any shade tree mechancs on here

[quercus alba]

I have a 2005 Honda civic and my wipers stopped working. I ordered a new $100 motor but I could go pick it up, they started working again. The next time I tried to use them, bam nothing happened. two or three days later, they start back working. I dunno what is the matter. Any ideers before I buy the motor. Somebdy said something about a possible loose connection in the pulse module, not real sure what he was talking about, apparently it's a mini mother board for the wiper motor. any advice would be greatly depreciated

[Chicken Dinner]

Beats me. I just spent $400 having a new "motherboard" in my refrigerator today. Heck, I could have bought a new laptop for that.

[BarryBobPosthole]

If you have a multimeter, you could wait until they fail and then see if there voltage getting to the wiper motor. Should be fairly easy to find the power and ground leads. Well. It SHOULD be. Might not be. Ayway,that'd be my first test. And them stopping intermittently leads me away from a circuit board failure as I'dthink they'd fail hard if they failed. Be sure to check connectors. That's a common intermittent cause.
Or hit it with a 12 oz ball peen hammer.

BKB

[BaseballCoach (Rev A)]

Could be a moisture issue. Do they work/don't work when raining or dry? Any correlation there?

[BarryBobPosthole]

He probably doesn't turn them on too often when its dry.

I noticed that me being a Senior Noticer III.

BKB

[quercus alba]

I have noticed they work when it warms up later in the day but not early

[Bwana]

Sounds like a loose electrical connection.

[Thumper]

No clue where it might be on a Honda Civic, but the first thing I'd look at is the w/s wiper relay. It could be sticking and causing the intermittant problem. That would be the quickest, easiest and cheapest thing to try first. If you find out where it is and your wipers quit, try to give the relay a hard "tap" with a screwdriver handle or a heavy coin, etc. They're usually in the fuse block under the dash or many times in a seperate fuse block under the hood ... usually on top of one of the fender wells. Just an educated guess.

(your owner's manual should show where it's located)

[Sunshine]

From my son whose had a civic:

Loose wire some were or i think its the armature to coil may have a bad spot, it would cause that. Seriously the best idea is to replace motor.

[DeputyDog]

I'm surprised that Thump didn't tell you that you should have bought a Toyota and you wouldn't have had any problem at all. ;)

[Niner]

Have you checked the oil?

[Thumper]

I'm surprised that Thump didn't tell you that you should have bought a Toyota and you wouldn't have had any problem at all.

I would .... but I hate to kick a man while he's down. ;)

Actually, I hung up my wrenches long ago ... for all I know, they don't even use relays anymore ... could be all circuit board type stuff these days. With my "old school" knowledge, a relay or loose wire/poor or corroded connection is the first thing I'd check for an intermittent problem like that. (Barry's test would indicate a problem here IF you can catch it when it's not working) Worst case, a bad spot on the armature ... which would mean a motor replacement.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Damn, 12 posts and nobody has suggested SeaFoam! Gotta be a record.

BKB

[Thumper]

Damn, 12 posts and nobody has suggested SeaFoam! Gotta be a record. BKB

Ha ha! You dumb ol' Okie! I'm SURE that was the first thing he tried and it goes without mention. Right Q/A? Ummm ... Q/A? :D

[quercus alba]

only use seafoam for some of my, um more "exotic" interests. My usual cure all is 150 grains of Nosler Partition at about 2800 fps. My wife said I really needed to use a more conventional method this time.


All this time I thought that was conventional methodology

[Buckrub]

Googled it and found a lot of info.

http://repairpal.com/wipers-wont-park-due-to-windshield-wiper-motor-failure-531

[quercus alba]

Danke

[Thumper]

Not parking is a far cry from "occassionally inop". Different bird.