97TJ wipers dead - need advice

Just a thought -- the wipers on my `89 Cherokee started acting flukey and one rainy night stalled every few miles. I assumed that the motor was breathing its last, but didn't smell any "magic smoke" leaking out of it. I pulled it out of the Chreokee and "bench tested" it out of the car. That's when I noticed that the motor and the mounting plate were not firmly attached to each other. The bolts had backed out and were binding on the eccentric every time it came around. Tightened the bolts up with a little instant rust to keep them in place, replaced the bushings while it was out and they run like new now.

When I first got my 88 MJ - identical to the Cherokee from the rear of the cab forward - the wipers worked perfectly until it rained. Once it started to rain, they would work for a few swipes then die blowing the circuit breaker. In one particularly heavy downpour I got tired of fighting it and swapped in a steel paper clip to replace the cb on the theory that if something was shorted I could then find it by the smoke (yeah, I was pissed!). Started out again and within 10 swipes the wipers quit again - burned the freakin paper clip in two! Got home after the rain let up and pulled the wiper motor. I didn't want to replace it - those French motors are EXPENSIVE! - so I pulled it apart, cleaned the wiper rings on the motor, packed the bearings, cleaned the armatur, replaced the grease in the gearbox with white Lithium grease, etc. and re-installed. Turned it on and it soon popped the breaker one last time and hasn't given me a lick of trouble since. I have no idea what the short could have been and why it only happened in a pouring rain but it magically cured itself after flipping me the bird that one last time nearly three years ago.

Old clunkers, ya gotta love em for the quirks.