I bought the van second hand and the guy I bought it from complained that he spent over $800 dollars having the wipers fixed three or four times. They seemed to work just fine for me at first but as time went by I noticed the wipers would speed up and slow down on their own until finally they stopped all together. Well...since I grew up working on cars I investigated the issue myself. I took off the shroud, wipers and all the necessities to get to the wiper motor. I noticed right away that the department that worked on this vehicle, which was Elkins WV Kmart motors did not replace all the bolts to the shroud assembly that is just under the first one which is on top and even that had the plastic holders replaced 3 out of 4 of them and it was not snapped into place properly, just below the bottom of the windshield where there are four clips.
After removing this I found my first problem I was having. The fluid would only shoot out of one side and when pulling up the shroud I noticed the hose was off. Now since this short piece off hose was clear and all the rest off it was black I suppose Kmart had replaced this piece. And since it was just above the washer motor It was leaking fluid into the motor every time it was sprayed. And since the motor sets at a 45 degree angle the fluid could easily get into the electrical parts of the motor. I took the washer motor off and when I turned it upside down black water poorer out of it. I also noticed rust droplets on and around the motor area where it was bolted. Now I'm not positively sure if the disconnected hose was the problem to begin with or that water got down to it from the shroud clips not being snapped or what. I assume it was one or the other or perhaps both, I do not know but I do know the problem was caused from water getting into the motor. I will replace the motor and I plan on putting a plastic sandwich bag over the top to keep out water.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought the van second hand and the guy I bought it from complained that he spent over $800 dollars having the wipers fixed three or four times. They seemed to work just fine for me at first but as time went by I noticed the wipers would speed up and slow down on their own until finally they stopped all together. Well...since I grew up working on cars I investigated the issue myself. I took off the shroud, wipers and all the necessities to get to the wiper motor. I noticed right away that the department that worked on this vehicle, which was Elkins WV Kmart motors did not replace all the bolts to the shroud assembly that is just under the first one which is on top and even that had the plastic holders replaced 3 out of 4 of them and it was not snapped into place properly, just below the bottom of the windshield where there are four clips.
After removing this I found my first problem I was having. The fluid would only shoot out of one side and when pulling up the shroud I noticed the hose was off. Now since this short piece off hose was clear and all the rest off it was black I suppose Kmart had replaced this piece. And since it was just above the washer motor It was leaking fluid into the motor every time it was sprayed. And since the motor sets at a 45 degree angle the fluid could easily get into the electrical parts of the motor. I took the washer motor off and when I turned it upside down black water poorer out of it. I also noticed rust droplets on and around the motor area where it was bolted. Now I'm not positively sure if the disconnected hose was the problem to begin with or that water got down to it from the shroud clips not being snapped or what. I assume it was one or the other or perhaps both, I do not know but I do know the problem was caused from water getting into the motor. I will replace the motor and I plan on putting a plastic sandwich bag over the top to keep out water.
- Richard S., Elkins, WV, US