VT Commodore Windshield Wipers problem

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VT Commodore Windshield Wipers problem

Re: May 2000 Model VT Series 2 Commodore Wagon:
- The rear wiper hasn't worked for a while, wasn't too concerned about it and was going to get that addressed on next scheduled service.
- Yesterday however the front wipers unexpectedly stopped working, both the water jet and wiper movement function. They actually stopped halfway across the windscreen whilst it was parked, they wouldn't move via the control so I got out and manually pushed them back to thier lower stop position (which seemed easy to do.)

I have checked the fuse/relay box under the hood, identified the wipers relay, unplugged & examined it - no sign of any burning or anything broken, re-inserted it fine, no improvement.

Had a bit of a look around the wiring under the steering column inside the car, as well as around the upper rear area of the engine bay and nothing appears burnt or unplugged.

Seems I should book it into an Auto Electrician to get both rear & front wipers fixed.
For the front ones, would anyone suggest me trying a new replacement relay unit for the wipers - no idea how expensive they are but surely couldn't be much.

Any other suggestions?
Cheers.
 
urrghh Commodores around 2000 and 2001 are just such crap when it comes to this stuff. We had a 2001 commodore we bought fairly cheaply, when it cost me about $3000-$4000 in repairs in 6 months I decided it would be better to own a brand new car and pay $6000 a year for that. In fact that commodore has delayed me putting in my new kitchen by 6 months.

Anyway, try replacing the fuse with a new one altogether. It may be that the motor just burned out rather than the wiring. Was it making any funny noises before hand?

Do you have a multimeter? If you do, or know someone who does either get them to check or you check whether there is power getting to the motor (you'll have to find the terminal on the wiper motor where the wiring comes in.

If there is power getting to the motor and it isn't inordinately weak or over powered, then the issue is going to most likely be the motor. If this turns out to be true, cheapest option is to go to the wreckers get a second hand one and replace it yourself, otherwise you will look at a nice little repair bill from the auto elect.

Also the black box in the engine bay, aren't they relays rather than fuses? I thought in the VT the fuses were inside under the steering column and the relays were in the engine bay.

In fact. Google agrees
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_fuse_box_located_in_commodore_VT


There is a chance that the ECU has stuffed up. I know this happened in the VX sometimes. The ECU would go haywire and stop things like the central locking from working and wipers may be another result of this.

If you flick on the wipers and listen near the motor (both front and rear) can you hear the motor trying to work (this is if you don't have a multimeter) if so, they may have jammed, try some trusty old WD40 just for the hell of it.

It's going to be one of those problems. If you can identify the motor as working or not and power is getting to it, then that should tell you what needs to be done. I have never replaced the motor for these, but can't imagine it being the worlds hardest job. The wiring is a simple harness too
 
Seems the rear wiper drive motor had failed, then recently for some reason caused an electrical short in the front wipers system which stopped it from working.

They disconnected the rear wiper motor and the front wipers and water squirts work fine again.

A new replacement rear wiper motor is expensive, will consider a 2nd-hand one somehow in future perhaps.
 
Just go to the wreckers, surely you can pick a cheap one up on there, or ebay?
 

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