4 symptoms - looking for diagnosis on current draw.
 

Sup ya'll-

A week or two ago a co-worker was pushing my car (yes, to get it started-flooded) and he said the rear window defroster was too hot to put his hand on. First symptom.

Lately while driving the rear window defroster indicator light on the gauge cluster has been ever so slightly dimly lighting up. Hard to notice, but it's on. Second symptom.

Last week while stuck in traffic I decided to pull the fuse to the rear defrost, but as I did I noticed the fuse for the rear wiper was really dang hot, and the plastic (but not the metal fuse) had slightly warped under the heat. Third symptom.

The rear wiper does work, but slowly. Fourth symptom.

So, any diagnosis on a possible problem? Sounds like maybe I've got some wires crossed somewhere.

Right on-

check the grounds on the wiper that could be 1 thing

You should check the rear defrost switch to see if it is bad,
also check out the ground to the wiper motor I think that you have two different things going on here.

Vic

oops
 

I forgot to mention that the faint lighting of the defrost indicator went off when I removed the rear wiper switch. I'll look into it more this weekend, just thought I would throw it out there to get some ideas.

right on

It's just about gotta be a shorted defogger switch. Defogger is staying on all the time. Would also explain slow rear wiper, since they share a common ground (I think). You might want to unplug either the window grid or the switch until you get a chance to take care of it. I wouldn't want to take a chance on overheating the grid and damaging it.

Kerry

Check your right side hatch strut. See the connector. on it. Is it smashed up, perhaps from loading something large? Something wedged in it?

Follow those wires that run down the strut. Any nicked or anything? That could cause problems.

Cycle the switches on and off a few times rapidly. Sometimes crud gets jamed in between teh switch contacts making a loose connection. It sometimes cleans the contacts.

The defroster works fine and doesn't stay on when the wiper fuse is pulled...so yeah I'm thinking it has something to do with the wiper. Maybe the motor is shot and drawing current...water does get in there occasionally after a hard rain, and I suppose that may be causing the problems. I'll check out the mechanical connection on the hatch and look into the grounding issue. I did pull the switches and they seenmed fine.

Right on-

Pop the cover and unplug the motor. See if that helps.

My seals were all dry rotted and water got in my cover and all in the back area of my hatch. My interior is all nasty back in the hatch now and the motor was rusted up inside. It still ran though.

You can dismantle the motor easily, although I forget if it has bent tabs or screws that hold it together. Clean the rust off the armature (Spinning part), but be careful not to scratch the laquer enamel on the coil windings. Also clean all the rust particles off the solid magnets inside the housing. Hose the bearings in the housing and the end cap down in WD-40.

Then clean the brushes and commutator. The commutator and brushes, I believe are near the shaft end of the motor. The brushes are chunks of carbon that allow the armature to spin. The commutator is the sectional contact that turns on and off different coils through the rotation. It's a fairly easy motor to rebuild, just don't lose the assorted bushings and washers that go with the bearings.

Reassembly is usually a PITA as the armature keeps sticking to the housing magnets when you try to put it in the bearing. Once you get it in there, hold the brushes apart and slip the front cover on. That should do it. It'll probably work at the proper speed and a lot quieter.

The real question is where do you find replacement seals? I've been diggint through the assorted gromets bin at the hardware store buying one of each and test fitting them. Some fit with minor modification using an exacto knife.