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#1
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Rear wiper problem
The rear wiper didn't work when I bought my car. A mechanic told me that the motor was bad. I finally picked one up cheaply from a parts car last month, although the seller had no idea if it worked. I just finally got around to installing the "new" one yesterday. When it didn't work either, my dad helped me trouble shoot the electrical end of things. The old motor caused the fuse to blow, but when we replaced fuse, the new motor tried to work (made a buzzing noise) but the shaft didn't move. When I'd given up and was putting the wiper on back on, I detected some motion. (The odd thing was that the key wasn't even in the ignition anymore!) After putting the key back in and turning the wiper on, with a little push, I was consistently able to get the wiper to make one pass each time, once to the right and once back to the left. It stops there at the left, then continues to make the noise, but no unassisted motion accompanies. The thrumming motor noise it makes, which starts as soon as I activate the rear wiper switch, seems kind of loud to me. When I give the wiper a push, and it moves through it's one cycle, the noise isn't as loud while the wiper is moving.
On a side note, after working on the car, I left a door open and the dome light was on. It was only like this for a couple of hours at most, but it drained the battery enough that I needed a jump. That seems like such a small drain for such a drastic effect. Is this normal for an SVX? With my last car, I'd left the dome light and I think once even the parking lights on all night, and it started up in the morning. |
#2
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It sounds like it is the motor again. You mention that you don't know if it was a working motor, and it may not have been.
Remember, this is a used car. Do you know when the battery was replaced? The security system on this car tends to drain batteries very quickly (more so than other cars) and with a battery that may be older, it may need to be replaced. I wouldn't do it just because you had this problem, but just keep it in mind in the future. One thought, did you have the car run when you tried the wiper? Maybe the motor needed a little more power to work. Hope you find your problem.
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. Earl .... ... .... ><SVX(*> Subaru Ambassador [COLOR=”silver”]1992 Tri Color L[/COLOR] ~45K (06/91) #2430 1992 Dark Teal LS-L ~184K (05/91) #0739 1992 Claret LS-L ~196K (05/91) #0831 1992 Pearl LS-L ~103K (06/91) #1680 1992 Pearl LS-L ~151K (06/91) #2229 1992 Dark Teal LS ~150K (07/91) #3098 (parts car) 1992 White LS-L ~139K (08/92) #6913 1993 25th AE ~98K (02/93) #164 1993 25th AE ~58K (02/93) #176 1993 25th AE ~107K (02/93) #215 1993 25th AE ~162K (02/93) #223 1994 Laguna Blue Pearl LSi ~124K (1/94) #2408 1994 Laguna Blue Pearl LSi ~144K (10/93) #1484 1994 Laguna Blue Pearl LSi ~68K (10/93) #1525 1994 Barcelona Red LSi ~46K (02/94) #2624 1994 Pearl LSi ~41K (12/93) #1961 1995 Bordeaux Pearl LSi ~70K (02/95) #855 1996 Polo Green LSi ~95K (03/96) #872 1997 Bordeaux Pearl LSi ~55K (08/96) #097 2003 Brilliant Red LS1 Convertible ~29K (04/03) #8951 1999 Magnetic Red LS1 Coupe ~33K (04/99) #6420 My Email | Old Locker | New Locker | Picture of 15 of the 19 |
#3
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No, I didn't have the engine running when I was working on the wiper. I don't think that was it though. A couple of weeks ago I left the dome light on overnight, and I needed to charge the battery to start the car then...of course the light had been on much longer that time.
As far as the wiper problem itself, I thought that maybe the shaft from the motor needs to have some downward pressure to activate the rotating motion, and maybe that's why it didn't start until I was reinstalling the wiper arm. I also thought that maybe the shaft is rotating before and after the arm does it's single, manually initiated wiping cycle, and maybe the loud thrumming noise is caused by the ridges on top of the shaft grinding against the receptor ridges in the arm's socket, rather than catching on them. If this is the case, then each time I try using the wiper, I'm effectively stipping the ridges on both pieces. Maybe one or both are already too far gone. |
#4
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Brian
Try taking the wiper arm off the rear screen when you try and fix it. If the mechanism is working properly, then the spigot will rotate back and forth, back and forth, when the motor is switched on. Also, and forgive me if this comes from the bleedingly obvious department, when trying it, be sure you have the rear wiper switch clicked fully down to the continuous wiping stage, and that it is not on intermittent and you think that it's stopped/stuck. You can also take off the semi circular collar around the mechanism above the rear window shelf. This will allow you to see what's happening. If it's lain up for a bit it will probably need to be cleaned and lubricated. Joe
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#5
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As a reference I left my interior lights on all night once last week and had no problems starting the car.
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#6
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Joe,
I did have the collar off and the switch on continuous mode. I'll try it again with the wiper off the glass. I had tried it w/o the arm attached at all, but that was only before it moved for the first time. David, Thanks for the reference. |
#7
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No. It did the same thing with the arm raised.
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#8
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Then the motor has burned off the gears from the drive mechanism. Or else, a link has slipped or broken.
Can you check that the motor is rotating when on? Joe
__________________
Black Betty [Bam a Lam!] '93 UK spec, still languishing Betty Jersey Girl Silver '92 UK [Channel Isles] 40K Jersey Girl @ Mersea Candy Purple Honda Blackbird Plum Dangerous White X2 RVR Mitsubishi 1800GDI. Vantastic 40,000 miles Jersey Girl |
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