It's been raining a lot here lately and this has coincided with a slow down
of my wipers until last night they would not work at all... in a downpour.
Does anyone know if this indicates that I need a new wiper motor or wiper linkage or if there is some other fix?
I used some lubrication on the shafts when it started slowing down and this helped but only temporarily.... but as I said, things are now at a standstill or painfully jerky and slow.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/93-94-95-96-97-1993-1994-1995-1996-1997-Volvo-850-Windshield-Wiper-Motor-Trans-/141620867424?hash=item20f942f160&vxp=mtr

used wiper motor and linkage 40.00 ebay. couldn't be easier. or 240.00 for a new motor on FCP. I'd go cheap on this one.

Hey thanks guys... have been able to find one at a local recycler pretty cheap. Is there an easy way to test
whether it's working or not by giving it 12 volts. If so which wires are power/ground... if there are more than two? I will have 2 assemblies to choose from but junker guy indicates that he can't test because
there are multiple wires to connector. Really don't want to re-assemble without KNOWING that it's ok before. Anyone know how to test it first?... you guys have been great, thanks for all your helpful hints and suggestions... it is appreciated.
And "dg" ... thanks for the link ... but I am in Canada and those guys won't ship here... but thanks anyway.

You're in Canada Eh? :-)

Don't you have a wiring diagram for your car?
It's 205 pages and on pg 110 is the late model 850 wipers
There's another page for early model wipers
the following page 111 gives a beautiful pictoral of the wiper and the connectors

You simply ground the Black wire (To battery -)
and test park by applying +12 to the yellow #3
Test high and low speed at pins #1 and 2 Green and Brown

You should look at the drawings to see which one is yours, any differences
will be there.

Bill

Thanks Bill... will try that and update when finished replacement.

OK guys... here's how it went.

Got a replacement wiper motor and transmission from the recycler ... most want about 80.00 around here but got a good one for $35.00 from a guy a little further away that i've used before... it was worth the drive. When I arrived the parts guy went to get it but returned with the motor only and not the transmission, so he was sent back to get that also. This may have been a blessing in disguise, but only you experts can tell. Before taking mine out I made sure that the wipers were in the a fully parked position.... when the motor is dying it may not return all the way so in my case I had to turn power on and jerk my wiper control on and off until a cycle was completed and the wipers were "parked"
I followed DGs instructions and as he states it's pretty straight forward but was especially careful when
reefing the transmission out of the rubber guide (grommet) so as not to disturb the position of the transmission. Once it was all out I put it on a rag beside the car transmission up. Now I don't know if this was important or not because maybe the motors always return to the park position but just to be sure, before I hooked the motor up to the transmission (3 bolts and a nut to the drive shaft) I plugged the motor in first and cycled it a couple times to make sure that it was in a parked position also. Then I attached the transmission and held it over top of the one I removed and adjusted the linkages and center plate until it was positioned exactly the same as the old unit. Installation was easily done in reverse while being careful not to change the position of the linkage... a little lubrication helped to get the tip of the transmission back into the rubber grommet. Replaced the wiper shafts, gave it a spray and it all synched & worked perfectly in all speeds. The only thing I would add is that you should purchase a new cabin filter before doing this... you've got everything off and it's easy to replace it. I discovered mine was a year old and gunked up and now I will have to open things up again to replace it... pain... oh well. Took me about 1.5 hour to do this including cleanup .. but then I am pretty methodical.
Thanks contributors for all your help.

Nice write up.

When you put +12 to the "park" wire, it cycles home and stops.

You didn't say exactly what failed with the old wiper assembly?

Was it a bad motor or a seized bushing? How hard to replace the bushing?
How would you troubleshoot next time?

Bill

Bill, Sorry I missed this.
I am not savvy enough to know... all I do know is that the cleaning procedure that I read about was
only supported by others as being a temporary fix. So for the cost of the assembly which i thought was cheap... I really did not investigate further. It has been recycled by now.
Thanks.

Jaker, I don't know what part of the country you live in, but it is time to get a new wiper motor. Follow DG's write up and note where the wiper arms are located on the motor assembly (they will be in the 'parked' position and the motor may not).

Best place to get a 'new' motor: pick & pull, junk yard, Ebay.

RainX is a great product until the roads get salty.
--
My back feels better when I sit in a Volvo seat

in the meantime, use alot of rain X on the windshield.....

I can't believe that nobody out there has had windshield wiper (motor, transmission?) failure.
Can anyone relate their experience? I do not have a loose ground... this has been a gradual decline
in performance.
I don't want to just replace the motor in case it is some other issue that I can check, replace or lubricate.
ANY suggestions... instructions would be welcomed. Thanks.

mine failed exactly like yours is. slowly just stops working as motor brushes fail. Its a relatively easy fix. you take the windshield arms off, the plastic shield off below the windshield, a few bolts on the wiper transmission, unplug the motor, unbolt the motor after marking the current location of the transmission linkages and reverse to re-install. I had to screw around an entire day because I didn't pay attention to where the linkage was originally, so the wiper arms were out of sink......no fun! I got the motor used off ebay.

You might try battery Volts direct to the wiper motor connector to check out the motor. That's a sure way of telling if the motor is toast.
I looked online and the motors are about $115 and Dorman
makes a wiper motor bushing for about $10 (maybe yours is frozen up?)
When you test your motor and it's dead or sluggish then try some PB or Mystery oil on the bushing if the motor works OK then, get a new bushing. or go to the junk yard for another motor.

Bill

Ok... thanks for the suggestions Bill...
I will open up and test for current... seems like a good place to start.

It's likely a gummed up bushing or a motor winding. Don't try to clean and lube the old Oilite bushing if you can get a new one, they are notorious for being impossible to restore, they work only long enough for you to button up everything and put away your tools. Find out how much wampum they want for the wiper motor
at the local junk emporium, or is it a recycled parts depot? They are often
cheaper than the Volvo dealer and joints like Autozone and FCP.

The ground 31/51 is used for the wiper motor and the intermittent wiper relay.
You might tug on the smaller of the two ground wires at the battery and at the terminal to the frame in front of the battery while the wipers are running.
a poor ground connection might do that. There would be other symptoms though.

or you more likely may have lost a winding in the wiper motor or the thermal breaker is faulty and it's time for a trip to the junk yard.

Bill

after looking for the 31/51 ground in the fuse box I came to the conclusion that it is sealed in the plug and the box and has never been disturbed. Why would this ground ever get corroded?