Wiper motor failure: water in the motor, cleaning it, and replacements

Before you take it out

• Check the motor itself. One owner whose motor didn't turn was asked to test it by applying power directly, and to say whether the motor or the mechanism was failing. His answer: it was the motor, because a spare fixed it.
• Look for water getting in. One owner found a tear in the plastic below the windscreen letting water run onto the motor and taped it. Another found a split in the waterproof tray that had been taped by a previous owner, with tape peeling away. The motor should also have a plastic cover over it (two screws). One owner confirmed his cover was in place and it still failed.
• A rough, noisy motor that turns by hand with a gritty feel probably has a failed bearing. One owner with that fault was quoted about £350 for a new one (2014).

Cleaning the motor (2011 write-up, about 3 hours)

The owner bought a car whose wiper didn't work, drove home in torrential rain, and wrote this up after cleaning the motor instead of replacing it. His motor was full of brown rusty water. The gunge had coated the commutator ring so the brushes rarely touched it, and the runners the three carbon brushes slide in had gunged up too.

1. Prepare. Remove the small plastic cover over the motor (two screws). Unplug the motor connector. Take out the windscreen washer bottle and put it aside.
2. Remove the motor assembly. This is by far the hardest part: four nuts, all underneath, hard to get at. Three 10 mm nuts hold the motor mechanism, and one 13 mm nut holds the wiper arm linkage to the spindle. Take the linkage nut off first and move it out of the way. The spindle is splined, so once the nut is off, slip a flat screwdriver behind the linkage to lever it off. A small mirror on a blob of Blu-Tack helps, and a socket with a universal joint worked for the 2014 owner. The assembly comes out with a gentle squeeze past the heater air box. You don't need to remove the air box, but it is a close run thing (2014).
3. Open the motor. Peel off the tape around the top. Two slots with flat square nuts are exposed. Undo the two Torx T25 bolts on the end of the motor, making sure the square nuts fall out of the motor and not into it. Pull the metal can away from the internals. Two large magnets resist, so give it a good tug.
4. Clean it. Clean the inside of the can and the commutator with degreaser and kitchen towel (messy and time-consuming). Slide the three brushes back and forth several times with small pliers to free them. Make sure no rust is stuck to the armature: there is little clearance between it and the magnets and a lump could jam it. Check the bearing at the end of the spindle is clean.
5. Dry and reassemble. Leave the parts somewhere warm until dry. Refit the two Torx bolts. Small pliers are useful for holding the square nuts. The can is keyed, so it only goes together one way.
6. Seal it. Wrap a few turns of waterproof insulating tape around the seal and over the holes. There is also a small hole at the back of the can, and the owner thought it worth covering in case that is how water gets in.
7. Refit, but not the link arm yet. Do up the three mounting nuts and reconnect the 5-wire connector. Turn the ignition on and set the wipers to intermittent. You will hear the motor run: when it stops at the pause, switch off. That leaves it in its bottom-left park position.
8. Set the blades. Move the wiper blades by hand to the rest position, then fit the linkage. Tighten the nut properly. If it is loose it will strip the splines and then you will need a new motor.
9. Finish. Take the mirror out, refit the plastic cover and the washer bottle.

A second owner said the hardest part was getting the wiper lined up (about an hour). That is what the park position step is for.

Replacing the motor with another type (2025 attempt)

An owner who had spent £300 on each of two refurbished motors found a new motor for about £50 (a VW part) and tried it. What he and another owner said:

• The wiper mounting is identical. His VW motor worked on the bench with full wipe and intermittent. He wasn't sure if the wiring would work, and hadn't yet fitted it to the arm mechanism when the thread ended.
• Another owner said many wiper motors look much the same with the same mounts, and that the old Corsa and Combo motors he fitted years ago look almost identical. The Corsa one has a different connector but is also 5-pin and works in a similar way.
• A 2011 reply said the Elise S1 motor is a Citroën AX one, so it might be the same part for the VX220. Another owner said old posts suggested the same. This is unconfirmed.
• Because the original VX connector is different, you would need to check the wiring and make up the plug. We haven't seen a wiring diagram or the pin functions. See wiring diagrams.

One owner also suggested a rain sensor for under £15 from China, in the same thread, after he had fitted a VW relay. We haven't seen anyone report fitting one.