windshield wipers quit!

[benton]

on my way home the other day my wipers quit working and when i turn the switch i can hear clicking in the dash but the wipers wont move at all could it be the thing clicking in the dash or the wiper motor that went bad? also will a wiper motor out of a 89 f250 fit my truck and still have the delay setting work properly thanks

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

when that happened to me it was the motor. I got another six months out of it by drilling a hole in the back of the motor where the rear bearing is for the armature and filling that with wd-40. It helped for a while but eventually would only work for a few seconds every five minutes or so. I found out then that the motor is on a self resetting circuit breaker.
The clicking is the sound of the wiper relay doing what it is supposed to do.
As for the 89 motor working, if it looks the same it will work. There are two types of motors used one with delayed wipers and one without. They look very different.

 

[subway]

try shaking the turn signal switch, if you hear the relay clicking on the passenger side it could also be the switch itself. the wires inside move everytime you turn the turnsignals on. after a while the wires work harden and can break off at the connector and cause them to go dead or act intermittantly when the switch is moved.

 

[TWeatherford]

My vote is motor. Its also easy to test. You can buy a new motor, unplug the old one, and plug the new one in just holding it in your hand without turning one bolt. If the new one works, you're done. If not, then you get to have fun figuring out what wire or switch is bad. Return the new motor if it isn't the problem.

 

[benton]

thanks for the input i still havent replaced it haha thank god for rain-x

 

[TWeatherford]

I drove mine (fairly infrequently) for a year without a working wiper motor.

 

[subway]

did shaking the turnsignal switch while the wipers are on do anything?