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KRex-Tampa's avatar
KRex-Tampa
Explorer
Jun 25, 2015

Wipers Just Stopped Working

I need some thoughts and ideas. I was driving my RV (Fleetwood Storm 2014) home during a summer rain. When I went to switch the wipers from low to high they just froze. I drove home the rest of the way without any wipers, but now I'm trying to figure out what is wrong.
1. I checked the fuse. It is good.
2. I attempted to move the arms of the wipers, but they are firmly in place.
3. I hooked up one of those testers with a light in them to the negative side of the battery and probed the wires going to the wiper motor. Nothing lit up so it looks like no power is getting to the motor. (I did test to make sure the light was working by touching the positive side of the battery).
4. I hooked the tester up to the positive side of the battery and touched the wiper motor and it lit up so the motor is ground.
5. Everything else on the arm in the cab works: turn signals, brights, washer fluid.

I did just get it back from the shop where they installed a light under the dash to indicate if the brakes on our towed vehicle are engaging or not. But I was thinking if they broke something the wipers would not have worked at all.

What are your thoughts on what else I can test or what do you think might be the problem? Is there any way I can test the motor?
Class A
  • BTPO1's avatar
    BTPO1
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    Thank you for the update. It's always great when someone tells others about the cure for there problem. JMO
  • KRex-Tampa's avatar
    KRex-Tampa
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    I ended up taking it to a place called RV Medic here locally and they found the problem, but only after they contacted Fleetwood. It seems Fleetwood redesigned their wiper system and there is a fuse near the battery (not shown in the Ford manual with all the other fuses) that blows on a pretty regular basis. They replaced the fuse and everything works again. Hopefully, this may save someone else $95 to fix a fuse. The RV Medic tech suggested I get a circuit breaker to replace the fuse so that when it blows again, it is a simple button push or the breaker will reset on it's own after it cools down.
  • BTPO1's avatar
    BTPO1
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    Have you checked the connection at the column. It might of vibrated loose. It really sounds like a loose wire somewhere. I really don't think that a one year old wiper motor would go bad. Possibly a loose ground in the circuit. If you had a schematic of the system you could follow it and find the problem. JMO
  • KRex-Tampa's avatar
    KRex-Tampa
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    I did not have time to try and hook up power to the motor, but definitely getting power through the fuse box with or without the wipers on. In my head, I would have thought the power would only flow when the wipers are on.

    As far as warranty, I doubt it would be covered as we bought the unit used this year and they said the 1 year warranty had expired. But definite worth a phone call to Fleetwood or Ford.
  • Dick_B's avatar
    Dick_B
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    Fuse good? Is there power downstream of the fuse? If so, and there is no power to the motor, indicates a broken/loose wire.

    Correction: I should have used the term `voltage' instead of `power' which implies current flow. There could be voltage downstream of the fuse but no current flow.
  • Tinstar's avatar
    Tinstar
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2015
    Wiper motors have a positive and negative wire. Hook a 12 volt hot wire to the positive wire and see if it works. If it works go back to the fuse or switch. If it doesn't it's probably time for a new wiper motor.

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