Sorry guys going through all my problems one by one....
So we had a bit of rain today and my son was adament he wanted to go out in the convertible (obviously with the roof up) so I had to drive with wipers running. They work fine one speed 2 and 3 however they don't work on the intermittent setting they just move approx 3 inches and then just stop and then repeats, it's also the same with the quick sweep when you push the stalk down...
I have done some basic searches and I've had a read through the wiki but I've had no joy finding a cure for this fault.
Could this be a relay problem or is this going to be a second hand motor job?
(D reg 325i cabriolet)[/img]
Faulty wipers
Moderator: martauto
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
-
aimlessrock
- E30 Zone Squatter

- Posts: 1821
- Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:00 pm
- Location: Manchester
could be the motor, the only way to check is to remove it and inspect.
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... per_faults
mine was caked in crap and a good over haul sorted it out. if the contact disc has score lines on it where the contacts have been eating away at it- then a replacement will likely be needed.
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... per_faults
mine was caked in crap and a good over haul sorted it out. if the contact disc has score lines on it where the contacts have been eating away at it- then a replacement will likely be needed.
E30 320i Convertible (1989)
190 Mercedes (1988)
"there is nothing more expensive than a cheap E30"
190 Mercedes (1988)
"there is nothing more expensive than a cheap E30"
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
Thanks for that dude....
That's my Sunday plans sorted
That's my Sunday plans sorted
-
ChrisHC
- E30Zone Contributor
- Posts: 515
- Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:00 pm
I sorted out my wipers using the advice on that page; the contact disc was covered in old grease which had got very solid over the years. Cleaning it up and lightly re-greasing it solved all my wiper problems. Very worthwhile doing as a BMW specialist told me a new motor was the only solution, and they are not cheap!
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
-
ChrisHC
- E30Zone Contributor
- Posts: 515
- Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:00 pm
Well there you go, problem found!
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
I'm guessing it's a new motor for me then 
-
aimlessrock
- E30 Zone Squatter

- Posts: 1821
- Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:00 pm
- Location: Manchester
put an advert up in the wanted section for a good used one.
E30 320i Convertible (1989)
190 Mercedes (1988)
"there is nothing more expensive than a cheap E30"
190 Mercedes (1988)
"there is nothing more expensive than a cheap E30"
-
ChrisHC
- E30Zone Contributor
- Posts: 515
- Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:00 pm
Why? Get rid of the old grease, clean up the contact disc with steel wool to get to bare metal, lightly grease it and see how the motor goes then.
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
Does exactly that and it made no difference at all...ChrisHC wrote:Why? Get rid of the old grease, clean up the contact disc with steel wool to get to bare metal, lightly grease it and see how the motor goes then.
Motor now replaced with a second hand unit bought from Bmw-mad on here and it works a treat!
Thanks everyone for the help and advice
-
Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member

- Posts: 49359
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
The new grease was probably stopping the contact leaves actually touching the plate. If you'd run the motor a while more, the grease would have worn away from beneath the contacts, and it would have worked as intended. The only reasons I've ever had to bin a motor is for excessive wear in the output shaft bush (a design fault with the RH drive conversion), and, IIRC, on one occasion one of the contact leaves on the over had broken off.
-
e30-unit-soldier
- E30 Zone Regular

- Posts: 551
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Bristol
I left it running for quite a while, in the beginning it was running very slow then it reached its normal speed however the fault in the intermittent setting still remained. When I cleaned up the disc I did notice that it had become very frail from the rust and 2 of the 3 pins that hold it in place had snapped off so replacement seemed the right thing to do. I've kept the old motor for now might try to get a disc fabricated...

