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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    48

    Default Rear wiper stopped working.

    Hi all,

    This is about an '04 V70, but it will pretty much be the same I guess...

    Rear wiper would do strange things like only 2/3rds of a left-to-right-swipe (or vice versa). And then 3/5th, and 7/8th, and ..... etc. Thought is was meant to do his (never really stopped, only paused!), as it would stop at different spots every time, but really couldn't see the sense in this.

    Now it has stopped completely. Fuse is fine, and the motor itself gives off a ticking noise (like a relay switching), but nothing happens. I think this might be to get the thing to return to its "zero" position, which it is not atm.

    Checked the wiring in the hinge, but this is flawless. Even hate myself for taking he tape off, only to find perfect wires that I now cannot tape up as well as they were taped up before...

    What can I measure before having to take the motor apart?
    Spray and fuel gauge work fine (see other threads were this rules out an electronic problem)

    Sounds somewhat like these threads (to show that I really tried to do the research...):
    Never got answered what the solution was.

    Click, but no answer what it was.

    Replaced under warranty (last post fits my problem I think).
    Need AWD info, so that's why I invade your forum with my V70 D5 AWD...

    Hope you don't mind...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    164

    Default

    The rear wiper on my '04 XC70 stopped in mid-swipe last week. For several weeks before that, it had been working noticeably slower. I also heard the intermittent clicking sound that you describe coming from the back of the car, even with the wiper switch in the off position. I live in the northeast where the roads are heavily salted, and for now I'm assuming that corrosion has worked its way into the wiper mechanism and caused the problem. The same thing happened on our Honda Odyssey, and I ended up replacing the motor, which had burned out. I think that the clicking sound is the wiper relay as the system senses that the wiper has not returned to the normal off position, and power is applied to try to do that. I pulled the wiper fuse to prevent any further damage to the motor, and I will investigate further once the weather is more accomodating (i.e., warmer!). I've already checked online for a used motor and was quoted $125 from one source. Before buying a motor, though, I want to take the wiper arm off, clean up any corrosion, and see if the motor is still functional or can be made to work.

    Good luck, and please let us know how your situation develops.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    48

    Default

    Preliminary findings, and now I'm stuck...

    Removed the motor/disassembled it. (have pics (not sure they're in focus, the macro function on my Polaroid is lousy), and will show how to measure the motor without disassembling it...)

    Only to find that the problem seems to be in the gears, or better, probably the axle from gear to wiper. I stuck on the wiper to have some leverage and got things going again, but it was hard. For this it is VERY handy that the motor it NOT attached anymore!

    I can't get the toothed gears off (there's two metal half ones and a plastic white round one that's driven of off the 'wormwheel' (?, spiral-drive-like-thingy, don't know the english word) of the motor) and I don't know how to disassemble it further. Best idea so far is from my father in law who said, drill a hole, throw IMAL in there (think it's pretty much the same as WD40), flush it with the stuff an hour later, fill it up with grease and seal the holes off.

    But obviously, disassembling it, if at all possible, would probably be better!

    I did get it to work, but the intermittent problem (stopping half way through a swipe) was back in no time. So I also think that is linked to the gears/axle having way too much friction.

    There seems to be a 3-point measuring system what tell the position of the white toothed-wheel, but I cannot get at the underside of the wheel, so haven't figured this one out yet. The PCB that's in there does have three contacts for this system, next to the two contacts for driving the motor.

    Will try to continue this if and when I have the time.

    PS: aligning the wiper in the end was very hard, as it seems you can make a 15 degree mistake depending on whether you arrest the wiper arm or not while tightening the nut. Haven't found why, but it seems quite strange.
    Need AWD info, so that's why I invade your forum with my V70 D5 AWD...

    Hope you don't mind...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nashville, TN
    Posts
    777

    Default

    I didn't disassemble the gears so I'm not sure how they come apart, but here's what a properly working rear wiper gearbox should look like inside (ignore the broken spray nozzle connector...that's what I was fixing when I took the picture).

    From what I can remember, the final metal half-gear was held onto the wiper shaft with a snap o-ring. I would guess the other half-gear is attached to the nylon wheel gear with a snap fastener, but I just don't know.

    2001 Volvo V70XC
    Venitian Red/Beige
    Cold Weather/Touring/Premium packages
    08/01 Build Date

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Ottawa, CANADA
    Posts
    10

    Default rear wiper solution

    I'm having the same problem with my rear wiper (hear click sound, works intermittently and when it works the wiper arm moves across the window very s-l-o-w-l-y. I've searched through the posts and seen similar problems but no one with a posted solution.

    Has anyone managed to find the problem? Is it the wiper motor? Arm? Internal mechanisms?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Montreal, Canada
    Posts
    694

    Default

    I had this same problem on my infiniti and turned out to be a bad motor and not the gear... remove the motor and you will see one of the connectors are burned.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    48

    Default

    I did remove the motor, and it was fine (not saying this will never be the culprit, but it isn't (yet...) in my case).

    The pic shown by MoeB is very like my motor+assembly, but mine has a plastic housing and clamps to hold the motor, whereas here it seems to be a (torx?) screw.

    In my wiper, there's electrical contacts visible below/in the white large wheel, whereas there seems to be a contact or so below the last half-gear in MoeB's picture (the plastic thing below the metal gear that has the broken spray nozzle in it, this plastic thing it NOT present in my gear-box (iirc)).

    It's good to see the metal gears are obviously linked for life, so I won't try to get those apart...

    As for the clicking noise: there is a device on the printed circuitboard that is inline with the powersupply. It took me some days of pondering to work out that this is a current limiting sensor. A simple mechanical one, but it works like a charm. This prevents the fuse/the motor from burning.

    It is probably a bimetal switch that heats up because of the current that is going through it. If the current is normal, nothing happens. But if the current is too high, the switch will open due to overheating, and the wiper will stop in mid-air (or mid-window ) until the switch cools off and reconnects the powersupply to the wiper. Then the process starts all over again.
    This current is too high because there is too much friction in the assembly somewhere. At least I am certain that that's the case in my motor/gear/axle assembly.

    So WALL-E: take out the fuse (not sure if the current limiting switch will not fail at some point.....) and watch this thread. Also feel free to post the solution on how to disassemble the gears, and more importantly: the axle the spray-nozzle runs through, in case you happen to beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Need AWD info, so that's why I invade your forum with my V70 D5 AWD...

    Hope you don't mind...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    164

    Default

    Well, my rear wiper is working once again. I tried to take the wiper arm off, but there's too much corrosion adhering the arm to the shaft. My messing around with it unsiezed whatever was causing it to bind. Once I put the fuse back in and applied power, the wiper arm returned to its off position, and it seems to move at normal speed for now.

    I soaked the shaft in liquid wrench and then WD40, and even tried applying a gear puller to the arm, but it wouldn't budge. For now, I'll just leave well enough alone. Here's a photo of what the corrosion looks like:

    Attachment 1827

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    South Lake Tahoe, CA
    Posts
    639

    Default

    If you decide to attack it again there is some stuff called PB blaster that is absolutely amazing at loosening stuck parts. You might want to give it a try.
    Wait Griswold
    2003 XC70
    South Lake Tahoe, CA

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    63

    Default

    This might have been a topic already discussed but I've noticed a lot recently that some wipers rest on the driver's side and some rest on the passenger side. I think it is suppose to rest on the passenger side since it "hides" better.

    Did volvo install a batch of these with reversed linkage or something?

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