power there and it is either a wiring or switch issue. I've had intermittent issues with mine; sprayed a bunch of contact cleaner down in the vicinity of the wand switch (under the boot) and seemed to help for a while.

[Rileysowner]

Which is the hot wire?

[doyoulikeithere]

There was a real common issue with a cold solder joint failure in the wiper motor.
Chances are, thats the culprit.
I'm sure a bit of searching will turn up how to diagnose that.
I just took mine into get fixed and that was the first thing they looked for, and it fixed the prob.

[Rileysowner]

I am aware of the solder issue. Usually manipulating the plug will get it going, at least while the plug is being held. In this case the wipers were working just fine before the other problem, now they don't work.

I tried getting the board out, but it seemed stuck in holder completely. Last time I did the board I had to take out the whole wiper motor assembly.

[doyoulikeithere]

I am aware of the solder issue. Usually manipulating the plug will get it going, at least while the plug is being held. In this case the wipers were working just fine before the other problem, now they don't work.

I tried getting the board out, but it seemed stuck in holder completely. Last time I did the board I had to take out the whole wiper motor assembly.

I watched them do mine in the shop.
They just touched a solder pencil to the board and re-heated the cold soldered joint, so it was now HOT soldered. Took under 5 minutes and was cheap. Seemed like they knew exactly where to look, and what to do, as soon as I told them the wipers quit.

[photo_van]

sounds like if they required futzing at the plug before, that your problem is there, I'd check those contacts. But, FYI, I just looked at my manual: yellow is hot from the battery, Purple hot from Hi switch, Brn hot from delay/low switch, blk ground.

Good luck!

[Rileysowner]

sounds like if they required futzing at the plug before, that your problem is there, I'd check those contacts. But, FYI, I just looked at my manual: yellow is hot from the battery, Purple hot from Hi switch, Brn hot from delay/low switch, blk ground.

Good luck!

So that matches up with the Saturn wire colors which I followed from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KHUxiXn31s

I have power. I have continuity on the switches. So it is the board or the motor. One thing I didn't check was whether I have ground on the plug. One more trip out into the cold to count that out, and then I can pull the board and solder it, and if that fails, get a replacement from the junkyard.

[photo_van]

I'm assuming you're testing at the plug (unplugged)? If so, are all the contacts clean?

[Rileysowner]

I pulled the whole motor since I couldn't get the board out with it mounted. Took it inside and tested continuity from the pins to the board. Sadly I did it after putting the soldering iron to the solder joints on the board. I have continuity, but when hooked up again I still don't have wipers.

The contacts look clean.

I am thinking the motor is toast. No idea why except it is an old van.

[photo_van]

put 12v directly thru the motor and see if it runs.

[Rileysowner]

put 12v directly thru the motor and see if it runs.

So how would I do that? Pull the board and jumper to something? Picks if anyone has them of where to run the 12v would be appreciated.

[Rileysowner]

To take out the wiper motor I needed to pry the wiper linkage off. There is no bolt except the one holding the little arm to the motor that attaches to the linkage, and it is rusted to the point that the only way to get it off would be out of the van in a vice since it just turns the motor. I want to hook things back up, but can't seem to get the linkage to snap over the little ball attachment. Any suggestions on how to get it back on? Am I missing a bolt or nut somewhere that makes this easier.

[1Gary]

No nut missing.Those balls are a pita to get reattached.

The board failures aside,the grounds do fail too.On the 94 it had a jumper ground on it from the motor mounting to the cowl when I bought it for that reason.

[Rileysowner]

I have a ground on the plug. Basically at this point it seems, if I did everything right with the multimeter, that the problem is likely the board. I ordered one from Rockauto.