Wipers dead

[Roadpounder]

I have been frustrated by this for several years now. I have a 2001 Ram 1500 Laramie. I was on a trip home to Kansas from Wisconsin. The rain got heavier so I switched the wipers to high. They went through one cycle and parked in the home position. They haven't worked since. I checked all the fuses and connectors. All good. 12v direct to the motor runs the motor. I replaced the multi-function switch and they ran on low and intermittent, but when I switched to high I got the same failure. They ran through one cycle and parked, never to work again. It almost looks like something is taking out the multi-function switch.

PLEASE! If anyone out there has any insight on this, PLEASE let me know. I live on a fixed income and taking it to a dealer would be a last ditch act of desperation.

 

[dudeman2009]

The wiper motor itself has likely died. Its a common enough issue, just behind the wipers never shut off issue.

 

[Roadpounder]

After replacing the multi-function switch the motor ran on intermittent and low. On high it ran through one cycle and parked. Motor also runs with 12v straight hook up. Leads me to believe the motor is good.

 

[dudeman2009]

After replacing the multi-function switch the motor ran on intermittent and low. On high it ran through one cycle and parked. Motor also runs with 12v straight hook up. Leads me to believe the motor is good.

Which terminals did you put 12v on? The wiper motor has 4 connections. Ground, park switch sense, low speed, high speed. The low and intermittent interact with the CTM, multifunction switch, and wiper relay. The high speed is direct from the ignition switched power through the high speed select on the multifunction to the high speed (pin 1) pin on the wiper motor. There are two different motor windings in the wiper motor, low and high, if you just tested the low then it would appear to work on the 12v supply. Optionally, you should see battery voltage at pin 1 on the wiper motor connector with the switch in the high speed position.

 

[Roadpounder]

Thanks for your input. I'll check out your suggestions. The only question I have is, would bad high speed windings cause complete failure after one cycle? Since the one cycle failure they have not worked on any setting.

 

[dudeman2009]

Thanks for your input. I'll check out your suggestions. The only question I have is, would bad high speed windings cause complete failure after one cycle? Since the one cycle failure they have not worked on any setting.

Its possible if the winding has worn out over time and has a crack in it or is ground out against the other winding.

 

[Gr8bawana]

You could probably pick one up at the junk yard pretty cheap.