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06 June 2019 #1
- Join Date
- 11 May 2019
- Location
- UK
- Posts
- 5
- Saab(s)
- 95 9000 900 99
Wipers stopped working - with a noise from the motor
My usually reliable 2007 9-5 has a problem with the front windscreen wipers. Leaving home in the rain the other day, when I turned the wipers on nothing happened, so I had to make other arrangements. Later on, in the dry, with the engine running, bonnet up, driver’s window down, I tried operating the wiper control.
Move it up to the intermittent position, no wiper activity but a peculiar noise from the wiper motor, like it’s being fed from AC at about 400 cycles/sec. The frequency of the noise goes up and down a bit if you wiggle the control lever.
Move lever to the off position, the strange noise continues .
Move to slow continuous position, the wipers moved silently and smoothly to and fro, all very ok.
Move to fast position, no wiper activity but a fast clicking from relay RF17 under the bonnet, the one that controls the wipers.
I then repeated these tests and movement of the wipers in the slow continuous position no longer happened – it made the same electrical type buzzing as it does in the intermittent position. The motor now makes the noise in all positions, including when the wipers are turned off, except the fast position, when it makes the relay click.
I took the wiper blades off and looked at the bare motor. Everything looks tight and shipshape. I tried disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it, in case something needed a reset. No fuses are blown.
I am puzzled. Does it simply need a new wiper motor? Or could it be that the DICE is not telling it what to do properly?
All help appreciated.
JonLast edited by JonD; 06 June 2019 at 13:55. Reason: formatting
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07 June 2019 #2
- Join Date
- 19 Mar 2019
- Location
- EspaƱa
- Posts
- 34
- Saab(s)
- 9-5 2.3t sw vector 185cv 2003
It is possible that your "engine" has come to an end. You can check WIS.
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15 June 2019 #3
- Join Date
- 10 Apr 2017
- Location
- Denham, England
- Posts
- 541
- Saab(s)
- 2011 2.0 9-5 Aero
There are several possibilities, the wiper motor is one of them but a jammed/ceased mechanism is also a possibility. Either way you probably need to remove the wiper arms and extract the mechanism from the car, which isn going to be much fun. Once it is out you can see if the motor runs and the mechanism moves by simply applying 12 Volts to the appropriate pins.
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19 June 2019 #4
- Join Date
- 11 May 2019
- Location
- UK
- Posts
- 5
- Saab(s)
- 95 9000 900 99
Update on my mystery.
Put the SAAB WIS on my laptop and used it to direct my tests. It drove me to check wiring but the wires I tested all conducted OK. This work took a long time.
So I bought a wiper motor on eBay. No improvement.
Bought a wiper relay on eBay, same outcome.
I took it to an auto electrical specialist (and offered them use of the laptop and the WIS, but as far as I know they didn't use it). They told be it needed a new wiper stalk switch.
Bought a wiper stalk switch on eBay, same outcome.
I then tested all the ground points shown in the WIS as relevant to the wipers, slacked and tightened them. No change.
I then unclipped the under-bonnet fuse and relay panel on the LHS under the hood (next to the battery) and waggled it and its wires around a lot. I then unclipped the fuse panel in the RHS end of the dashboard and waggled and its wires a lot.
Then I tested the wipers and they worked utterly normally.
So I can only deduce it was a bad connection somewhere.
So I have a fully working car, but I never found where the problem actually was.......
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19 June 2019 #5
- Join Date
- 10 Apr 2017
- Location
- Denham, England
- Posts
- 541
- Saab(s)
- 2011 2.0 9-5 Aero
Not wishing to belittle your efforts but a wiper stalk failure is likely to mean the wipers work on one speed and not the other. However, the switch is easier to change than the whole mechanism. I am pleased to hear that you have fixed it though.
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