Wipers don't work!

I have no windshield wipers in my 63 LeSabre. The fuse in the fuseblock under the dash is good. I check at the switch, and there are three wires, white black and red. The red and white have 12 volts. If I jump out either the red or white to the black wire, nothing happens.

So it seems the switch is getting power, and when I jump out the switch, nothing happens, which I would think mean the switch is good. So does that leave anything else beside the wiper motor itself? Any hidden fuses or anything like that? How do I test the wiper motor?


Thanks.

 

The motor must have a good ground to the car's body. This is often the problem; corrosion under the fender results in bad ground. Check the ground strap under one mounting bolt.

The wiper switch does not work the way you probably think it does on this car. The wiper motor has 12 volts all the time and the switch actually provides a ground to the various wires coming to it.

The wiper switch grounds only the black wire when it is in the Off position. The switch grounds both the black and the white wires for Lo speed. It grounds only the white wire for Hi speed. Grounding the 3rd wire (orange) is for the washer pump.

See shop manual pages 10-96 for explanation of operation and 10-99 for trouble shooting and testing on car and off.

There is also a mechanical "parking switch" inside the wiper motor that kind of burns and wears out with time. That's harder to fix yourself and is easier dealt with by purchasing a rebuilt motor.

 

Alright, I disconnected and cleaned the contacts at the wiper motor. When I re-connected the plug at the wiper motor, the wipers came on AND WON'T TURN OFF!!! I have to shut the car off. If I turn the ignition back on, the wipers come back on, regardless of the position of the wiper switch. In fact, if I disconnect all three wires from the wiper switch, they STILL don't turn off! I did notice that the switch does work to change the wiper spee from high to low, but never off.

What's that all about???

 

I would say you have full time power and full time ground. like maybe someone wired the around the switch under the hood. Turn key on and see witch terminal on motor that is getting 12 volts. Unplug all wires going to motor. Wire in 12v to that terminal. Now use a jumper wire to ground and motor should come on. When you take the jumper off of ground, the motor should only stay on long enough to return wipers to down position. That should help you understand how to wire it properly. I had same problem with my 72.

 

I swear, there is no pleasing some people. "I don't have wipers. I do have wipers. I have too much wipers."

Do you have the wiper blades on the car? Because with no resistance of blades sweeping the glass, the wiper motor will frequently not stop.

And FYI, the center wire on the wiper motor is the 12 volt feed.

OK, assuming you have wiper blades installed, what you probably have now is the internal parking switch is not working, not cutting off the temporary ground to the motor.

See, when you turn the wiper switch to the OFF position, you don't want the blades to just stop there, at that spot. So internal to the motor there is a switch that continues to provide a ground and keep the motor running until the blades are exactly where you want them to stop. The switch opens at that point and the motor stops.

I was able to pull my motor off of the car, open it up, clean and adjust all this stuff, and then reinstall. Or you can get a new/rebuilt wiper motor from any decent auto part store.

Jim

 

Yup feel ya my wipers go one way and dont go back. I have to shut my car off also so I can push them back down.:ball:

 

Mine work fine! ray:

 

Do you have a wiring diagram to look at?????


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