Wiper problem - sometimes low speed NG

[tomlct]

I did some searching, but did not find this one - 2003 LW200, sometimes, when you click the wiper switch to either a single pulse (down) or up to intermittent, or up again to low speed, nothing - if you click up to high speed, then the wipers work, and then all positions of the switch work normally. I would say it is maybe 1 time out of 3 this happens. I have replaced the switch and next, I replaced the relay. Any ideas what to check next would be appreciated. I was guessing the BCM, if this function passes through it. This car has had the BCM replaced 1 time, when there were problems with the fuel gauge, but that has been OK since the BCM replacement (maybe 2 years ago).

[born again]

Just a hunch - I think you may have a resistor card with an intermittent open circuit. There is a lead solder wire type overtemperature fuse on the resistor card. if this is cracked where it is soldered to the card it could cause exactly the problem you have. This fuse is bypassed with the wiper motor running at high speed.

If you are handy and a contortionist, you can pull the card, inspect, resolder, and put it back in. Mine has the fuse wire completely replaced with a piece of solder wire.

[tomlct]

Thanks for the feedback. I did some lookups now for resistor card, and I found some, about a resistor card that is part of the HVAC system, in the passenger side of the front footwell, but I could not find references to the wiper resistor card. Where is that one?

[born again]

Originally Posted by tomlct

I did some searching, but did not find this one - 2003 LW200, sometimes, when you click the wiper switch to either a single pulse (down) or up to intermittent, or up again to low speed, nothing - if you click up to high speed, then the wipers work, and then all positions of the switch work normally. I would say it is maybe 1 time out of 3 this happens. I have replaced the switch and next, I replaced the relay. Any ideas what to check next would be appreciated. I was guessing the BCM, if this function passes through it. This car has had the BCM replaced 1 time, when there were problems with the fuel gauge, but that has been OK since the BCM replacement (maybe 2 years ago).

I apologize profusely for my lame response on this one. Of course you are right the resistor card is for the cabin fan. I think it must be the altitude. I am at a mine in Peru at 14,000 ft. if the wiper switch is new then you are likely looking at either a bad wiper motor or something in the wiring. This is the first response I have ever made from my Blackberry. What a world we live in.

[tomlct]

Anywhere near Macchu Picchu, up there at 14,00 feet in Peru?
Anyway, I found a remanunfactured wiper motor at Advance Auto Parts (I wonder how much longer these guys will stock L-Series parts?). I have just finished installing it. It was a pretty straightforward task, not so difficult. The electrical connection was in a different from the original, but the connector on the car fit it OK. Right now, it works in all positions of the switch, so maybe (for a change) I will get lucky with this exercise of throwing parts at the problem until it goes away.
Wish me luck!

[tomlct]

Update - the replacement motor works well - it works in all positions, so that seems to fix the original problem - BUT -
I noticed 2 things, I wonder if anyone recognizes this, & maybe what I need to do next.

1. When the wipers are parked, and then turned on, they go down slightly, and then start their normal travel. I was thinking, since the crank arm could be mounted to the motor at the wrong position, maybe this could be the cause. It is very minor, and I had marked the location on the arm & old motor with nail polish, and I thought I mounted the new one at the same position, but maybe I am slightly "off" with this one.

2. Yesterday, the wipers were on intermittent and low speed, at different times in a drive, amd most sweeps were normal, but a few of them, the driver's side blade went over more, hitting the window molding - or to restate it, there were some sweeps where the driver's side traveled more than it did on most of the sweeps. I wonder if this is slack in the "transmission" assembly - the swing arms that attach the motor and the wiper arms together. Maybe it was like this all along, but I was not noticing, now I am looking for anything, since the motor was replaced. Also, if I have to buy that assembly, what is the correct name for it?

[tomlct]

Well, the driver side wiper arm is stripped, the frame looks OK - I guess it makes sense, the metal in the arm is softer. It's probably something I did when I had to remove / replace the arm, to replace the motor.
Now, I hope the local Saturn dealer (still open) has it, otherwise order online.