Wipers on the '03... time to dig in deeper. Pics added

[crash93ssei]

Got ultra frustrated today with the '03. Stephanie was out with the boys and a friend of hers at the mall about an hour away and the wipers flat out quit working. We had been having intermittent problems with the wipers for the last year or so, but it was always was a problem with them shutting off or turning on by themselves, never a problem of them flat out not working.

In the past, when we had problems, I could disconnect the plug leading to the wiper motor with the engine running and wipers on and that would fix the problem for a few months. We tried that this time as well as checked the fuses and still nothing. Not even a little movement. I know the switch is still good because the headlights still come on, so that hopefully eliminates that as a potential problem.

Tomorrow I will bust out my multimeter and go to town testing and see what I come up with.

Here is my question - What actually controls the wiper motor as far as speed / delay? Is it a complete wiper motor / control module as one piece, or is it controlled by a separate module?

I called around and seems like a new unit is about $100.

[01bonneSC]

Is there a relay in the wiper circuit?

[harofreak00]

I have the whole assembly for $30 + shipping if you need it.

[crash93ssei]

I have the whole assembly for $30 + shipping if you need it.

I am sure I will take you up on that offer, just need to confirm that it is the problem. Is it very hard to get to?

[harofreak00]

Hood and cowl had to come off.. and then some wiggling to get it out.

[crash93ssei]

Doesn't sound too bad then. I plan on trying to tear into it tomorrow. Is the control module part of the wiper motor?

[harofreak00]

Yes.

I have one from a 00 and 02. They are different part numbers.

00 = 25703629
02 = 25722393

Confirm that your's is the same as the 02 and we should be good to go.

[crash93ssei]

Got the motor assembly out. Not near the nightmare I thought it would be. I was able to leave the hood on. I will need to buy new clips for the cowl, but other then that, it is actually very simple to get to. It took me a second of looking around to realize that the whole wiper arm linkage assembly comes out with the motor, but even that was actually super easy to remove.

The bad news is that neither of the numbers match the ones you posted

I have 25755039


I do have power at several of the wires going to the motor, so I am sure that the motor or something in the control box is the issue. I am going to remove the motor assembly from the linkage right now and see what I find. Hopefully it is something I can fix myself...

[crash93ssei]

Pretty much found the smoking gun. Water gets inside the box and causes massive amounts of corrosion on the circuit board. Mine is basically unrepairable, and a new one is $100. Notice all the water in the following pics.

Three torx screws hold the cover on the wiper motor / gearbox assembly.


With the cover off, you can see the circuit board and the wheel for the wiper arm. The wheel looks to be used to tell the motor where the wiper arm is to shut it off as it has about a 3/8" break in the metal on the outer ring that probably breaks a circuit to tell the wiper motor to shut off when the switch is placed in the off position. ( just a guess )


Wiper arm clock wheel


Wiper arm clock wheel contactor


Connector clips for motor power


Connector pins for motor power


The circuit board is removed with one hold down clip in the cover, and that is where I found the smoking gun...

This is where the plug feeds power into the circuit board


This is the bottom of the area that hold the power feed pins for the motor.


After some cleanup



We will be picking up a new motor assembly on Thursday, and I will do a full writeup for the removal and re-assembly of the entire wiper assembly as well as how to make sure your case is completely waterproof so that this doesn't happen again.

I would strongly recommend that anyone with a 2000+ Bonneville and maybe other cars with this same wiper setup remove their wiper assembly and check for moisture / water inside the box, then clean it up and put it back together making sure to completely seal the assembly so no water can get in. I would also say that anyone that has had problems already with their wipers should more then likely just start saving up the money for a new assembly. If it is caught early enough, it can be prevented, but more then likely, if you have already had problems with yours, it is too late.

[EXLINE]

Got a couple inches of rain last night and my wipers suddenly wouldnt turn off. Either High or Low speed, no intermittent. I pulled the fuse to get them to shut off and today i put it back in and the wipers are fine. I would put money on it, it is probably this. I just bought this car 2 weeks ago so i have no idea if it has done this in the past.


PS. Sorry to bring up an old thread. I did a search and found this and another than linked to this so i just thought i might as well just post in this.

[00Beast]

Seal the module up with some RTV and I bet it stops doing that.

[crash93ssei]

Seal the module up with some RTV and I bet it stops doing that.

If this really is the issue then there is already water in there and I would bet that it is too late. Water has already been inside and this is not likely the first time. They may work for a while but they will probably fail all together right when you need them.

I think you should take it out and inspect the board inside for corrosion, if there is any at all replace the unit. If there is none then seal it up with RTV and you should be ok.

[EXLINE]

I wonder if Haro has any laying around? I'm gonna check it out tomorrow. You say its under the cowl connected to the wiper arm?

[00Beast]

I'm sure haro has a dozen lying around.

[harofreak00]

Yes I have many. PM me.

[imidazol97]

I probably will need to replace my motor on a 2003.

Does separating the motor from the linkage setup require special tools? The FSM says there's a splitter plier set and a separate plier to compress the connector that the short flat piece from the motor uses to connect to the linkage.

Has anyone done a step-by-step how to do it for replacing the motor?

[crash93ssei]

No special tools needed at all.

Both my local auto zone and oreillys have them for about $100 if you haven't checked for prices yet.

Remove plastic caps on wiper arm hubs.
Remove 13 mm nuts that hold the wiper arms to the hubs.
You will have to wiggle the wiper arms around to break them loose from the hubs.
Carefully slide the washer hoses off of the fittings in the cowl cover.
Remove the plastic cowl cover by removing the plastic clips that hold it in place. The washer fluid line is fastened to the cover, but there is enough slack in it to slide out if the way enough to get the wiper motor out.
on the drivers side there is a plate over the wiper assembly that must be removed, three 10 mm bolts and two 10 mm nuts.
The entire wiper assembly and motor comes out in one piece, held in by three 10 mm bolts. One by the passenger arm hub and the other two on the drivers side. It may be a little tricky getting the assembly out, I always pop one side out first, twist the assembly the pull the other side out.
Disconnect the plug for the motor.
Once the assembly is out there is a nut on the hub 14 mm or 9/16 that needs to come off.
Three torx screws hold the motor to the wiper arm assembly, they are not easy to remove though and may break. Mine broke and I replaced them with 10 mm grade 8 bolts.

When you put it back together do not put the nut back on the wiper motor hub until you install the assembly (make sure to plug it in) then the car on and cycle the wipers once and shut them off to make sure they are in the home position. Once you do that, then you can put the arm on the hub and tighten it down, the arm will move clockwise and when it is in the home position should be towards the passenger side of the car.

Hope this helps 8)

[imidazol97]

No special tools needed at all.
Once the assembly is out there is a nut on the hub 14 mm or 9/16 that needs to come off.
Three torx screws hold the motor to the wiper arm assembly, they are not easy to remove though and may break. Mine broke and I replaced them with 10 mm grade 8 bolts.
Hope this helps 8)

Thank you very much. That's exactly the type of outline I needed to know I can do the job myself. The crank arm on the motor does not need to be disconnected from the linkage: it comes off at the motor nut!

[imidazol97]

Remove the plastic cowl cover by removing the plastic clips that hold it in place.

How are those clips supposed to come out?

I lifted the outside on one and the inner pin fell out and went down into the cowling.

[00Beast]

Push the center pin down, it will collapse the "legs" and allow it to be lifted out.