Volvo RWD 120-130 Forum

My wipers went out the other day along with all the rest of the controls
powered by the 25a fuse. I have repeatedly replaced the fuse with a new one and they have all blown immediatetly. I slid all the input and output wires off the fuse box spades and brushed them vigorously with a wire brush. None of the wires appear to have any insulation issues or at least that i can tell from a visible inspection. I brushed both the positive and negative battery terminals as well. Still no luck. I then noticed that not all the spades on the 'right side'(if you are standing in front of the engine bay looking in, am i correct that this is the input side?) of the fuse box had a wire connected to it. I am curious about why this is. The one fuse that did not have a wire connected to it was the 8a directly below the 25a. So just as an experiment i slid the input wire off the 25a and attached it to the 8a spade below and then replaced the blown 25a fuse with a new one. I turned the ignition key and i got the wipers to work for 3 sec and then the fuse blew again. I have referenced intelab/sw-em etc.. and have still have no idea what to do.

Any ideas?

thanx

So i just want to thank you all who have thus far shared their possible
solutions for the problem. I thought i had figured it out. I noticed the oil gauge
wire had several exposed patches of wire where the old plastic coating had worn off. One such area appeared to be rubbing against the edge of the heater blower housing. I thought that this might be the short.I wrapped the exposed areas in electrical tape and wah lah, the fuse didn't blow. It stayed working for about a day. Im using an inline 25a fuse holder now so i can go thru fuses rather than using the old small hard to find type.But alas it blew again. I don't think my wiper is the culprit because it was working fine after i wrapped the oil gauge wire and it was not turned on when the fuse blew again. In fact nothing was turned on per say, engaged. The fuse blew when i just turned the IGN over parked in a parking spot. But i will inspect the heater switch along with the possibility that the wiring from the wiper switch maybe is shorting against the wiper motor(someones other post discovery i read on here)And so the search continues.....

first, oil gauge wire, or oil light wire? If oil light, that would definitely not make any difference. If a gauge (aftermarket).. who's to say how whoever wired that up, but I doubt it ever was the problem.

Fuse blew when you "turned IGN over".. is that to say it blew when you turned ignition on, or did it blow when you turned the key to the start position?

You say you had nothing on... how about the brakes. Did you have your foot on the brakes when you were about to start the car in that parking spot? I'd be suspect of brake lights or the wipers still. If not the brake lights, I'd pull the feed wire off the wiper switch and see what happens... (if the wipers don't think they are 'parked', they might still be trying to move even if the switch is off)



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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Sorry about being no help for the root problem.

But I noticed one statement in your post...
"on the 'right side'(if you are standing in front of the engine bay looking in"
This would correctly be referred to as the "left" side.
Left and right are usually referred to as if you were sitting in the driver's seat.
Not trying to be anal, just though you may not realize this and sometimes it clarifies directions.

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Lubricate your distributer!

ES;

If I understand this correctly, turning ON the wipers (only) blows Fuse No. 1 (the beloved 25A shorty), so my suggestions will be biased toward that. If that fuse blows when wiper switch is not ON, then something else on circuit 1 is amiss.

Refer to wiring diagram at: http://sw-em.com/122S%20Wiring%20Diagram.jpg
...it can be seen that (fat) red wire coming from term 54 of IGN sw supplies power to Fuse 1 (AND by way of the intenal link shown, Fuse 2 - this answers your question why not all terminals have wires...this is absolutely normal!)...and Fuse 1 circuit inturn supplies: Wipers, Fuel Gauge, Oil Pressure Indicator, AMP Indicator, Heater fan, Blinkers.

First, I would classify blowing the fuse after ~3 seconds not as a direct short, but more like an unusually high current, such as might be caused by a locked rotor on wiper motor...wiper mechanism MUST be free and clear to move...a wiper arm(s) jammed, for lack of lube, in the bushing which penetrates the cowl, may very well draw that sort of current...so will any other locking of the mechanism under the dash. I suggest you assure free movement at the arms, then visually of the linkage and wiring to motor parkswitch assy under dash. Hardware like the one on rubber motor mounts have been known to vibrate loose, resulting in jammed linkage as the motor hangs by less than the normal 3 bolts...

If a check of mechanism reveals no obvious issues, entire wiper mechanism probably needs to be removed for internal inspection of motor......an internal motor wire having become dislodged an touching the housing might also cause these symptoms...removing assembly is not too difficult and it sure beats working on your back under the dash! Past assuring a free mechanism, there's little else which can be done with it installed anyway. Removal instructions can be found here: http://sw-em.com/Windshield%20Wiper%20Systems.htm#Review_of_Function_and_Failures

Let us know what you find.
Good Hunting

Sounds like something has a Dead Short (+ directly to ground)it may be the armature in you wiper motor. It is very hard to say what exactly as the spades and wires can and may have been moved and changed over the years. I know while I was getting my car ready for inspect, I found none of my fuses were for what the manual or fuse box said they should be.

With that said...

Do you have a multimeter?

Its easy to troubleshoot if you have a meter and know how to use it.

I would determine which side has power going to it, remove the fuse and set to voltage. Check either side.

Once you determine that pull the spades off on the non power side and check for continuity (reduced resistance) to ground on each one.

Trace back the one that has the least Ohms/resist...

If you dont have a meter...

The way to do it without a meter is to have a 12 volt tester light (a 12 volt marker light #1156 & scrap wire.. works with a friend holding one wire to the bottom contact and one to the case), disconnect the fuse. One wire on the tester will go to chassis ground the other will touch the fuse connectors. The one that lights up is the hot or power side. Disconnect the spades on the non power side. put the fuse back in, connect 1 spade at a time and actuate everything untill the fuse pops on the wire that goes to the defective unit/chafed wire etc.

Now trace that wire back to its source looking for chafes cuts, anything that can go to ground. If all is good it may be th item is defective/broken..

good luck, hope this helps. This is common troubleshooting for all cars.. Be glad this is on an old volvo and not a more modern one!
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I have to work on it...... MYSELF?

Does anyone have any extra cute little 25A fuses they'd liked to sell me?
(Sorry to coattail onto this thread - Best of luck solving your wiper issue)

Pat.

You can easily and cheaply make an in line 25amp blade fuse holder, blade fuses are easy to find. unlike the short OG 25amp fuse, thats what I did when I was blowing the shorty fuse last summer. Way easier to troubleshoot with the blade fuse than blowing the original over and over again. I put the link to the old post when I had my problem, pic's of the fuse holder and fuse box all refurbed.


http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1294830/120-130/just_blew_2_25amp_fuses.html