I have a problem with my wiper motor.

[90Aerostar]

Wow! Well, I only have a 90 Aerostar, a short one, much loved by me (loathed by my daughter.)

Do you know anything about fuse placement in the Aerostar? Specifically I need to know where there's a fuse that I can pull to disable to wiper motor. My darling daughter tried to borrow the van today and got the darn thing stuck in ON. How, I don't know.

Back after a walk to the post office. The thing with the wiper motor has been a problem of a different sort for a while. The motor will run but won't move the blades. I finally gave up trying to use the wipers, and decided if it was raining, I'd just wait till it stopped. I have NO idea how she managed to get it to go on and not be able to go off. Annoying, to say the least. If anyone knows how to disable the wiper motor, please let me know. I want to drive my little van!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your post into its own thread with a title. Check the connection between the wiper motor, and the linkage arms. It's in the area at the end of the windshield.

 

[90Aerostar]

So I'd get to it from inside the van? Removing the dashboard, right? <thank you> I was out there fiddling with under the hood to see if I could find where the linkage would be, and noticed it wasn't under the hood, so thought that I'd probably have to unscrew the upper dash plate and try getting to it from there. I'm willing to try or alternatively, find a way to disable the motor entirely, only driving when its dry. Hard to do in a rain forest, but I've been doing it.

Thanks for moving the inquiry to a thread of its own.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You have to remove it from the outside of the van. Remove the panel under the wiper arms (cowl panel). They have small plastic clips that are junk, and will break while they are being removed. Replace these clips with black plastic license plate screws. Autozone sells those screws for a couple of dollars a pack.

 

[90Aerostar]

So, I go from the grill area outside? OK, so when I get in there, if the arm linkage is still linking, how do I disable the entire wiper motor so that it doesn't run and run the entire time I have the Aerostar on? The darling daughter somehow managed to get it toggled to the extent that it runs the motor constantly. Turn on the ignition, the wiper motor starts running and growling and making a heck of a noise. I really would like to disable that. How would I do that? Are there any fuses to pull, and if so, where can I find them?

For that matter, even if I found that the arm linkage wasn't engaged to the wiper blades, and I attached it, I still would really really like to be able to turn the wipers OFF and later be able to turn them on, so that they functioned when I was driving in the rain, but did not run on sunny days.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The area inside the upper cowl is only a linkage for the motor. Some possibilities for a motor that doesn't turn off would be a short, bad switch or a problem with the intermittent delay wiper module.

 

[90Aerostar]

Hmmm, well I did find the potential fuse for the wiper mechanism, #2 for the front wiper (there's no back wiper.) Assuming that fuse is what it suggests it is in several of the available online manuals (for later aerostars), might disabling the fuse stop the eternal functioning of the motor? That was the suggestion of my friends down the road. Of course, there's no online service manual for a 90, but according to the available aerostar manual for the 96, that'd be the fuse. If we pull it and stops the incessant running, that could be an interim solution until I get a complete workup. Or am I way off base here?

 

[90Aerostar]

Hmmm, it occurs to me that I ought to confess to my lack of experience. The last time I wrenched on an automobile was in my teens, when I'd help my father. I stopped when he played a practical joke on me involving changing the oil on his car. After a face full of old oil, I was less inclined to participate.

I am skilled at repairing sewing machines, which is probably a good choice for a woman. Sewing machines aren't automobiles, however. I'll probably be trading fix for fix on this one (I fix their sewing machine, they work on my van.) Or, if I do it myself, it'll be the first time I worked on an automobile since my early teens.

Ah, you said "bad switch", could that be the switch that supposedly toggles the wiper on and off? If this was a sewing machine, I'd still see if that switch could be disabled with good ol' fuse #2. I do hope all this won't get me out there in the street in coveralls and grease, with parts all around. They used to hate that in the old neighborhood when I was a kid tearing apart Dad's cars.

 

[BrooklynBay]

What speed are your wipers constantly running at? Are they running on high, low or on some delay speed?

 

[90Aerostar]

What speed are your wipers constantly running at? Are they running on high, low or on some delay speed?

I wish I could tell you, but since the wipers themselves don't move, and it's just the motor grinding away without moving the wipers, it's hard to tell from the noise whether they're running on high or low. Not one of those delay speeds. In fact, I don't even think the 90 Aerostar had that delay speed feature, it seems to me that came along in more modern automobiles. If I recall correctly, when the wipers themselves actually functioned, they functioned in a fast mode and a slow mode, but in either mode it was consistent.

In the current state, the wipers themselves are immobile, unmoving, and what is moving is the motor itself, with a resulting racket.

 

[BrooklynBay]

It's possible that the linkage isn't disconnected, and the internal gears in the wiper motor are stripped.

 

[90Aerostar]

It's possible that the linkage isn't disconnected, and the internal gears in the wiper motor are stripped.

So many possibilities. If that were the case then possibly it would need new gears or a new motor, among other things done. I thought your suggestion of a bad switch might be the one, too, since it doesn't shut off. Well, today I'm going to try the fuse removal, and see if that does any good. If we have to get into major replacements or motor repair, I've only worked on the electrical motors of sewing machines, and I don't think that would be the right experience. I'll have to ask around for who knows how to do this work in my community, and whether it is more sensible to replace the motor and blades or try to change out the internal gears in the motor. After driving the same vehicle for over 20 years, I'm attached to it.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You could unplug the motor until you get this issue taken care of.