Technical Rear wiper motor - generic equivalent?

[Doofer]

My rear wiper's given up. It gets to 12 o'clock then stops. If I give it a gentle wiggle then try again it completes the cycle back to its parked position. I've done this 3 times and it's consistent. I guess this means a new motor is needed.

It failed after the back window had got really dusty. I tried a wash/wipe, but of course the wiper starts immediately, so it does half a wipe without water. It made a rough wiping sound then stopped. I guess the answer is to only use it when it's raining in future.

Before I pull the thing apart to look for google-able part numbers, does anyone happen to know of a generic equivalent? I can get the Fiat part no from eLearn, but I'd hope it's used at least a number of models, hopefully a number of makes too.

Thanks muchly.

 

[s130]

Sounds like the classic "wiper park" mechanism playing up.

The wiper motor assembly consists of a motor, gearbox and cam driven microswitch that continues to supply 12V to the motor after the main power has been cut, to allow the motor to return to the park position.

Suggest you remove the whole assembly, carefully strip/open up and check/see what is going on.

If the cam mechanism is totally broken then with a soldering iron and some wire you should be able to restore function but the motor will not park but end up wherever it is when the power is cut.

 

[kadee]

I had this problem, if you have a practical capability it's a straight forward job to remove and dismantle the motor. Removing the inside boot cover, to gain access to the rear wiper motor, involves removing 4 screws and lifting the cover off it's clips. Then unplug and remove the motor after removing the wiper arm, nut and mounting screws. You will see that the output shaft of the motor is covered by a sleeve. There is a fine wire C clip to remove off the shaft before you can slide off the moulded cover. Do not loose the clip and gently slide off the moulding. This is where water enters and causes the problem. On the shaft you will see an O ring, gently remove this and then clean up the shaft using a wire brush, fine emery cloth or a rotary wire brush. You can check inside the gearbox but you will probably find this O.K. as I did mine. Having cleaned up the output shaft and inside the shaft cover pack grease inside the cover and over the sfaft. Clean the O ring and refit it to the shaft and re-assemble. Reconnect to the wire loom and test run the motor with the ignition on. Make sure the wiper blade is in good condition as it is my opinion the output power of the motor is not that great as mine stalled initially even having carried out this work. I refurbished the wiper blade using a standard blade from a car accessory shop as I expected a complete blade assembly from Fiat to be expensive, and because I could not find a complete alternative from any accessory shop to match the original. This completed the rear wiper now works without fault. Re-assemble everthing, job done, as they say. I did mine a few months ago but I am reasonably confident the information is accurate enough to carryout your own refurb of the assembly. Kadee.

 

[notorious]

If upon opening and inspection the electronic or mechanical parts are corroded like they were on mine a Mk2 Punto rear wiper motor is identical and straight swap EXCEPT for the shaft lenght so I repacked the cleaned and greased Croma shaft into the used junkyard's punto's rear wiper unit. Cost me 15 eur and some free time versus 120 eur and a two week wait for a new unit from Fiat's dealer.

 

[Doofer]

Thank you all for the very informative posts.

I took the motor out today. It was surprisingly easy to get to.

The nut that holds the wiper arm on was very rusty, to the point that the 10mm spanner only just went on. It's a standard M6 thread, and I do have a bag of stainless nyloc nuts and washers which will be going back in place of the rust-ball that was there.

Below that, the circlip and washer were also rusty. I cleaned them with fine wetordry and a wipe of oil.

After removing the wiper arm, I found that the motor works fine, but is noisy. Come to think of it, it has been getting noisier in the year we've had it. I tried a reassembly with the clean washer and circlip but it was still getting stuck.

I've taken the motor out and it's identical to the description by Kadee. The metal shaft is actually lumpy with rust. The actual innards look very clean though.

So my next job will be to take out the shaft and rub away the rust and reassemble, as described by Kadee.

A bit of an annoying job for a <4 year old car, but it looks like it might involve £0.00 expense so not so bad. For now I have put it back together without the motor and arm. For anyone else's reference, a mushroom-headed bolt with a nut and washer does a good job of plugging the hole through the boot lid.

I think I may invest in a new rubber bit though (the bit that's stuck to the boot lid).

 

[Doofer]

I fully stripped, cleaned and reassembled the motor today. Works a treat. I found that there was in fact a lot of rust inside the mechanism itself.

After taking the six(?) torx screws out and removing the back cover, the shaft, all metal cogs and the big green plastic cog all slide out as one. Then it can be partly disassembled further, although the metal cogs seem to be riveted together.

I just cleaned everything, using wetordry with WD-40 as a cleaner on the metal parts, and "washing" the plastic parts using PTFE spray with a washing up brush and a rag. Used no water at all. Some of the rust needed to be scraped off as a lump with a screwdriver before finishing with the wetordry. The worst rust was on the shaft at the point where it goes through the hole into the gearbox. After cleaning down to individual teeth, I regreased and reassembled.

I reckon it's a crap design. I'll probably repeat the whole procedure in a couple of years.

Now it goes bzzzz-bzzzz instead of raarraaraaarr-wwwwaaarrrraaaarrrrr.

 

[stuart543]

Thanks for all of the excellent advice on this thread, which enabled a mechanical novice like me to sort out my rear wiper. In my case, it started to go wrong by making several continuous (rather than intermitent) wipes and then would stop in an upright position. It then stoppped working altogether. I stripped it down exactly as described and the shaft was badly corroded, which is surprising given that the car spends most of its life in a garage or covered car park. I cleaned it up using a fine wire brush, fine sandpaper and WD40 and reattached it to check that it worked (which it did without the wiper on at this stage). I then took it off again and took the back off the gear mechanism and that was also fairly bad inside. However, given the limited daylight I decided just to give it a superficial clean without disassembling, so i got rid of the worst of it and re-greased everything. Having put it all back together, I tested it (with the hose on the rear screen to ensure lubrication) and it worked as it should. When the days get a bit longer I will repeat the exercise and this time strip down the gear assembly and clean thoroughly.

 

[bobbyblue]

A Mk2 Punto rear wiper motor is identical and straight swap EXCEPT for the shaft length so I repacked the cleaned and greased Croma shaft into the used junkyard's punto's rear wiper unit.

Thanks for the tip Notorious, do you know if the Punto motor is a 3 door or a 5 door part? I believe they are different.

 

[BrianMcL]

Mine failed ages ago and I've kind of got used to not seeing out the back when it's raining.

Had a look for a new one today and seekpart24.com have them for €76 or thereabouts. Don't know if that's a good price or how easy they are to get in the UK.

 

[bobbyblue]

Mine packed up some time back as well and I decided to live with it when Fiat quoted me £96 for one. With the damp salty roads though now I am getting a bit fed up of not seeing who is driving on my bumper. £76 is a good price but I think it goes up by about £7 for delivery. The Punto solution would be good because there are loads on Ebay for about £15.

 

[Doofer]

I wouldn't want to drive a Croma without one. I've never known any other car to suck spray up onto the back window as much as this one.

I've just got used to cleaning up the motor as an annual job. I can't imagine a new one would be any better - I think it's a fundamentally crap design.

 

[notorious]

I think they are the same.

 

[Doofer]

On a related note, I've just changed the wiper blade. I got a Wilko (Wilkinson's) 16" wiper blade for £2, and just slid the rubber blade itself out of the new one and into the one on the car. No tools needed, 5 minute job, perfect.

I also tried a Poundland one, but that was a different shape so wouldn't go in.

 

[cjlar]

This is a recurring issue on the forum. I suppose as the cars get fewer so will the problems.
My rear wiper motor packed up over the weekend; not a major problem except I have my NCT/MOT next Monday. Using the excellent and user friendly information on the forum I removed and refurbed the motor and gears. It was slow to start but soon remembered it's duties. All good now.

Knowledge is power!!

 

[Robert Driver]

Hi,


12 months ago my rear wiper failed in a similar manner to yours.


Removed it and stripped it down to find that the motor had suffered water ingression via a poor seal in the top of the actuator arm - which had now also seized solid.


Did some research and found that the motor form a Punto (can't recall the year-sorry) was identical - and cheap! BUT the actuator arm coming from the motor was a different length and so was of no use.


Anyway, I now have a good motor but no arm!


Have searched scrap yards and Ebay to no avail but I have found that one of the first items to be removed and sold from a scrapper is the rear wiper motor as I have always been too late when I have enquired after one.


If anyone knows where I could source just the actuator arm I would be a very happy man!


Regards,


Rob D.