86 740 Volvo wagon. This morning, I shaved the ice off my front windshield while the brick was warming up, and when I finished I sat in the car and turned the front windshield wiper stalk to slow-speed. It wiped once, and stopped (even though the power was still on). So I tried to use the regular speed wipers and there was no response at all -- no wiipers. Tried slow wiper speed again, and still no wipers. Dang. So I check the fuse, it looks fine. Didn't have time to go back into the house to get a wiper relay I pulled from some wreckers awhile back, and since it wasn't raining or no forecast for rain today I thought I would just chance it and drive with no wipers this morning. I'd left the wiper position at normal speed while I was testing it and when I drove off -- about half-a-mile down the road -- the wipers come on just like their supposed to. Surprise. Now, I had gotten used to the fact that my wipers didn't park automatically and had this on my to-do list once the weather starts warming up, not a big deal. Now I'm wondering if the brief failure this morning is impending electrical problem(s), or whether it is the wiper motor giving me a heads up that it's about to take a dive soon, or what???

Thinking the motor is tired (worn brushes). I went through a gradual decline where Delay Stopped, Did not Park, Low Stopped and then High. Wrecker motor for $30 is still OK after 3 years.

Greg

Likely a result of the cold and a close-to-failing wiper motor and park switch assembly. Your next stop will be either a boneyard or a parts house for a new wiper motor assembly.

Do you hear the motor running? If so, either your the locking/tightening nuts on the arms are loose, or you stripped the gear. To check the nuts, on the bottom of each arm there is a little flap right near where they can bend. Lift up the flap and make sure those nuts are tight.
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Ken
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'