So I got the '89 wagon on the road today after a two year stretch of sitting in the driveway only to find that the front wipers don't work. Fuse number two is intact and the horn works so that's all I can rule out at this point.

Previously the front wipers had worked fine on hi, lo and interval but the single swipe function has never worked in this car.

I am unfamiliar with this system. Does everything run through the interval relay? I did see on the wiring diagram the yellow wire that goes directly from fuse two to the the wiper motor. There was voltage at the motor end of this wire but I only saw something like 11.86v when I checked. Could be the connecter is cruddy.

I was going to check the ground for the interval relay itself but it looks like I may need to remove the center console just to be able to see it or the relay for that matter.

I would like to be methodical here but I have never had a wiper problem in four 240's that I have owned. And the wiring diagram is confusing. I am not sure how to proceed.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

I took the switch off of the steering wheel column and cleaned up the contacts. I sprayed some electrical part cleaner through the inside of the body to get to the contacts after replacing a wiper motor. Works now without the erratic speeds on the off setting! Worth a try.

So I cleaned up the motor casing and the armature. I put the magnets back in. They had left a footprint but I made sure they wouldn't interfere with the two long screws before I applied the adhesive.

I lubed the shaft and worm gear, made sure the parking cam was in the correct position, put it all back together and installed the assembly without connecting the linkage.

After connecting the battery ground I turned the ignition key to position II and heard the wiper motor run. I had left the switch on.

Son-of-a-bitch! I actually fixed it! I just figured it probably still wouldn't work. But it did.

There may still be a problem, though. Both wiper speeds work but when I tried the intermittent nothing happened. So I waited and in a few moments it started running, but continuously. Nothing intermittent about it.

So I guess there must be a problem with the relay. I don't think I have a spare. I will try the one from the 242. I believe they are the same throughout production, aren't they?


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

I was just outside looking into the matter and I realized when the wiper switch is off, the intermittent function starts working. It still runs continuously when the switch is in the intermittent position.

If I push the switch down a little, as if to single swipe, the motor stops.

BTW, the single swipe has never worked since I've had the car.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

After hooking up the wiper linkage it doesn't go to intermittent mode in the switch off position even when I jiggle the switch around, but at switch intermittent position the wipers still run continuously.

I can live with it but I would like to figure this out.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

Jeez...been there but I didn't rebuild the motor, I got a replacement...and added a ground strap. Now mine are in the same situation and sometimes don't stop without a panicked jiggling of the switch.

Intermittence came back for a moment when I read someplace you can turn on intermittence wiper for 1 sweep and wait the amount of seconds you want them to run then turn them on. It worked. Once.

At first they stopped fine but after I tried the online suggestion, they didn't want to stop at all. The off position began doing intermittent and intermittent started back with the continuous wipes. And it's really hard to stop...heaven help me when I accidentally turn them on.

Maybe the intermittent trick will work for you as you are obviously handier then me! And if you find a real resolve to the not stopping problem, I hope you'll post it!!

That trick won't do because the Volvo 240 OEM wiper relay does not work like that. Intermittent speed is approximately every seven seconds.

However, I recall reading that IPD used to offer a variable speed intermittent wiper relay that worked as you have described.

A somewhat more involved conversion is described in this post from several years back. I like this one because it sounds as if you can adjust speeds on the fly.

Getting back to the problem at hand, I intend to look further into the matter but at the moment there are a couple of other things that take priority.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

This is probably in Art's posting but it is fairly common for the motor magnets to separate from the casing. Easy repair with a little JB weld or epoxy.
Dan

I have JB weld on hand. Thanks.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

No, I haven't been working on the wipers all this time. Other stuff, yeah. But anyway, today I decided I'd better have a look.

So, as previously reported it's not the fuse and I couldn't tell about the ground so I removed the motor.

I tried to hot wire it but I probably wasn't doing it right. No matter. I don't think it would have worked anyway.

I disassembled it and it was pretty cruddy. Lot's of small bits of scaly rust were clinging to the magnets. I cleaned them up fairly well. Is there anything I can use to give them a bath just to make sure they're completely clean?

Also took a wire brush on the electric drill to clean the inside of the case.

My other question at this point is, what's a good adhesive to fix the magnets in place? This is an Electrolux and I gather it doesn't have the little clips as shown in Art's pictorial.

I'm off to have a look inside the gearbox.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

"I couldn't tell about the ground so I removed the motor"
The wiper motor is basically electrically isolated from the body if not for the one grounding leg.

An easy way to check if the wiper motor to car body ground is bad is to turn on the wipers then use a jump wire from the wiper motor body to the engine ground strap. If the wipers start up then just add a jump wire between a wiper motor bolt and the ground strap screw.
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb, M46 trans, 3:31 dif, in Brampton, Ont.

I should have tried that. But I was pretty convinced the motor was going to have to come off at some point. After looking inside the case I'm glad I removed it.

But the ground could still be the problem or part of the problem. So if it doesn't work on re-install I will check that first.


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

http://cleanflametrap.com/wiper.html
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

"On his feet he wore…blisters." —Aristotle

Of course. Why didn't I look there first?


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'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

all these being equal no wipers is normally just a bad motor.