Wiper motors - unlucky or a bigger issue?

[Ethan1996]

My wiper motor was submerged in water last year when I bought the car, a few months ago it stopped working totally and when opened up you could see it was full of gunge and a mess. So, I went to the breakers and found the cleanest motor off the newest clio mk3 they had and replaced mine, now two months later this motors stopping working!

The motor stops by slowly not working on different settings, acting erratic and stopping and starting at different points on the windscreen which obviously is quite dangerous and very annoying!

What I wanna know is, do you think it's pure coincidence that one's died only a couple of months after the last one? I obviously don't know the past of the one from the breakers, so that could have been submerged for half it's life for all I know! What I'm worrying about is could it be a bigger problem?

 

[MicKPM]

The link mech is a common failing on the MkIII and is known for siezing.

 

[Ethan1996]

Ah, could it be the link mechanism then? I've just read a massive post on renault forums about it where there's hundreds of users complaining there should be a wiper motor recall! The joys of owning a Renault sometimes...

 

[MicKPM]

It's not really due to the motors or the linkage *really*. It's more lack of attention during maintenance as the drains on the scuttle block up with silt which allows water to spill over the top and over the wiper mech. It wasn't designed to resist this which may be an over sight but deffo not recall worthy. Whoever is servicing it should be doing more than just screwing on an oil filter anyway imo and we always check/clear water traps and drains on ours (amongst other things).

 

[Ethan1996]

It's not really due to the motors or the linkage *really*. It's more lack of attention during maintenance as the drains on the scuttle block up with silt which allows water to spill over the top and over the wiper mech. It wasn't designed to resist this which may be an over sight but deffo not recall worthy. Whoever is servicing it should be doing more than just screwing on an oil filter anyway imo and we always check/clear water traps and drains on ours (amongst other things).

So, theoretically, if I get a brand new one and keep an eye on the drains etc it should never break/almost never apart from usual wear and tear? This is the second im on and I've always cleaned the drains every month or so just in case and it's never been flooded. As i say though, it was a breakers yard motor so I don't know it's history, could it have just broken from coincidence when it went into my car? Seems strange it was fine on the car, then fine on mine for weeks now it breaks

 

[MicKPM]

You can confirm this fault by removing the motor from the mech, reconnect the motor and see if it functions correctly.

Normally it's just the mech that dies

 

[Ethan1996]

You can confirm this fault by removing the motor from the mech, reconnect the motor and see if it functions correctly.

Normally it's just the mech that dies

The mech? Which bits that? The bit with all the gears etc in, or the linkage that connects it to the motor?

 

[MicKPM]

The linkage as you call it = wiper mechanism

 

[Ethan1996]

The linkage as you call it = wiper mechanism

Ah the bit that connects the motor to the wiper arms? Alright ill take a look at that tommorow morning/tonight and see if I can clean it up and grease it, hopefully that'll fix the issue! Thanks for that