The driver's side headlight wiper on my '96 855 has not really been working since I got the car a little more than a month ago. It looked like it was pushed back into the car. Last night I heard a clicking and whirring noise that stopped when I turned then car off but started again when I turned the key to the on position without starting it. This morning I pulled the motor out and saw that the back plate of the motor unit was pushed open. I was able to reassemble the unit (short a few clips) and reinstalled it. When turned the power on without reattaching the wiper arm the spindle turned back and forth until I turned off the car. I reattached the wiper arm and the motor did not turn on when I turned the power on, but when I sprayed the washer the wiper went down towards the bumper. I pulled it and reattached it properly. This time when I turned the power on the wiper started sweeping back and forth and would not stop until I turned off the power. I disconnected the power supply to the motor (would you want to drive down the road with the one headlight wiper perpetually wiping?).

I suspect a bad or dirty relay, but neither the Haynes manual I have nor the owner's manual describes what the various relays are. Does anyone have any experience with this particular situation. Are the headlight wipers controlled by different relays? Does this sound like the most likely culprit? Not a major problem, but it would be nice to have this fixed.

Thanks in advance.

AJU