Hi all,

I bought a 93 240 wagon a few months ago. The rear wiper has never worked for me but I never took the search any further than the fuse, which appears to be OK. Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago the regular wipers stopped working, as well. Except, they still work if turned on high! Regular speed and intermittent, I get nothing. If I have them on high and then switch to the lower speed, the wipers stop dead in their tracks.

I'm a novice when it comes to fixing cars (or anything) but I always like to give it a try. I'm reasoning that the behavior points to the switch itself. Does that sound correct or should I be starting somewhere else?

Thanks!

Lyle

sounds about right. but both the front and rear are doing them at the same time? that's weird.

Hi and thanks for your reply, GreekMason!

I probably didn't word my post very good. Rear wiper doesn't work ever, front only works at the highest setting.

FYI:....rear wiper issues may not be related to the "stalk" at all...could be issues with the rear wiring harness that passes through the tailgate hinge...

Good point. At this point I'm just thinking fix the switch to deal with the front and if the rear is not fixed, keep plugging. I've suspected there might be an issue in the back as the rear defrost works poorly, if at all.

If I'm looking at something to do with that harness, would that be a costly repair?

These words are not from an expert, nor someone well-versed in auto mechanics, but... Just beware--recently (on an '86 240DL) had a rear defogger fixed. After that, alt. light likes to come on at beginning of day (though the steering became smoother!!-go figure). Never did before. Also had a new front wiper motor put in. It squeals often when warming up car like it's being "taxed" or it's taxing something else. Meanwhile, the good news: my last harness issue was a breeze.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The wiper motor was replaced because wipers worked on everything BUT high.

nope, about 40 bux a side for OEM harnesses from iPd
(IMG:http://www.ipdusa.com/uploads/images_skus/2560.jpg)

http://www.ipdusa.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=0&P_ID=1320&strPageHistory=search&numSearchStartRecord=1

So, it's been a while but I finally replaced the wiper switch after the front wipers quit working altogether (it's been a couple of months since they last worked on the highest setting, which was the only setting they worked on!).

Unfortunately, no change. Rear wiper doesn't work and front wiper doesn't work on any setting.

Any suggestions on what to try next?

get a torch, pref >=6V. disconnect the wiper wires and reconnect it so that the lamp, the battery and the wiper motor are daisy-chained together electrically. swith lamp on observe lamp, then disconnect one wiper wire and connect the previously spare one.. Your are looking for the lamp glowing differently on the different windings, thus demonstrating that it is ok. I THINK there's a timer circuit somewhere for the intermittent wiper action, but I don't KNOW anything about it, there may even be a relay associated with it. the wiper motor prob has a contact board with at least 2 segments and a wiper on it the longer broken segment is live whilst ign on. the shorter one becomes live when the wiper is on With the wiper switch off, it should park with the short segment under the wiper. dead, but connected between wiper and arc. They provide the switching of the power from the initial start arc to the end of the return of the sweep. Bad connections here will prevent it working, and a poor connection will get hot, whilst no connection will remain cold. The heat mentioned tends to destruction. Bad connectors and switches are normal for older cars too, even failed wiring can occur. segments should not spark whilst operating.

Hey everyone, so I finally gave up and took the car to my mechanic. I'm embarrassed to say that the connector to the wiper motor had wiggled itself all the way off. He reconnected it and it works fine. Rear wiper still doesn't work but I'll replace the wiring harness one of these days as it looks freyed/severed.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice!

-lyle