front windsheild wiper motor

[pschaars]

I have taken on the the task of replacing my windshield wiper motor. The replacement motor I installed started smoking when I hooked it up. I talked to the guys at the recycler and they are more than happy to replace it but seemed baffled as to why that would happen. They said they have rarely have problems with these motors.

could there be some underlying problem with my car that is eating up wiper motors? The fuse is proper and the relay is working to the best of my testing abilities but electronics are a bit complicated for me. I dont want to go down there blaming them when i find out I have a loose flux capacitor somewhere...

thanks for the thoughts,
pete

[GostRidr]

Hey Pete,

I blame the flux capacitor! Seriously though, I'm in the same electronics boat that you are so I don't know for sure. What happened to your first motor?

[Razorback1980]

Smoking usually indicates a direct short. In this case, if the wiring were shorted, you would have smoking wires without the motor. If your wiring is not put together and what is suppose to be a ground wire has power to it, then it could cause the smoking condition. Check each of your wires for power and check that against the wiring diagram. If you don't have a wiring diagram, let us know and we will help with that. If you have power on a wire you are not suppose to, then you'll know why it was smoking. If the wiper motor was previously worked on, they could have done something internally there as well that would ground a power circuit. Did you blow any fuses when this happened? I would guess yes, so check that out. I am guessing it was the motor, but I would check it out so you don't have to buy another one before I hooked it up.

[pschaars]

gostridr- I hope its not the flux capacitor, I heard they stopped making those in the mid 80s when they saw all the problems they can cause.

What happened to start me on my wiper motor project was the wipers werent going at a steady rate while on intermittent. one of the strokes took extra long to get started and then complete. I switched it to slow and they stopped on the windshield. Then I switched it to fast and they went slow for two strokes and then stopped. I thought it was wiring in the control switch but i took it apart and circuit tested all of that for continuity and the switches were working right as well as the relay so I assumed it was the motor. Now I am going to check my wiring like RazorBack has suggested.

RazorBack- thanks for the advice again. I am going to go test the wires to see if one is getting power where it is not supposed to. When I tested the first time I only checked for continuity to the right places when the switches were flipped.

I will let you guys know how it goes. Unfortunately it is pouring here and I cant make it back down to the parts place until it is supposed to let up on Monday if it is still the motor.

[Razorback1980]

pschaars....that sounds like a bad ground. There may be nothing wrong with your original motor. Make sure the ground wire is connected and has a good connection. I'll do some searches on some past posts because I remember the ground being in a weird location but it may be just my memory that's the problem.

[pschaars]

I busted out my wiring diagram book. Everything checks out well. I tested each wire on each wiper control setting and only the ones that were supposed to be powered were.

I will clean/wire brush the ground connection and see if my old motor works again. I am sure the one I bought is toast. I was getting out the fire extinguisher already because it took a while to stop smoking when i disconnected the battery.

[Razorback1980]

Courtesy of SoCal Driver:

Six terminals.

1. Brown/White : Parking

2. Black/White : Motor Slow Speed

3. Green : Motor Fast Speed

4. Black/Yellow : Parking

5. Black/Gray : Motor Medium Speed

6. Brown (ground)

You should be able to run the motor with the brown and one of either 2, 3 or 5.

The parking circuit uses the wiper relay and the circular tracks on the gear.

After you get the motor back in and before you hook up the output arm, run the motor and let it park. Then hook up the wiper arm with the blades parked.


Before you put it on the car, try hooking it up to your battery to see if it works properly.

[Razorback1980]

Hey Pete,

The wiring diagram I posted was for a later car but I forgot to ask which you had. Shame on me for that....if yours is an early, those wire colors won't be right.

It will help us help you if you put your car and year in your signature line.

[pschaars]

Thanks for looking up the wiring for me RazorBack. I actually made a purchase of the 944 workshop manuals on a whim when I got the car. I think they were like 800 dollars or something. Probably not the best idea I ever had because they assume a level of competency above where I am with automobiles. It does come in handy for things like electrical diagrams and taking apart interior pieces without breaking plastic tabs, though. I think they Hayes manual might do that as well. I looked at a couple pages from the hayes manual and compared it to the workshop manuals and realized they just took parts that are common from the workshop manuals verbatim. So probably anything I will ever attempt I could have gotten a book for 30 dollars.

Anyway. I cleaned the hell out of the ground connection. Hooked up my original motor, tested the ground connection and turned it on. The motor tries to turn but cannot make a full revolution. It shakes back and forth and makes that weak electrical motor sound like when you were a kid and only powering your RC car to the slightest amount, before the car actually starts going. I disconnected the power plug, tested that to the top of the ground bolt and was getting 12.5 volts across.

I feel like that definitively makes it a bad motor. I am not going to try the new motor again since it was practically on fire. Hopefully the rain will let up long enough for me to make it back down to the recycler.

Thanks again for your help!

-------------------------------
Pete

1990 Midnight Blue 944S2
1995 Jeep Wrangler 2.5L (for sale, at the shop getting a new clutch. Mechanically excellent, hit and run on the rear bumper and no rear carpet.)

[Razorback1980]

Hey Pete,

I see you are fairly new here, so I'm going to offer some information and hopefully it isn't redundant information to you already. The place I get a lot of great information is clarks-garage.com and there are many other links with some good information as well if you don't have them already. Glad you are here and hopefully you keep coming back. Great community here.

Good luck with your car. You may try cleaning the motor and see if that helps. I seem to remember it comes apart. If your recycler doesn't have another, let me know and we'll help you find one.

[GrantM951]

Thanks for the wiring diagram of the wiper motor connector.

My issue, no wipers at all, no matter the setting, intermittent, slow or fast, wipers do not move any. I have power to the pins in the connector. I do not remember hearing any noises from the motor before it quit. So, is the motor completely dead?

[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by Razorback1980

Courtesy of SoCal Driver:

Six terminals.

1. Brown/White : Parking

2. Black/White : Motor Slow Speed

3. Green : Motor Fast Speed

4. Black/Yellow : Parking

5. Black/Gray : Motor Medium Speed

6. Brown (ground)

You should be able to run the motor with the brown and one of either 2, 3 or 5.

The parking circuit uses the wiper relay and the circular tracks on the gear.

After you get the motor back in and before you hook up the output arm, run the motor and let it park. Then hook up the wiper arm with the blades parked.


Before you put it on the car, try hooking it up to your battery to see if it works properly.

Resurrecting this thread in hopes of someone posting the wiring configuration for early 944/924S. I've got wiper problems on one of my 924S that I need to figure out. Thanks!

[Cocacolakidd]

Check the wiper switch on the steering column - most of the time it is worn and gives more problems than other parts - it will give you all of the above symptoms and park symptoms as well. There are a few switches available on eBay (Some are good).

For 2nd gen 944 - 85.5 up I have an extra for cheap if you need it.

[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by Cocacolakidd

Check the wiper switch on the steering column - most of the time it is worn and gives more problems than other parts - it will give you all of the above symptoms and park symptoms as well. There are a few switches available on eBay (Some are good).

For 2nd gen 944 - 85.5 up I have an extra for cheap if you need it.

Copy that Kidd. I figured I'd put a volt meter on the connector and cycle through different settings on the switch. I've confirmed the relay and fuse are both good.