wiper issue

[brackie1]

Have not used my wipers in a while. Was working on my dash when finished turned on the ignition. Began hearing this intermittent ticking sound coming from under the dash. After examination I found it had to do with my wipers. I noticed that I had accidentally turned them on but nothing was happening. When I turned the wipers off the ticking stopped. The question is, if the motor is locked up would I hear it trying to swipe which would be the ticking sound. Or could the relay be bad, if so would it make a swiping sound or would it just not do anything?

[RRoller123]

Sounds like the linkage is disconnected or broken or something and possibly you are hearing the motor arm turning. You need to remove the front cowl, just in front of the windshield, and take a look inside and see what is going on in there.

[paintdudeluke]

unless youre hearing a bad relay on the delay. What exactly are you hearing? Turn them on with the car off and listen for the wiper motor. Listen for the delay below the glovebox.

[brackie1]

With the engine off I hear it. I sounds like the wiper is moving back and forth but it iisn't. The sound does come from the globe box area but the motor is located in that area as well as the relay so can't tell which it is. When I first heard it the sound was coming thru the radio. That's when I started searching for the problem because I had had the dash off building a new two piece dash from figur d maple and reconfiguring the upper console. So I wondered if i had done something to the wiring, but that was all good.

[brackie1]

Well took cowling off to look at wiper mechanism. Everything looked good. So looked at relays. As it turns out it was the relay thumping. I could actually feel it thumping. Looks like some labor in getting it back thru the fire wall.

[spider2081]

"Well took cowling off to look at wiper mechanism. Everything looked good. So looked at relays. As it turns out it was the relay thumping. I could actually feel it thumping. Looks like some labor in getting it back thru the fire wall."

Is the clicking sound present when the steering column switch is in the "constant run" position?
Does the clicking happen with the panel speed switch in both "slow" and "fast" positions
Did you disconnect the linkage to see if everything moves freely and smoothly?

The delay relay only affects the wiper operation in the delay position of the wiper switch on the steering column. As already mentioned the delay operation is dependent on the wiper motors internal park switch operating properly.

Common wiper problems are: Binding or frozen linkage. Particularly the shafts the wiper blade arms attach to.
Defective park switch
Cracked or striped drive gear in the motor housing.

[brackie1]

I did not disconnect the arms. The sound is present in the constant run position. It is also present no matter what speed the rehostat is in. I will disconnect the arms and check the free movement. Is there a way to test the motor. Can I put it on the bench and hook a battery to it to see if it is frozen?

[spider2081]

The wiper motor can be easily tested for the fast and slow operation disconnected from the car. Ground is the black wire and the metal case of the motor so you can use either. The light blue wire is the slow speed and the gray wire is the fast speed.
I like to take the screws off the gear cover and remove the covers. This allows inspection the gears and park switch contacts.