Rear Wiper...poss Bad Earth?

[Bulletguy]

The rear wiper on my 02 Focus hatchback has never worked properly....just intermittent short bursts of a sweep.

I've been told the fault is possibly a bad earth (apparently commonplace on Focuses) and the earth runs through the rear hatch hinges. The suggestion made was to knock out the pin, clean it then smear in copperslip. Having looked at the pins they seem pretty much permanent! So what are the chances of getting them fitted back in?

Anyone had similar problems with the rear wiper and if so what did you do?

[artscot79]

The rear wiper on my 02 Focus hatchback has never worked properly....just intermittent short bursts of a sweep.

I've been told the fault is possibly a bad earth (apparently commonplace on Focuses) and the earth runs through the rear hatch hinges. The suggestion made was to knock out the pin, clean it then smear in copperslip. Having looked at the pins they seem pretty much permanent! So what are the chances of getting them fitted back in?

Anyone had similar problems with the rear wiper and if so what did you do?

sonds more like the wiper motor if its sweeping the rear screen fully once every few seconds then its fine if its half sweeping or sticking its likely the motor and never seen one yet with an earth fault the wires do run through but niot through the hinge

[mintalkin]

also check the relay for thr rear wipe.

[Bulletguy]

Will try a live feed direct to check out the motor though I tend to think the problem lies with a dodgy earth more than anything.

[Ian of preston]

sonds more like the wiper motor if its sweeping the rear screen fully once every few seconds then its fine if its half sweeping or sticking its likely the motor and never seen one yet with an earth fault the wires do run through but niot through the hinge

[Ian of preston]

I have had 2 go on me,the 1st time I got one from the scrap yard, but this time I took off, really easy to do if you have some nouse, opened up the workings via 5 screws, took the arm out cleaned all the rust off with wire brush, greased back up replaced in housing and now runs like a dream.

Apparently it is a manufacturers fault whereby water runs down the spindle into the housing and can not get out and so corrodes the mechanical arm.

Take the cover off the hatch, there are 4 plastic screws that just twist out using a screw driver, when you have these out the cover is held on with popper type clips, get your finger under the cover and force off, they are quite strong! When you have the cover off you will see the motor, take the wiper arm off 1st using a 13mm spanner for the nut, again the arm will be difficult to come off the tapered splines but once you get some movement it will come easily.

When you have the whole wiper off you can then take the motor off which is held by 3 bolts 10mm socket I think,

the earth is connected to one of these, when all off the whole unit will pull off with the shaft out of the window.

You can then undo the 7 or 9 screws which hold the body together and split the lid, you will then see the workings which you can clean in white spirit, the toggle arm and spindle will come out of the body which will make cleaning easier and you can get all the rust off the arm, when all clean and you can move the toggle hinge easy, pack with grease replace back into the housing and bolt lid back up, refit as above in reverse.

Hope this is not too much gobbledegook but thats how you do it, happy stripping!!

[Bulletguy]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I can now rule the wiper motor out. I've had it off, dismantled and all is perfectly clean and sound inside. Bench ran it using a live feed and earth and it runs perfectly doing a complete sweep totally uninterrupted.

Only thing left now is the stalk but that feels as though its making good contact (i.e. not sloppy or weak).

Spoke to a local auto electrician and he ruled out supected bad earth straight away. He's asked me to fit the motor back on and take the car over to him so he can try and locate exactly where the problem is. I've used him before and he's got a very good reputation locally and his charges are very reasonable and fair.