Hey everyone,
I'm usually back in the 5th gen section, but I now have a 6th gen problem. My mothers is an 04, and she is asking me to fix it. When it rains, the wipers will work for a bit and then either stop working or freeze in place. This seems like a connection issue to me - is it shorting out? They seem to work fine when its not raining, so I don't think I have a blown fuse. And since they do move, the motor isn't shot, so what else is there? I'm assuming it would have to be a connection that could be getting wet because of the rain, but I thought the motor was a sealed unit, right? Who has some ideas?
Thanks.

 

Some electric motors get weak as brushes wear out. Which cause them fail under load.

 

Agreed. Get your hose out, turn the wipers on and continue to spray the windshield with water, then see how the they do.

 

Guys,
Today I ran the wipers dry for about 15 minutes. This would cause the most drag and generate the most heat in my mind. No failure. Then I applied a constant stream of water from a hose for over 1000 revolutions. No failure. The dealer wants $90 just to 'diagnose', with the caveat that if its not doing it when they have it, they won't be able to tell me whats wrong. They also said that there is no TSB on this issue. Another mechanic suggested the relays overheating. I would seem to have dis-proven that idea by the testing today. The guy at Autozone says relays are like light switches in your house and almost never go bad. He also suggested the switch. So I ran the wipers and jiggled, wiggled and beat on the switch/steering wheel/dash with no malfunction. Does anyone else have any ideas? My mother (it's her car) wants to 'replace everything'. That is ridiculous to me. What am I missing? Does anyone have the FSB for an 04 Max?

Jason

 

There may be drag when it's dry, but the water weight puts some resistance on the wipers as well. If it were the switch, I think the wiper would at least return to the down position and not freeze when it's up. It seems like a power related issue (whether it be a loose connection or something failing) since the wipers are freezing in an up position, which typically only happens when you turn the car off with the wipers on. According to the FSM, there's a fail-safe function, not sure if that returns the wipers to the down position or not. Although relays may rarely go bad, it's still possible and worth looking at. Inspect the relays and fuses for fit and corrosion. Here's the section of the FSM containing the wipers.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2004/WW.pdf

And here are all sections for the 2004 for future reference.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2004/

Good luck and hope you find out what's going on.

 

Thanks for the FSB Joe. The latest is that I was advised by a Nissan tech that I should not attempt to replace the relay - its in the IPMD-ER. I found the box, but I didn't look up which one it is. Apparently there are pins inside the relay that will fall out when removed. That doesn't sound like something I want to tackle. Like you, he also said he doubted the switch, so changing the motor it is. I can't figure out how to get the cowling off the back side of the engine compartment, and I don't have a puller for the wiper arms anyway, so I guess I'm going to pay a garage $70 to swap it out for me. I'll try to update this once the work is done and I can see if it acts up in heavy rain again. Cross your fingers guys! Thanks for the help.

 

Thanx for the link joecur