windscreen washer not working

[TuffTD42]

About 7-8mths ago my front wipers started to go by themselves. I got out & had a look under the bonnet. I pulled the wiper motor plug & then replugged & they still went. I could hear a slight sizzling sound & it seemed to be coming from the front washer motor, it had water leaking out so I unplugged the motor plug & the wipers stopped.

Once back at my brothers pl I had a look at it & plugged the washer motor back in & the wipers did not go by them selves. The washers didn't work so I thought the washer motor had shorted out.

Today I finally got around to putting the new washer motor in & the washers don't work. I tested the old motor on the bench & it works fine.

The wiper switch on the column works. int works so dose hi & lo. When you pull back on it to engage the washers the washers don't work but the wipers go after a few seconds as they should.

I tested with a test light the rear washer plug & it has power to both wires, light green & pink. When you engage the washers the power go's out on the pink wire.

So I tested the front plug the same & found that only the pink wire has power. It also go's out when you engage the washers.

So then I wired up a power wire to the motor on the light green side with a fuse & ran an extension wire to the motor on the pink side from the plug. Thinking that maybe the green wire has broken in the harness some where. I engaged the washers & it blew the fuse (green) side. I am at a loss to what is happening.

your thoughts would be much appreciated cheers Jono.

[Yendor]

"So then I wired up a power wire to the motor on the light green side with a fuse"....leave this connected

"& ran an extension wire to the motor on the pink side from the plug" .....disconnect this.

Does the fuse still blow?

[TuffTD42]

Thanks for your reply

No the fuse doesn't blow. But it wouldn't as the power wire is directly from the + on the battery to the motor. Now with the pink side of things disconnected there is no trigger for the motor. By doing what you suggested has completely bypassed the cars wiring,harness,switch etc.

The green & pink wires on the rear washer motor both have constant power. When you engage the rear washer the pink wire loses power & the washer motor dose it's thing.

On the front washer motor only the pink wire has power. The green is dead & stay's that way when you engage the washer. the pink loses it's power same as the rear but the washer dose not work. I ran a power wire straight to the terminal on the washer motor where the green wire would go. then the pink wire I ran a jumper to the other terminal to trigger the motor but it just blows the fuse on the power wire.

confused me to.

[Yendor]

The pink wire switches earth to the washer pump via the washer switch.

So if you have run an extension wire straight to the pump with a fuse and the pump bench tested ok, then the only thing that could of caused the fuse to blow is you accidentally connected the pink wire to your power wire.

[Yendor]

Thanks for your reply

No the fuse doesn't blow. But it wouldn't as the power wire is directly from the + on the battery to the motor. Now with the pink side of things disconnected there is no trigger for the motor. By doing what you suggested has completely bypassed the cars wiring,harness,switch etc.

The green & pink wires on the rear washer motor both have constant power. When you engage the rear washer the pink wire loses power & the washer motor dose it's thing.

On the front washer motor only the pink wire has power. The green is dead & stay's that way when you engage the washer. the pink loses it's power same as the rear but the washer dose not work. I ran a power wire straight to the terminal on the washer motor where the green wire would go. then the pink wire I ran a jumper to the other terminal to trigger the motor but it just blows the fuse on the power wire.

confused me to.

That is correct, but that is all the earth side of the circuit, so the worst that would happen if there was a short in any of that is the pump would constantly run.

[Yendor]

With your power wire connected to the pump. Get another wire, connect one end to the other terminal at the pump and the other end of the wire touch it on earth.

Does the pump run or does the fuse blow? what size fuse is it?

Your washer pump might be faulty under load???

[First Nissan]

Yendor is correct,

the pink wire is switched to earth via a relay to activate the pump.
In a serviceable system you only see volts on the pink side when the earth circuit is not completed.

The light green wire is the power feed and should be volts there with ignition/acc on. If you cannot light up a test light on this wire you have a power feed fault.

I would bridge power to the green terminal of the washer and see if the system works.

cheers Richard

[TuffTD42]

Thanks guys that all makes sense. I think the green wire must be broken in the harness some where. Hopefully I'll have time to look at it again 2morrow. let you's know what I come up with.

Cheers Jono.

[Yendor]

Hey Jono,

Yes that light green wire should have power in it when the ignition is on.

It is the same light green wire (protected by the same fuse) that runs to the front wiper motor and also to the intermittent front wiper amp, so yes there is a good chance you have a break in the wire or possible a bad connection at one of these units where the wires may have been joined.

But this doesn't explain why the fuse blew on your test wire.

[canuck]

Did you check the wiper relay?. Page EL-63 of the FSM has a simple test to check it. Page EL-59 has the schematics for the wiper electrical circuit.