Windshield Washer Motor

If like on my 96 Brighton, like I presume, those «cylinders» ARE the motors.There are two, one for the front and one for the back. Are they both disfunctionnal or only one of them? The back pump gets starved sooner than the front one cause it's higher on the reservoir. A simple voltage test could also be made at the pump's connections.

Neither of the motors are operational. Is it common for both to go out at the same time? I rarely used the rear washer. Do you know if it difficult to install the motors yourself?

Thanks for answering, Emmy

I forgot to ask how do I check the voltage and with what?

If neither are operational, I would suspect an electrical problem like a fuse or the switch. Have you checked the fuse? Both motors quitting at the same time is a little too much coincidence and even more so since you dont use the rear one very often. I would begin by checking for voltage at one of the motors connection, then if no current (like I presume you will find) I would check the fuse and if the fuse is good presume that it's the switch. Never replaced the motors, but if it came to that, i would think it's an easy job. Gilles (Montreal)

No offense but maybe you should leave that to a professionnal or buy a Haynes manual for your car and start from there. All the basics are explained in the first chapters. Cheers! Gilles

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 16:46:29 GMT, "ez153" scribbled:

Not really. I'm guessing a fuse has blown. Did you check the in-cabin fuse box as well as the engine fuse box? It could also be a faulty wire or something.

-- Phillip Weston Taumarunui, New Zealand

Remove the obvious spamblock to reply via e-mail.

Both of the motors out of operation tends to point toward a common cause as the first place to look. They get their power from two separate switches, but there could be a common fuse that feeds both switches. I'd be surprised, however, if windshield washer motors merited their own unique fuse, so if it were a blown fuse I'd expect that you would have noticed some other things not working as well.

Another potential common cause might be the ground. It's quite likely that the grounds of the two motors would be connected together and then go to ground via a common wire. Look for one wire leaving the motor assembly and heading toward the chassis. Check for corrosion at the connectors.

A different possibility might be sludge buildup in the pumps. Have you been using water or alcohol-based fluid? If the former, it could have been a breeding ground for sludge. I don't get the impression from your posting that you would consider yourself epecially handy with electrical things, but one thing you could try would be to disconnect the wires leading to the motors and put voltage directly across each of them to see what they do.

If someone actuates the washer can you hear the pumps running? Have you had the car waxed recently? Could be clogs of wax in the spray nozzles.

Carl

ez153 wrote:

With a voltmeter, a Volt-Ohm-Meter (VOM) or something like that. Radio Shack sells these for (probably) under $10 up to ??? A cheap one will tell you just as much, in this case, as the most expensive. Give it a try, or get someone who is just a bit into electrical stuff to help you. (Hint: 12 Volts can NOT give you any kind of dangerous shock; this is NOT hazardous to do.)

I had the same problem too...no water coming out but hear the pumps running. Turns out there was gunk in both the nozzle section. A good wipe fixed it.

ST

"Gilles Gour" No offense but maybe you should leave that to a professionnal or buy a

Except there is no Haynes manual for the Forester. Considering the quality of the other Haynes I have seen, perhaps that's a good thing.

Emmy better hope it isn't the pump that has gone bad. US$120.00 - yikes!

Is that your symbol for humor, or does it merely warn of a dangerous lack of knowledge? Do you really not know that putting 50 (or 500) batteries in parallel would not hurt anyone?

If you put 50 car batteries in parallel you have 12 volts and enough amperage to kill quite a few people. :)))

No--you have enough energy to kill quite a few people, if (im)properly used, but that in itself won't give you any more amps. Ohm's Law still rules! I still equals E/R, and your 50 batteries wired in parallel aren't going to change the resistance of the people in question!

Haynes is not perfect but was enough to guide me successfuly thru lots of maintenance and repairs on my 96 Legacy. I was specialy referring to the first chapters where the use of basic automotive tools (like a multimeter) are explained. I dont think it's the pumps but one can get one much cheaper than 120$ at intenet retailers like 1stSubaruparts.

I'm afraid I can't help you with that tonight but will try to look tomorrow if I can. Very unlikely that it is something impeding the flow of liquid thru the tubes. Again it would be a very unlikely coincidence that this would happen front and rear at the same time. Your definitely looking for something electrical. I'll see if I can find which fuse it is tomorrow. Good luck meanwhile. Gilles

Maybe not, but some years ago both of the headlights went out on my Honda Prelude. Of course I thought it was the relay but swapping relays around did no good. In fact, both headlights had burned out at the same time.