Front windscreen wipers not working

sabrina99

Hi.
I swithched on my car this morning (when windsceen covered in snow and ice) stupidly I had left my wipers on from last time I was driving so the wiper went for a second before I switched it off.
Now though the wipers won't work. They are not frozen and freely movable when I moved them myself. Back wiper is working and water pump is also working.
When I try to switch them on, there is a humming noise but no movment.
Will go to garage but just wondered if anyone any advice on what is wrong?
( I'm guessing blown fuse but haven't any idea how to check this)
thanks

Alanstrainor

If it's humming it doesn't sound like a blown fuse to me. It sounds like something is blocking it. I'd let the engine run for a good 20 minutes to let everything heat up and give it a go tbh.

peasant

Sounds to me like the linkage has come undone / broken. The motor is running (humming noise) but the arms are not moving.

sabrina99

Thanks for that. I did have it heating up and running for a good 20mins but still no go. I won't be using car for a few days so will try again then before I get it looked at.

Sofiztikated

Might have wrung the teeth from the part that connects the motor to the wiper arm?

What peasant said, only more wordsmith eloquent like.

sabrina99

Thanks. To fix the linkage- a small job I presume?

Sofiztikated

sabrina99 wrote: »

Thanks. To fix the linkage- a small job I presume?

What kind of car? Not a huge job, can just be a pain in the arse to do. I had to do Mrs Sof's starlet linkage at the beginning of the year for the NCT, and with a few tools I had it done in about 45 minutes. That included some head scratching time, bleeding, and general cursing stupid knuckles.

jimmyw

sabrina99 wrote: »

Hi.
I swithched on my car this morning (when windsceen covered in snow and ice) stupidly I had left my wipers on from last time I was driving so the wiper went for a second before I switched it off.
Now though the wipers won't work. They are not frozen and freely movable when I moved them myself. Back wiper is working and water pump is also working.
When I try to switch them on, there is a humming noise but no movment.
Will go to garage but just wondered if anyone any advice on what is wrong?
( I'm guessing blown fuse but haven't any idea how to check this)
thanks

Do you mean literally free.?If you did, you should not be able to move the arms with them switched off.This would indeed point to a disconnected linkage.

bungaro79

i'm after doing something like the OP too, my wipers are dead and the water isn't coming out either. i'm hoping its the fuse?!?! any advice please!

dr.fuzzenstein

sabrina99 wrote: »

Thanks. To fix the linkage- a small job I presume?

Her Mazda had the same, you could hear the motor running, the wipers where not moving, but could be moved easily by hand.
Bought a linkage bit from Mazda and fitted it, 5 minutes, no sweat.
The giveaway bit here is the fact that you can move the wipers by hand, that should not be possible. So most likely linkage. But don't take this as gospel, could be something else too.

colm_mcm

Disconnect the battery before messing with the linkages, the motor is very strong and can do you serious damage if your hand gets a wallop

bonzodog2

My daughter had a similar problem on a Mazda 323 a couple of weeks back, a simple matter of popping a ball/socket joint back on the arm on the motor. Hardest part was working out how to get a big bit of plastic off after removing wiper arms.

dr.fuzzenstein

bonzodog2 wrote: »

My daughter had a similar problem on a Mazda 323 a couple of weeks back, a simple matter of popping a ball/socket joint back on the arm on the motor. Hardest part was working out how to get a big bit of plastic off after removing wiper arms.

That's what I did initially with my Mazda, but it will pop back out again.
Better just go to the Mazda garage and get a new one, cheap enough and better safe than sorry.