my rear wiper hasn't worked for a few months, but of course i'm only getting to this now that it is dumping rain out. i'm not positive, but i'm pretty sure that the rear wiper/washer worked when i got the wagon in sept. but if it did, it stopped working not long after that. perhaps right around when I installed a new stereo... hmmmm.

i've read other posts on here but i'm still not quite clear on how to read the symptoms. here's what i've got:

-neither intermitent nor continuous works at all. the washer also doesn't work.
-i pulled the tailgate trim off and the lingkage seems fine...grease and now clear seizing.
-the three wires going into the motor appear to have good connections, and the black one (ground?) on the motor body doesn't seem corroded.
-the fuse is fine
-when i turn the switch on to intermittent, and when I push the button for rear washer, i can hear the relay below the stereo making a noise.
-i took off the under-dash trim and checked the round-ish connector plug for the four wires coming out of steering colum (this suggested in one of the threads): the connection seems fine. if i unplug it the relay noise stops, so i assume that the connection is good.

any ideas on what to check next? some posts seemed to indicate a bad ground on the steering column could be a problem. others said something about the tailgate wiring, but i wasn't sure whether my symptoms ruled that our, or how to test for it. because the washer isn't working either, should i assume it is in wiring and not a bad wiper motor?

thanks!