2004 V70 Wipers working sometimes, now not at all

jasonaedwards · Post by **jasonaedwards** » 29 May 2014, 13:11

Hello,

About a month ago, both front wipers stopped working. After turning the wipers on, there was sometimes be a delay of 10-60 seconds, after which the wipers would engage and start to operate normally. If I turned them off, and then back on again, the same issue would result. This became progressively worse, until yesterday... the wipers will no longer turn on at all, regardless of setting (fast, slow or intermittent).

I checked the fuse, and it's fine.

Any thoughts? I attempted to take the wiper arms off, but they are on very tight. Haynes says to loosen the nuts, tap with a hammer, and rock back and forth, and it should come free. No go... it feels like I might need to employ a puller. Is that common?

Thanks in advance!

Jason

Post by **oragex** » 29 May 2014, 17:25

Yes, it takes a small puller to remove the arm. I'd guess the intermittent working to be some electronic module, or perhaps the switch near the steering wheel. I think it would be easier to check first, as removing the wiper mechanism and motor could require more work.

Post by **abscate** » 29 May 2014, 22:02

Some one may have modified your car with the VW wiper relay, which is programmable

Post by **jimmy57** » 30 May 2014, 07:50

Are all other steering column stalk switch and steering wheel mounted switches functioning properly when the wipers fail to work?

There was a Steering Wheel Module (SWM) software upgrade released by Volvo years back and the wiper function was one of the things addressed by it. This fixed a problem where all the SWM functions would stop and then later work again. If the other functions are not impacted then this is not it.

If the wipers get turned on when blades are frozen to glass or otherwise snow trapped and are left on when the wipers will not move (easy to do if the wipers were left on when ignition was switched off from the last drive the day before) it can cause motor failure. The brushes in motor get overheated and will stick in their holders. Motor replacement is the repair.

The system use two relays and that could be the fault also. FST1 and FST3 in the fuse and relay box in the engine compartment are the relays. FST1 is power supply and FST3 is the high or low speed switching relay. If you turn on wipers and they fail to come on then tap those relays one at a time to see if wipers start when it is tapped.

jasonaedwards · Post by **jasonaedwards** » 02 Jun 2014, 07:16

Thanks everyone. I have ordered a puller to take the wipers off...

To answer your question about the other functions on the stalk, they are fine. Only the wipers are affected.

What is the easiest way to check the switch in the steering column? Pulling off the wiper arms is probably going to be easier than pulling the steering column apart.

I will try the two fuses tonight. Is there an easy way to tell if the relays are shot?

Post by **abscate** » 02 Jun 2014, 08:52

Have you turned your wipers on, and then looked carefully at the linkage to see if the blades are just slipping on the hubs? They usually are just friction fit so that they break loose in case of being obstructed. You might just need to remove and reseat, then tighten nuts.

Pop off the plastic covers, turn wipers on, and see if the hubs are moving without wipers

jasonaedwards · Post by **jasonaedwards** » 02 Jun 2014, 11:17

Tried tapping the relays, no luck. Also took a look at the spindles to see if they were in fact turning, but they are not. Beginning to think it's an issue with the motor or stripped assembly, but I don't hear any movement at all when the wipers are on and the engine is off (or on). Once I have the puller I will take a closer look. Anyway to narrow it down to the motor and not a connection or switch issue?

Post by **abscate** » 02 Jun 2014, 13:48

Wiring diagram and checking appropriate pins for 12 VDC when switch is turned on.

jasonaedwards · Post by **jasonaedwards** » 21 Jun 2014, 07:35

Ok... purchased a puller, got one wiper off. Tried second one and it snapped the puller. So bought a new one. Today, I was able to get the second wiper off, along with the cover and trim so I could access the wiper motor assembly

Did some testing with a circuit tester.

Apologies for the poor terminology below. I am somewhat new to mechanics but really want to figure this out on my own without having to take it into the garage

I have power on fuse 13 and 16, as well as FST3. When I saw power, I removed the fuse or relay, and used the tester, and I was able to get a light on one of the terminals of each fuse/relay. So I assume that means the fuse/relay is receiving power?

I pulled the harness off of the motor so I could test the wires as well. Only one of the wires seems to do anything. That is Blue/White wire. When I use the tester, and the wiper control is set to intermittent, I can hear a click, and when I pull the tester away, another click. The sound is definitely coming from the relays. The light does not appear on the tester when I do this.... I assume it is just completing the circuit.

However, when I use the tester on the other three wires... blue and yellow (and black - ground... wouldn't expect anything there) I do not get a light on the tester at all, no matter which setting I have on the wiper control in the car (intermittent, fast or slow). And no audible clicks of any kind.

I have some questions that I would really appreciate your help with:

1. Am I using the tester correctly? If so, should I not be seeing a light come on when testing the wires leading to the wiper motor with the ignition on and the wipers turned to low or high?
2. How can I test if FST1 or FST3 are the culprits? I tapped on them, but saw no change... the wipers would not come on.
3. I pulled the motor out as well as it was easy enough to get at. How "Stiff" should the assembly be? Should the motor rotate rather easily, or is it normally really stiff... as in I have to apply considerable effort to get it to move at all?
4. According to the wiring diagram, there is a front wiper low/high relay and a front wiper intermittent relay. Are these FST1 and FST3? And which one is which?

I attached a picture of the connector. The only lead that did anything was the tester was the third one from the top. That is the one that made FST3 click, but it did not light up. The rest, when I used the tester, neither lit up the tester or produced any change.

Thank you,

Jason

jasonaedwards · Post by **jasonaedwards** » 21 Jun 2014, 07:49

From the research I have done, it appears that the relays are as follows:

FST1: Intermittent relay
FST3: Low/High relay

The blue wire (top position in the photo in my last post) appears to be the low circuit. The Yellow is the high. Testing either of those two wires does not produce a light on the tester.

Thanks

Jason