Wiper motor dead !!!??

joeyleggz

Well-Known Member
Jan 15, 2013
878
long island
Boat Info
current boat: 1997 sea ray 330 express cruiser
Engines
twin 454's efi
Port wiper motor on my 1997 330 express cruiser which is inside the cabin ceiling is now dead and pops the breaker when turned on from the Helm switch I have taken apart the square plate to expose the gearing to see if anything was out of place everything looks good there’s no corrosion on this unit as it is inside the boat before I completely dismantle this which I’m sure is a PITA is there any Anyone who has dealt with the wiper motor that may not be fried but I might be just missing something? I did check all electrical connection points for corrosion or bad grounds and everything looks kosher to me stumped just not sure why this wiper motor would crap out
 
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Sounds like it locked/seized up... you might try some penetrating oil on the shaft and making it move manually to free it up.
 
It's 23 years old... it had to take a dump at some point, right?

But... test the motor - jump 12V to it to see if it works. Other issues could be a worn breaker. Less likely, but still possible, could be an issue with wiring somewhere in the middle or even the switch. Point is, narrow down the possible issues.
 
mine quit working on my 95 290 and took it completely apart and the bushings were seized up, cleaned everything up, regreased bushings and gear box and its works great, better than the other one. Now need to do same to other one, really wasn't hard just mark the motor housing with marker so you know how it mounted to casing as some don't work as good if yours can be reassembled 180 degrees off.
 
mine quit working on my 95 290 and took it completely apart and the bushings were seized up, cleaned everything up, regreased bushings and gear box and its works great, better than the other one. Now need to do same to other one, really wasn't hard just mark the motor housing with marker so you know how it mounted to casing as some don't work as good if yours can be reassembled 180 degrees off.


Well you hit the nail on the head I was already in the middle of pulling the gears out to see if I could lube or clear something up . Applied lube and Grease ,Ran it with the bottom cover off sprayed water on the windshield so that the wipers did not have resistance and it ran fairly well I kept noticing the same spot seem to be labored maybe it’s out of alignment with the case being open ? so I greased everything back up ,close the case which help keep the gears from having slop in them and seems to run pretty good it is a little labored when the windshield is dry compared to the Starboard side but hey!, who the hell wipes their windshield when dry lol since these are pantograph wipers I lubed every pivot point and they seem to be running good maybe the windings in the motors are just going due to age so one more thing to check off the list thanks again for the help gentleman I think we can put this one to bed for now
 
you might need to sand the communtator ( where brushes contact the motor ) with emery cloth and on some motors you can turn the motor housing 180 degrees and it will still go together ( mark with felt tip marker before disassembly) but the motor will act like its laboring, if that's the case take screws out turn housing and reassemble, mine only went together one way but seen some that went either way and use a good grease,I use white lithium grease and don't use WD-40 on bushings, will work for a little while but once the bushings get hot they will freeze up. When you slip the motor out the brushes will pop out and sometimes you need 3 hands to get it back together but its worth the time as mine works like new.
 
you might need to sand the communtator ( where brushes contact the motor ) with emery cloth and on some motors you can turn the motor housing 180 degrees and it will still go together ( mark with felt tip marker before disassembly) but the motor will act like its laboring, if that's the case take screws out turn housing and reassemble, mine only went together one way but seen some that went either way and use a good grease,I use white lithium grease and don't use WD-40 on bushings, will work for a little while but once the bushings get hot they will freeze up. When you slip the motor out the brushes will pop out and sometimes you need 3 hands to get it back together but its worth the time as mine works like new.
This!
 
joeyleggz, I am having the same issue. How did you get to the motor? It appears it has to be by removing the ceiling panel but mine is not easily coming off and I don't want to break anything if there is a preferred method of getting to it.
 
joeyleggz, I am having the same issue. How did you get to the motor? It appears it has to be by removing the ceiling panel but mine is not easily coming off and I don't want to break anything if there is a preferred method of getting to it.
Don’t be afraid to give it a pull on both sides of the light covers it’s held in with spring clips pretty tight, when it releases you’ll see what I mean
 
joeyleggz, I am having the same issue. How did you get to the motor? It appears it has to be by removing the ceiling panel but mine is not easily coming off and I don't want to break anything if there is a preferred method of getting to it.
Also I noticed that the wiper arms on the outside of the boat that whole assembly needs to be cleaned up and re-greased, especially the big fat nut on the outsideback it off a few turns clean up the threads spray some lube ,
really makes the wipers loosen up which in turn allows the motor to not be labored
 

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