Re: e30 wiper problems

[Louie Rendek <ljr7@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael wrote:

>Subject: E30 Wipers

<snip>
>properly) my wipers stop working!!!!! 
>It happened as i came home from a BMW club meeting in the pouring rain..
>My wipers are now stuck in the middle of the windsceen and there is a
>noise on all the time now, like the wiper motor is still running, even
>when the switch is off!
>Any ideas??
>Michael St.Clair
>1984 318i (2 litre)


Michael,

Don't waste any time.  The motor will burn out if you don't stop it.  I
suggest pulling the fuse.  This happened on my 1987 325e.  Unfortunately I
wasn't aware of this digest when that happened.  Here is what happened to me.

The wipers wouldn't stop going until they got stuck also on the windshield.
 At that point I pulled to fuse to stop the motor from turning.  Went to
the dealer and they told me that the motor was bad....huh?  the motor is
still going I told them.  They told me the motor was bad.  I went and got a
reconditioned motor, put it in (very tough to do) and it did the same thing
and ended up burning out before I could get to the fuse.  That motor was
over $100 I think.  Turned out that when I went back to the dealer and told
them about replacing the motor, another guy there said, "Oh, you just have
a bad relay."  The cost of the relay was around $25 if I remember correctly
(didn't get car club discount and should've gotten it elsewhere for
cheaper).  The relay on my car was under the steering column.  Very easy to
access.  In fact the guy from the dealer just came out to my car and put it
in himself.  10 minutes and it was in and the problem was gone.  Luckily I
was able to convince the shop I bought the reconditioned motor off of that
the motor was under warranty and failed and they gave me a new one for
nothing.

Hope this helps you with your situation.  It sounds alot like the problem I
had.  Now that I have the Bentley manual, I think I saw something in there
about troubleshooting the faulty relay.  You should check in there.  Good
luck.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

Louie Rendek
Case Western Reserve Univ.
1987 325e 130k miles
BMWCCA #144328
email:  ljr7@domain.elided

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