I’ve had my 2003 LeSabre for a year and a half. I’ve put 5 wiper motors on it. Three remanufactured. Two new. The reman’s lasted 3 to 4 months. One new one quit after a week. I put a new one on this week. Two days later they were coming on by themselves. Now their shuddering on intermittent. Do I get bad motors or is there another reason?
In my 1978 Oldsmobile, the wiper switch completed the path to the ground. As long as the ignition switch was on, the motor was always receiving power from the positive side of the electrical system. There was a resistor in the circuit for the lower speed, so the circuit was completed through the resistor to ground. In the high speed position, the circuit was completed directly to ground.
I don’t know the setup for a 2003 Buick, but it could be the case that the switch is allowing a little power to flow to ground but not enough to allow the wipers to move. This would cause current to flow through the motor windings and might be enough to burn them out over time. This might be the reason you keep going through wiper motors.
I’m assuming the new wiper motors came with new pulse boards?
If so, then the problem is between the wiper motor switch and the pulse board.
Tester
what you can do is measure the voltage at the plug to the motor on high medium and slow see if the voltage changes as you switch the wiper control on the steering wheel.
I find it hard to believe that 5 motors actually failed. Six counting the original.
Problem in the switch or a binding problem with the wiper arms or pivots would be my guess.
Are you using those double blade wipers ?
They make the motor work twice as hard and can burn motors up quickly
August 18, 2020. I am now on the ninth wiper motor. I had the switch replaced in January. The mechanic told me it had been messing up the motors. I replaced the motor a few months later because it was damaged. A few months ago the wipers began pausing in the middle of the windshield. Sometimes there is a delay of a minute or two before they come on. I replaced the relay but they still do the same thing. Next I will try grounding the motor. If that doesn’t work, I’ll replace the motor. I’m not paying several hundred dollars to replace the switch again.
Check the power and grounding to the motor. There may be a circuit breaker used for the power to the wipers instead of a fuse. If that is the case and the current is higher than it should be that could be the cause of the delay, while the breaker resets. Now if there is a BCM involved with the wiper control then that is a suspect.
It has a fuse and an accessory relay that I replaced. But that wasn’t it. The body control module, I read, there are three and they are connected. They have to be programmed. The wiper motor usually makes several sweeps, no matter where it’s set, before it stops. I got it from ebay. I got one there before, it ran the same way. It may be the pulse board.
Have you proven that the circuit breaker isn’t getting tripped due to excessive current draw? After they trip it takes a little time before they reset and then the process repeats again.
I thought circuit breakers were for overheating. Even if it does have one I wouldn’t know where it is.
Forget about a circuit breaker.
There isn’t one in the wiper circuit.
Tester
I took it to a garage yesterday. It’s an internal problem with the motor. They also said I had a broken motor mount.