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Re: Replacing headlight wiper Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:54:30
In Reply to: Replacing headlight wiper, Esteban, Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:11:58 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
If the problem is a bad blade, Sam has good instructions.
If the wiper motor isn't working, that is a different matter. It's not too hard to pull the motor - disconnect the blade first!
The wiper motors are a weak design and they fail often. Because of that, as TML notes, a used one is a poor deal. A used one from a junk yard will probably not work, and a used one that does work will fail - you might get a lot of time out of it, you might not.
I've fixed motors in the past, with mixed results. It is a messy job, because the motor housing is filled with grease. The usual problem is the thermal breaker. You often see the wipers with the blade out of position - then after a few minutes of driving, it has moved. There is a chip of resistance material in the wiper motor assembly, and all the motor current flows through it. If the motor stalls, the current goes up, and the chip heats up. When the chip (looks like a little piece of plastic) heats up, the resistance increases, so it drops the current to the motor, protecting it. The chip slips in between to metal contacts - since everything is bathed in grease, the chip gets greasy, and the contact gets poor. If everything else is OK - no gears broken, no parts fallen out, the electrical motor is OK, then cleaning off the chip and the contacts sometimes helps. And sometimes it doesn't help, or it helps for a week. If you do take the motor apart, there are lots of bits to fall out (greasy bits, at that), and pay careful attention to where they go in.
I, too want to keep my cars in good condition, but the headlight wipers are like digging a hole in a pond - a lot of work, not much reward. When mine fail, I disconnect the electrical harness, and park the blades so they look right. The reason to disconnect the harness is because if you don't the motors do work intermittently, and you'll find the blade will seem to move by itself and be sitting there at a 37 degree angle, and then mysteriously move. So I leave everything there, I just make it look good.
But if you are going to replace them, it's not a hard job, but the parts are very expensive.
posted by 192.249.47...
, Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:54:30 <-- Viewing This Message
, Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:52:22
, Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:01:05, Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:22:30, Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:59:09
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