2000 Sonata - Wipers gone after snowstorm, instantly blows fuses

Hi guys,

Last night we had a pretty good snowstorm here in New England...and
about 2 miles from home my wipers gave out on me. Thought it was just
some ice stuck under it kept it from moving all the way, so I got out
and cleared the ice.

Wiper arms went back up and down, then stopped working all together.

Today I went out and tried to figure it out and saw that the fuse was
blown. So I went out and got some new fuses and, with the car off,
put one in.

Turned on the car, turned on the wipers...nothing. Checked the fuse
again and it was blown.

Then, with the car running and the wipers Turned _Off_, changed the
fuse again and saw it pop before it even went all the way in (with a
nice bright arc, I may add).

Just for kicks I cleared any extra ice around the wipers and gave it
another go, thinking the motor was still running and, with it jammed,
would be enough to instantly blow a fuse. Blew another one instantly.

-------------

I'm assuming that there is a short somewhere in the wiper system. I
replaced the fuse with 15A mini-fuses from AutoZone, which was the
same amperage of the original. Any idea where I should be looking for
a short, or if there is some way of finding out what else it could be?

Thanks

Fred


2000 Sonata GLS V6

 

If your wipers aren't in the park position, it's possible there's ice in
the linkage preventing it from moving. You'll need to remove the
windshield cowl to check this.

If there's no ice, or clearing it doesn't resolve the problem, and you
have no other obstructions, unplug the wiper motor and try again. If the
fuse no longer blows (key on), you'll need a new wiper motor.

 

hyundaitech,

Thanks for your response. Didn't get a chance to look at it last
night but I went out today and took a look.

Checked for obstructions/ice - nothing, put in a new fuse again (in
case any ice from yesterday had just melted) and it blew instantly.

So I took the whole assembly out of the car and put 13.8V right to the
Red + Black wires on the motor (from a bench power supply) and the
thing spun fine. No problem, no sign of overload on my power supply,
just spun freely. Tested again with the linkage in place and still
ran fine.

Figured "great, it was just jammed and it must've cleared out", put it
back in the car (just sitting on the engine, plugged into the
harness), and it blew again.

Just for kicks I put a multimeter to it and found out every wire
shorts out with every wire in the harness - between 0.0 and 0.7 ohms
across any two points. I'm not sure how it's wired up, I only saw the
three wires going into the motor (Red, Black, Blue), the bridge, and
the 2 or 3 other wires that went inside the assembly. I tested them
at the bridge. Unfortunatly I don't have any idea how the resistance
is supposed to be, if this has something to do with the windings in
the motor, or if it is a sure-fire sign that something is wrong
(either with the motor or my electronic abilities )

So long-story short, I'm confused. I can't quite figure out why it'll
work fine on a bench but blow fuses instantly in the car. Any
insight?


Thanks again,

Fred

 

Fred -

Just curious did you put a fuse in without the motor plugged in and turn
the key on? If you did and the fuse didn't blow then you might safely
assume it is the motor. If the fuse did blow then you have a short in
your wiring.

 

jp,

I did check it with the motor assembly unplugged from the car and the
fuse didn't blow. Thanks for pointing that out, I had forgotten to
mention it.

Like I said this started during a snow-storm the other day. The
wipers were running just fine, but there was a good amount of build-up
under them. After about 2 hours driving in the snow, it just suddenly
died two minutes from home and I haven't been able to get them to go
since.

I'm really looking forward to going to Boston tomorrow, and on the
verge of just going to radioshack and buying a SPST switch and a fuse
and just running a VERY mickey-mouse setup to get it running through
then.

Fred

 

You may want to save that for Monday if the weather reports are correct.

 

<snip>

Here's my theory: your wiper arms are misplaced and causing the
motor to overload.

Remove the nuts holding the wiper arms on the shafts where they
come through the cowl and try a new fuse. If the fuse blows,
then something is wrong with your wiper linkages under the cowl.
If the fuse doesn't blow, turn the switch off to let the motor
"park", and then re-attach the wiper arms in the correct "parked"
position.

PB

 

I had the same problem with my 05 Accent last year and it was due to
the linkage under the cowl being iced up and frozen. I had to pull it
in a heated garage and thaw it out. After it was thawed, I sprawed the
whole thing with silicone spray several times to coat it fully. After
that they worked fine and it hasn't done it again yet.
Bill

 

hyundaitech,

Thanks for your response. Didn't get a chance to look at it last
night but I went out today and took a look.

Checked for obstructions/ice - nothing, put in a new fuse again (in
case any ice from yesterday had just melted) and it blew instantly.

So I took the whole assembly out of the car and put 13.8V right to the
Red + Black wires on the motor (from a bench power supply) and the
thing spun fine. No problem, no sign of overload on my power supply,
just spun freely. Tested again with the linkage in place and still
ran fine.

Figured "great, it was just jammed and it must've cleared out", put it
back in the car (just sitting on the engine, plugged into the
harness), and it blew again.

Just for kicks I put a multimeter to it and found out every wire
shorts out with every wire in the harness - between 0.0 and 0.7 ohms
across any two points. I'm not sure how it's wired up, I only saw the
three wires going into the motor (Red, Black, Blue), the bridge, and
the 2 or 3 other wires that went inside the assembly. I tested them
at the bridge. Unfortunatly I don't have any idea how the resistance
is supposed to be, if this has something to do with the windings in
the motor, or if it is a sure-fire sign that something is wrong
(either with the motor or my electronic abilities )[/QUOTE]
What is this "bridge" you mention??

Take a peek at the diagram up on HMASERVICE.COM, once you sign up go
to "Service Information", give them the model year, and engine data,
then open up ETM -> Body Electrical System->Electronic Time & Alarm
Control System (ETACS)->ETACS . . .Schematic
The schematic for the wiper section is the very 1st page at the top.
Do note that most of the 'control' of the wiper motor is via switching
the 'ground' (negative) side of things. Pretty much as long as the
ignition switch is ON, the wiper motor has positive applied to it (if
the fuse don't blow). In fact, once "parked" and the wipers OFF,
positive voltage is applied to both the 'hot' side and the "Lo" side
of the motor.