Why won't my Wipers work right?

[mixellmaster]

I have been dealing with this for a while now. I only think about it while its raining, and then I don't want to get out and fix them.

Problem is my intermittent wipers. At first, I only had "off" and "hi" wipers. Man, is that annoying since it never seems to rain hard enough to need them wiping that fast. I replace the wiper switch (ie. the turn signal lever) and nothing changed. Yesterday I finally was near an auto store while it was raining and I stopped to get a hi-lo relay. Replaced that, and now I have "off", "low" and "hi". And of course as soon as I did that it stopped raining!

As I turn the wiper on, if I stop in any of the intermittent area the wipers move about 1/4 of their travel and stop. Turnign it off and on and they move a couple inches each time and that's it. I don't have a blown fuse, I replaced the relay, and I have a new switch.

Is there anything to suggest that's causing this problem? Please? Anyone?

 

[my98nnj]

The motor should "come home" after a swipe. If it's not returning after the system has been shut off, I suspect the motor is at fault.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Yup- motor is giving up the ghost...

 

[mixellmaster]

Even though they work fine on low and hi?

 

[ddarko]

Same problem...

I'm having the same problem with mine. Started a week or two ago. Hi and Off work fine but intermediate speeds don't work 90% of the time. I can get them to work by turning the wipers up max for a few seconds then lowering down to a slower speed but it will inevitably stop mid-wipe. Very annoying.

Come to think of it, my passenger side door lock stopped working properly around the same time I believe...

 

[2000XPLORERSPORT]

i been having these wiper issues also for weeks. how much does a new wiper motor run?

 

[ddarko]

i been having these wiper issues also for weeks. how much does a new wiper motor run?

I think I need a new motor as well. Took apart the switch, cleaned off the gunk'd up grease and bent the contacts out slightly but no change. I can hear the motor clicking sometimes at the higher settings even when the wipers don't move which seems to indicate that it's receiving electrical signals ok. On/off and relay fuses look fine too. I think the motor is simply giving up the ghost. Quick search on google found motors for $60 and up (wayyy up). Might try a yard.

Oh well, at least I fixed my power door lock issue while I was tinkering.

[EDIT]
Woohoo! Fixed! Turns out it was the hi/low relay (I only checked the fuse before). I realized that when I applied some pressure to the top of the relay while the wipers were on they would work, so I surmised that either the relay is going bad or it isn't well seated/making good contact with the socket. I swapped it around with the relay for the rear washer pump (which I rarely use) and now both seem to work great! Thanks again to all you great people here for helping to point me in the right direction!
[/EDIT]