1997 850 rear wiper wiring break repair

Peace_Frog · Post by **Peace_Frog** » 12 Apr 2005, 08:27

My rear wiper is stuck since I bought my 97 850 about a year ago. Last saturday I finally took the time to get the whole thing apart to take look. My, what a mess! The motor works fine but the shaft that goes through the door and holds the wiper arm, was covered with white stuff, probably corrosion resulting from years of calcium infiltration during our long Quebec's winters.

I brushed the the powdery deposit with a metal brush, but that was far from enough. I soaked the whole housing with tons of WD-40 and let it rest for a night. The day after, I took a hammer and screwdriver and gently chipped more stuff. The housing (alu or white metal) was actually fused to shaft. I chipped some more and was surprised to find the metal washer about one centimetre (1/2 inch) under the metal!

Anyway, I have the luxury of having a dad and uncle both retired and happy to give a hand. So while I'm at work, more soaking, chipping, hammering and lubricating is happenning! I hope to have the thing working by tonight...

So my advice is, if you have a wagon with good mileage on it, you might want to add the rear wiper check and lubrication on your next routine maintenance. The part bought new is around 250$!

HTH.

Hugo.

MilwaukeeV70owner · Post by **MilwaukeeV70owner** » 28 Jan 2010, 08:58

Hey everyone. I discovered my rear wiper stopped working about 6 months ago, and I just haven't had a lot of time to diagnose what the problem could be until recently.

Last week, my rear lock actuator wouldn't lock or unlock the tailgate either, and that's when I had to get to the bottom of this issue.

After taking the actuator apart, dismantling the wiper motor, and breaking my tailgate trim pieces, I've figured it out! IT"S THE WIRING!!!

Check the wiring AFTER the rear wiring harness which is located just above the rear speaker(see pics). My situation happened to be 3 wires were cut from the zip tie strap that was factory fastened onto the frame. It was one of the those "ah-ha" moments where you realized all of your frustrations could be solved by 3 butt splices!

I hope this post helps someone, because finding this myself certainly saved me a lot of money in fixing the problem.

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 28 Jan 2010, 09:15

Everything on the tailgate works on my 2000 V70XC except the wiper. If I turn it on, nothing will happen (although a click from the relay is audible). But if I raise the tailgate slowly, there will come a point where whatever connection is messed up actually makes contact. The wiper works with the tailgate up, and even down if I yank on the wires a bit.

How do you get off all the panels to access those wires? There's no way I can afford to pay someone to rewire the car, but I hope maybe it's a simple fix like yours was.

MilwaukeeV70owner · Post by **MilwaukeeV70owner** » 28 Jan 2010, 10:53

Ecbsykes,
My tailgate did exactly the same thing for both the rear wiper and the rear locking actuator, so I'd be willing to guess that if you were to look in the same spot I did, you might find the culprit.

As for that trim panel...

I'm not going to take pictures(too cold here today!) but I think it is fairly simple enough to explain what I did.

1. Look @ the drivers side rear speaker. Do you see the two little 'indents' (i'll call them indents I guess) on the left side of the speaker surround? OK, now get a smaller flat-head screwdriver or a 5-in-1 painters tool(what I used) to pry the speaker surround open. That piece is held in place by a 'snap connector' (again, I just am calling it that). Once off, study what those connectors look like because the rest of the trim pieces are held together by the same stuff.

2. There is 1 torx screw up by that little hook thingy on the drivers side that will need to come out.

3. Pry open the little rectangle piece on the trim section that is located above the back seat head rest. Might want to use a painters tool or something with a sharp edge for that.

4. Now you are ready to CAREFULLY remove the whole trim piece. I was able to kind of forcefully pull on this piece on a cold day without it breaking so you shouldn't have to worry too much---just be careful. Remember those snap connectors? That is what kind of resistance you are up against, so first pull the section closest to the back seat, then work your way towards the tailgate.

5. Assuming the trim piece is removed, you will have to study the area where the wiring harness is and look at where the bundle of wires travel. Do you see where the wires travel on that curved piece that moves with the tailgate? It is covered by a 'sleeve' or protective jacket that you might have to remove, along with some black electrical tape.

6. Now check that zip tie location---the location that my finger is pointing to in the above picture. Slide that sleeve away and you possibly will find your cut wires.

7. If that is the case, get some 'butt-splice' connectors, strip the wires appropriately, slide the connectors together, crimp them with approved tool, and test it.

I hope you can follow how I worded this, and if it's still kinda hazy, let me know. I'll take some pictures.

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 28 Jan 2010, 11:13

Post by **jblackburn** » 28 Jan 2010, 16:35

Welcome to the site!

Good troubleshooting there

I'm going to add/link this with what we have in the repair database already. The URL will likely change, but I'll PM you both the new link to it.

Thanks again! It's things like this that really help out other people with similar problems but no idea where to start looking

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 29 Jan 2010, 12:50

BINGO!

I am so thrilled right now! I followed your instructions to the mark (and am actually quite disappointed that I couldn't figure out the panel removing myself!), and there it was... a little black wire cut straight in half!

That one definitely will be spliced, but I'm also a little worried about some of the others. None are broken like the black wire, but the plastic insulation looks brittle and weak. Might do some preventative maintenance splicing on a few.

Thank you so much for the instructions! I had pretty much given up hope on my wiper working again. Figured it would be some super expensive electrical rewiring.

I LOVE this site!

elliowb · Post by **elliowb** » 17 Oct 2010, 20:53

Thanks for this thread. I too have found my rear wiper working only occasionally and finally not at all. After removing the interior lower panel on the door to access the wiper motor as well as the plastic surround that frames the window and fishing a new wire through, I discovered that I could more easily simply butt splice the broken wires. To get at them only requires removing the small black plastic elbow shaped cover that attaches to the metal hinge for the door (see the picture below).

I had to cut through the protective sheathing to get fish out the broken wires, but that can then be taped back up with electrical tape. I hope this helps to add to the already great info on this thread.

-- Bill

MatDesign84 · Post by **MatDesign84** » 05 Oct 2011, 13:42

SO I checked my wires as shown above and am still unable to figure out why the wiper doesnt work. I managed to get it to swipe once but never again. I found one wire that was cracked open on one side but the wires inside were fine so I taped it.

MatDesign84 · Post by **MatDesign84** » 08 Oct 2011, 18:53

Can anyone offer some advice?