1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Hello fellow Iboaters,
I have a question for you guys and gals. anyway, I own a new to me, 1995 Honda Civic DX, 4-door sedan and am having issues with my windshield wipers not working in intermittent and low speed settings but they do work on high speed, mist, and water pump spray settings. also, they do not park or go back to home position on there own and I have to manually place them back to home position by turning the knob on the stalk back and forth to high speed and off position. Anyway, I did some troubleshooting to the best of my ability and think my wiper motor is bad in the intermittent and low speed sections. What I did today is removed the wiper motor and discovered heavy, light brown, corrosion around the motors windings and the brusheswires. So I am thinking my problem lies inside the wiper motor and the switch is good to go. Also, for the switch, I did notice that when I put it on intermittent setting that I got a click immediately and then a click on or about every 5 seconds underneath the drivers side dash area. So I am leaning more toward the wiper motor being my problem becuase of the heavy light brown corrosion I found inside of it today. Since I am low on money I went ahead and reinstalled my current wiper motor back on my car since my high speed works on my wipers just to get me through til October 1st so I purchase a re-manufactured wiper motor and replace it then. Let me know what you think and if I am going into the right direction concerning replacing my corroded wiper motor. Thank you, Bob:)
 

Fishing Dude too

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
1,035
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Yes you are on right track, one problem I see is why did it corrod? Copper hates salt. Might want to look further at other things. I have rebuilt them before but don't recamend.
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Fishing Dude too,
Yeap, I will buy a remanufactured one from Advance Auto Parts once I have more funds, money, to do so. What do you mean look at other or further things? I do not know why it corroded, might be it is the original wiper motor from the factory when the car was manufactured and the seal that is in it deteriated and let moisture water come inside it but I do feel the wiper motor being that badley corroded on the motor's winding areas and brushes is the main culprit of my no intermittent and no low speed settings for my wiper. I am really surprised it is working at all in high speed but maybe because high speed setting isn't really used that much and intermittent and low speed have and are worn out from past use as well. Take care, Bob
 

Bob_VT

Moderator & Unofficial iBoats Historian
Staff member
Joined
May 19, 2001
Messages
26,019
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Okay.......years ago (this is way back in my memory) I had a similar problem and I was told to take apart the switch and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser and it worked......... Could be a cheap solution for you!
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Bob_VT,
I did that this past Sunday and still having issues. I did have a test light and voltmeter and think my wiper motor is bad because I do get readings on the car side coming from the wiper switch and plus there is alot of corrosion inside the motor windings area. So even though I don't want to will be purchasing a re-manufactured wiper motor from Advance Auto parts using there on-line coupon codes to get a better deal and purchase on-line then pick it up a whole heck of alot cheaper then buying it at the parts store in person.
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

O.K. everyone, I swapped out the wiper motor because it actually stopped working in all modes during a heavy rain storm a couple of days ago and that is what it was. Anyway, the re-manufactured motor from Advance Auto Parts works but the wiper blades will not park at the bottom of the windshield and parks at the middle, exact same spot, on the windshield every-time. So I talked to my dad about it and he said the park switch that is inside the wiper motor is not adjusted or working correctly so he said to re-order another wiper motor and today I replaced it with yet another one and it is doing the exact same thing the first one did with the parking/stopping in the middle of the windshield. So today I ordered another wiper motor and it will not be here until tomorrow, Sunday morning, so I will keep my fingers crossed that i received a bad batch of wiper motors with bad park switches in all of them. Wish me luck and hope that this will fix it or I don't know what else to do here.
 

Fishing Dude too

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
1,035
Re: 1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

Had this trouble when did a 2003 Hyondi, loosened things us on front of motor moved wipers to park position stpped right after that. What I was refuring to earlier was the car may have been drowned, either in salt or fresh water.
 

Big Bubba

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
746
---UPDATE-FIXED---1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

---UPDATE-FIXED---1995 Honda Civic DX Windshield Wiper motor-corrosion question?

____UPDATE_____
My wiper problems are finally working like brand new again. After replacing three reman wiper motors I figured out it was my fault that the wipers were not working correctly. Yeap, it was the wiper motor originally that went bad but when I went to install the new reman motor I didn't know that the wiper, mechanical linkage, trasnsmission had to be timed or in sync with the wiper motor. I thought after reading and googling how to remove/replace wiper motor on-line that it was a quick an easy removal and installation of the wiper motor and all things were good to go. Boy, was I wrong and learned the hard way that if you ever replace a wiper motor that you first make sure it, the wiper motor, is in the park position and second that you collapse the mechanical wiper transmission linkages against there stop and then pull the connecting link just enough to connect it to the wiper motor shaft and then install the whole assembly onto the car, plug it in and try it out. For me, if I knew this I would have had this car fixed this past Friday afternoon and been done with it but now I know what to do if I have to change another wiper motor out in the future. Take care and happy wiper motoring, LOL, being sarcastic when I say that. Have a GREAT Day, Bob.
 
Last edited:
Top