Rear wiper not working, any pointers?

[Guest dynofiend]

Hi folks, the rear wiper on my 97 WRX wag isnt working. Fuses in the box in the drivers footwell have all been visually checked three times and all look intact. I can hear a relay in the back of the car click when I operate the switch on the column so im assuming the stalk is working ok. The rear washer also works just fine.

Ive checked the thread with the pic of the fusebox but it doesnt show a fuse for the rear wiper on there. Im guessing that perhaps one of the fuses is actually burnt out somewhere, but without knowing which one to pull and replace it might take me forever! Perhaps theres a secondary fuse box im missing?

Anyone offer me any advice about where to start looking?

[Guest boostcut]

how about check for power and a good earth at the motor bro..

[Guest boostin]

And use a test lamp with an incandescent bulb so it draws a bit of current. Sometimes the LED test lamps show the circuit is ok when its got a bad connection somewhere. Been caught with that one in the past.

[Guest dynofiend]

 boostcut said:

how about check for power and a good earth at the motor bro..

Will try that for starters, where does the motor normally earth to?

[Guest boostin]

 dynofiend']

[quote name='boostcut said:

how about check for power and a good earth at the motor bro..

/quote]

Will try that for starters, where does the motor normally earth to?

The tailgate I thought.

[Guest dynofiend]

Well, rather confusingly there are four wires going to the motor. Looks like one has constant power, one goes live when the wiper is turned on, and one of the other two is an earth. The fourth one im not sure about. It would appear then that the wiring is intact and working, but without any way of knowing what should be doing what, I dont know!

Does anyone have access to a wiring diagram of the rear wiper circuit so I can verify what should be doing what?

[Guest boostin]

It could be your switch too....

[Guest dynofiend]

Nah its not the switch, I can hear the relay work when the switch is turned on so I know the switch and relay are good. I found a wiring diagram and have studied it, some of it makes sense, and it looks like my testing revealed everything wiring wise is working fine. I would imagine then that the wiper motor itself has failed.

[Guest boostcut]

maybe they are a variable speed wiper? try giving the motor a tap with a small hammer or a screwdriver as sometimes you can free up the brushes in th motor as it may have water or sumthing in it.

[Guest dynofiend]

Ive tried giving the wiper arm a helping hand but it didnt work. I looked at the wiring system for both the variable speed, and non variable speed wiper systems, and both use the four wire connectors. Ill try a new motor first, its possible that it was left running by accident whilst on the motorway and burnt it out. The car used to have a very very loud exhaust.