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Car Forum / Fiat Cars / July 2006

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1999 Punto front wiper troubleshooting

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Emmett - 22 Jul 2006 16:35 GMT
Hi,

I have a 1999 5 door Punto. The front windscreen wiper is not working
at all. Everything else is working fine.

I've taken the wipers off just in case they had siezed up and still not
joy. One thing that I noticed is that the wiper motor is pretty hot to
the touch even when the engine is switched off.

I've swapped fuses in and out to see if that is the problem. It's not.

Can anyone better versed than me in these things tell me if the motor
is a gonner or if there is anything else I can try to get this thing
working? I'd rather, If I can, get it working rather than fork out
fourty pounds plus for a reconditioned one on eBay.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Emmett
ato_zee@hotmail.com - 22 Jul 2006 19:33 GMT
> I have a 1999 5 door Punto. The front windscreen wiper is not working
> at all. Everything else is working fine.
>
> I've taken the wipers off just in case they had siezed up and still not
> joy. One thing that I noticed is that the wiper motor is pretty hot to
> the touch even when the engine is switched off.

Shouldn't get hot with engine off, unless motor can't turn shaft
back to self parking position, so stays energised but not turning.

Most of the Fiat wiper motors are similar in principle.
They can be dismantled if you have the patience, and a
bit of electrical/mechanical ability. Or find one in a
breakers yard.
Commonest fault related to not turning, getting hot, smell of
hot insulation, is water ingress down the wiper drive shaft.
This is of plain steel running in a zinc diecast tube, add
water, instant corrosion and shaft binds up. The O-ring
should stop this, but eventually they wear.
You take the wiper off, remove the gearbox cover, then a few
circlips, after which you can remove the compound motion
arms, and with these out of the way get to grips (on
occasions mole grips) with the end of the wiper shaft.
There should be a wire circlip and O-ring at the blade
outboard end.
Work with penetrating oil until it frees up and can be
pulled out.
Clean shaft with fine wet/dry paper, re-lubricate
Silicone Grease seems ok.
Clean inside of diecast tube with kitchen roll, and
brake cleaner pushed through with a fine electrical
screwdriver.
Re-assemble (you remembered how the compound
linkage went together???) and renew 0-ring.
Those with digital cameras can take a picture to
guide them.

Rarely is it seized up motor, motor is usually on
two bolts, undo and just pull out the motor with
its worm drive shaft. Motor best lubricated without
removing the armature, otherwise the brushes come
out of their boxes, and it's a pain in the butt to get
everything back into place.

Finally motor dead as a Dodo, probably one of three
wiper fingers not contacting the three slip rings that
do the self-parking. Usually you can just remove the
plastic box, clean the tracks of black dried up grease
and oxidised gunge (aerosol brake cleaner, kitchen
roll, on a pair of surgical seizers works well).
Very "slightly" bend fingers for better contact and
relubricate tracks (I use petrolium jelly (Vasaline
in the UK). Don't overbend the fingers or you
will get rapid wear, and you can't buy new finger
assemblies.
But before you start make sure it's not a simple
electrical fault, and not the slip ring contacts.
 
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