Headlght wiper

mailee · Post by **mailee** » 19 Mar 2005, 23:35

The nearside (UK market) headlamp wiper on my 1997 850T5 has stopped working and it looks like the motor. Can these things be taken apart and repaired or must I buy a new one? Would one of the 7 or 9 series ones fit? Looked on E-bay but they seem to be holding high prices!

Jot · Post by **Jot** » 25 Mar 2005, 18:23

The problem from what I have read is at the inner end of the wiper drive shaft. The plastic gear goes bad. but I don't recall the fix.

floryed · Post by **floryed** » 18 Apr 2005, 21:11

I have a 1995 850 GLT, and I fixed my driver's side motor. If it is the same, than it may be the same fix. It was actually a loose gear, and a loose main connection. I took it apart, and fixed the gears by just putting them back together. Part of the problem was that something had pushed the wiper in too far, and the back cover came loose, and the gears fell apart. Not the best of designs, but I think that my cover was broken, due to the pushing in of the wiper... after all, it's only plastic. Anyway, take the motor out, and check it with a 12 volt power supply. If it works, than it's the connections. My motor has a rotory witch that disconnects the main piece of copper from the connection, hence disconnecting the relay from power, and shutting off the wiper, even though the rotory connector completes a rotory cycle and lets the copper piece reconnect. It is reconnected so that when you press the button in the car again, the relay is reenergized, and the circuit is complete. Okay, I've explained how it works, now I will tell you how to fix it, without buying a new one ($150). Where the main connection is (the copper piece), the piece wears out, and becomes very bendable, and does not make connection after the rotory switch. I took, and drilled a hole in the side of the plastic motor housing, and put a plastic screw, so as that when the screw went in, it contacted the copper piece and put pressure on it so it would complete the circuit when needed. Put silicone all over the outside of the screw so it doesn't create a short, and then plug the motor in. If you activate the motor, and it shuts off at the proper time, than the screw is in the correct place. If the motor keeps going, than the screw needs to be backed off a little bit, because the rotory switch never deactivates the switch because there is too much pressure on it. Try it after backing off the screw, and wait until it works properly. Put the silicone on after it is all checked. Let me know how it works out. It should only take about a 1 hour after you get the motor out.

Doug K · Post by **Doug K** » 05 May 2005, 07:51

Floryed,

Thank you for an excellent post. My passenger side light wiper isnt working correctly. It seems intermittent. there is still power to the motor, and every now and then the wiper blade moves, but not working great. Now I know that I may be able to fix it myself and not buy a new one.

Thanks!!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 05 May 2005, 08:46

You know, I've never replaced my rubber headlight wiper blades yet in 10 years. Should do that as I'm probably scratching the heck out of the headlight lenses. Come to thnk of it, I don't remember seeing them in motion for long time. Maybe the motor(s) has/ve and failed I just haven't realized it.

Thanks for the detailed post for possible issues which I'll check out.

JPOliver · Post by **JPOliver** » 19 Aug 2005, 19:03

Hi,

Has anyone tried to get to the Wiper motor on a 1999 S40? Does anyone know if the headlight has to come out to get at it, It seems to be set into the front bumper but surly you don't take off the bumper to access it....??

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jamie Oliver

Post by **hausmeister** » 20 Jan 2023, 02:42

I know an old thread. But since I have a wiper motor open I thought I'd add a bit to it.
Removed the wipers from my car way back since they did not work. Now I'm looking into fixing them, not because I'm a masochist

, but If I ever want to look into registering it as an oldtimer it probably needs to be as original as possible.

Found this video which shows quite a bit of the unit and how to repair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCvQtODciP0

Also attaching 2 pics where you can see the inside and on the 2nd pic the small square "ptc fuse" or what it is called, that I pulled out. I did search a bit, but did not find anything to replace it with. I'll just add a piece of metal in between the contacts.
I removed all the old grease which stank burned, probably not necessary, but can't hurt. (will regrease it)

One question I have is the big red gear, you can see the top in the first pic. It is basically clipped onto the metal plate, and it is very hard to turn. I guess that is intentional and acting as a bearing/retainer? The unit did turn shortly before the PTC gave out so I guess this is as designed.

Post by **scot850** » 20 Jan 2023, 09:24

I bought some replacement motors and just the caps with the shaft contacts and the thermal fuse from Alibaba. I think I paid around $1-2 each for them. I bought them just so I can use the fuses for projects like this and door lock actuators which is what the fuses were for.

Other option is to put in a piece of copper wire in place of the fuse. This removes the circuit protection so if they fail or freeze in cold weather they may take out your main wipers as well. You could add in a sealed replaceable fuse in line at a lower value than the main fuse so it pops before the main one.

Neil.

Post by **hausmeister** » 20 Jan 2023, 10:03

I do not see how they would take out the main wipers also - do you mean the relay? Shouldn't the fuse protect everything to some degree...

The problem with Ali and these sites is finding what you need, with the Chinese translations etc. Not sure what I would need to get for these (?).

I cut a 1cm aluminium square 1mm thick that fits exatly like the ptc and works. I might just leave them disconnected anyways and only hook them up for special occasions or inspections

It's not like I need them otherwise to be honest.

Post by **Goupil** » 20 Jan 2023, 12:26

I once opened one of these motors, and couldnt figure at all how they're supposed to work

gave up and found a pair for 30 bucks