Windshield wiper motor trouble
I posted this in an Albemarle Boat Owners forum and so far have no
responses, so I'm going to try here as well. I have a 1995 Albemarle 320
Express Fisherman, but this question probably isn't very boat specific.
This weekend, I finally got to head to the coast. Had a wonderful time in
spite of the wind. Didn't get to fish though. Too rough offshore.
Anyway, I did run down the ICW for a few miles, just to run the boat. I took
a bit of spray in the chop and wind. When I turned on my wipers, one of them
didn't work. When I got back to the dock, I attempted to take it apart to
see what was wrong with it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to
get the wiper arm off of the wiper motor, so I wasn't actually able to
remove the motor for close inspection. I was able to loosen it up enough to
open it though. It looked fine inside, but there were 3 wires that I suspect
may be my problem.
There were 2 coming from the back of the wiper motor. One was orange and one
was purple. They both had "lugs" on them that attached to the spades on the
back of the wiper motor. The orange wire was in good shape, but the purple
wire was broken off at the lug. I cut the wire and got to a clean section of
it and crimped on a new lug. I'll solder it when I have an iron with me. I
cleaned the connectors and put them back on. There was a black wire that
came out of the window frame and it had a round lug on it...the kind that
you normally see attached to a bolt, but to my knowledge it wasn't attached
to anything. It's possible that it was and that it just came loose when I
took the motor loose, but I didn't see it. It was corroded and didn't appear
to have any marks on it suggesting that a bolt had been through it or that
the head of a bolt had been against it. I also didn't see any place that it
had been attached.
After I cleaned everything up, it still didn't work. I eventually tried
turning it on and touching the black wire to various places on the motor to
see if it was some kind or ground, but got no reaction at all.
I didn't have a volt meter with me, so I wasn't able to check to see if
there was power getting there, but I think it was.
So...first of all, any clue how to remove the wiper arm, so that I can
remove the motor and work on it. I can loosen the large nut on the outside
of the window frame that goes around the shaft that sticks through the
window, but the wiper arm APPEARS to be pressed onto the rod that goes
through the shaft and I can't figure out how to remove it. There is a hole
that is threaded in both wiper arms, but neither of them has a set screw in
them nor does it appear to ever have had one.
Second of all, anyone know which wires actually do what and where do they
need to be connected?
I'll keep the fingers crossed that someone has dealt with this before.
Thanks in advance!
_________________
Gary
"Connie Gail" 1995 Albemarle 320 Express Fisherman...Little River, SC
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