How do wiper motors tend to fail?

[adam13]

Hi,
On the way to work the other day my wipers simply stopped working after a while! Later on I found a fuse had blown, so I replaced it but that blew immediately too; I think there must be a short somewhere but am no expert. Ringing round garages to get it looked at, someone said "oh, the motor will have gone." (and wanted to tell me to buy a new motor and linkage for £140) There was no decline in performance before the failure; does this sound likely?
Oh, the back wiper's never worked and the front washers are suspect so I can't use those for any kind of testing.
Ta!

 

[Owen]

Hello,

wiper motors tend to get a bit sluggish before they fail completely. sometimes as the brushes wear down they can clog the commutator with carbon and short the motor. also, the windings can overheat and develop shorted turns. Wiper motors can also fill with water and sieze up. Its unlikely this has happened though. Disconnect the motor under the windscreen and replace the fuse and see what happens. Other culprits include the stalk switches and the wiper timer box..

Owen.

 

[Steve]

AFAIK, it's the same motor as the Alfa 155/156, which is a well-known problem. I've had to sort motors on both in the past 18 months.

With the 156, I took the old motor apart, cleaned it all up with carb. cleaner, emery paper and a pointy screwdriver, put it all back together again, and it's been working fine for a good few months now.