Rear wiper problems

[Inert_Static]

My rear wiper does not work any long. I went to a u-pull yard and got a 2005 TB motor and pluged it in. Nothin... I cleaned the grounds on the wheel well and under the driverside on the frame. Nothin... I checked the fuses and they seem fine. I'm out of ideas.... Any help would be appreciated !

Thanks guys.

2008 envoy, 115,000 miles,

 

[Blckshdw]

You may have some broken wiring in the boot that passes between the body and the lift gate. I would check those next.

 

[DocBrown]

The motor is notorious for simply dying. It's very likely that the used one you pulled is bad also, unless you able to test it before leaving the yard.

 

[Inert_Static]

Im not quite sure that i tested it correctly, but i tested the harness going to the motor and was not getting a voltage reading out of it... does that change things ?

I also can push on the rear wiper cleaner and i can hear the motor run in the back.

 

[IllogicTC]

The pump for the washer fluid is up front, there's no secondary pump in back, if you hear the motor run back there then at least at that moment there's voltage.

There's three wires on the rear wiper motor assembly. Orange is power, Black is ground, orange should be hot at ALL times. The green wire is the control wire from the LGM. There's a circuit breaker (circuit breaker 9, 15A, rear fuse block) along the way from the front to the back, if that's failing you can easily have intermittent power conditions. I'd suggest checking on that while diagnosing the wiring.

 

[DDonnie]

Just curious, how hard was it to do the swap? Mine slowly died, so i'm sure it's the motor.

 

[BrownHP800]

On mine it was simply the switch in the dash.

 

[Inert_Static]

Brownhp. Did your washer fluid work when the switch was bad ?

 

[BrownHP800]

No, nothing worked. I figured it was a fuse but they all checked out. Decided to try a switch and got one cheap off EBay and that was it. Everything worked, wiper, washer, etc.

 

[Real McCoy]

Just like what Blkshdw said - When mine stopped working this winter it was a broken wire in the bundle that goes from the body to the lift gate. It is easy to check, gently pull the boot from the body and disconnect the connector. Use a volt meter to verify voltage at all three orange wires at the connector. Also check that the ground wire has continuity to the body. If no power on one of the orange wires or no continuity in the ground there is most likely a break within the length of the black boot. Sometimes if you pull on the wire the insulation with stretch and/or break where the wire is broken.

I went straight here after having the same issue with the liftgate control module a year ago. Lots of discussion on the boards about this issue related to the liftgate module.

 

[Inert_Static]

I just wanted to update the situation incase someone else comes looking.

Just curious, how hard was it to do the swap? Mine slowly died, so i'm sure it's the motor.

It was really not too bad. The hardest part was getting the dang wiper arm off the spline of the motor. That was a paint in the butt.

On mine it was simply the switch in the dash.

I did recently did try another switch and the same thing happened. Power to the wiper fluid motor but no power to the wiper arm. Next thing to check is the wiring harness.

 

[Inert_Static]

I did it. Its all fixed. Just as several of you said it was the wiring on the body side of the truck. One of the wires completely severed, and 4 others were cracked/breaking. Should have snapped a picture but it was late and I don't have a camera on my phone.

Thanks for your help y'all.

Side note: I have a rear wiper motor if someone needs a new one

 

[Blckshdw]

I don't have a camera on my phone.

Dude, it's 2015!!!

Glad to hear you got it fixed and working properly though.

 

[Inert_Static]

Dude, it's 2015!!!

Glad to hear you got it fixed and working properly though.

LOL, Its because of work. I just have to take the camera out of my smart phone.

 

[JR Semon]

This one is strange guys. Rear wiper will not work when I first turn on the vehicle. It will work if I remove the 15 amp fuse/breaker under the back seat and put it back in with the power and rear wiper switch on. Turn the wiper on and off - works fine. Turn the car off and back on immediately the wiper works fine. Let the vehicle sit for a while and I'm back to square one...wiper will not turn on. Everything else works fine and I have checked the wires in the boot. License lights, washer, locks, key fobs etc. all work. Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Jon

 

[Mooseman]

Mine sorta acts like that too. If I turn it to 1, sometimes it won't start but turn it to 3, it will and then I turn it back to 1, it will work intermittently as expected. I just learned to live with it like that.

 

[Scrappy608]

Well this group and knowledge in this thread is extremely helpful! I have the everything works bit the wiper issue and went i to the boot and found one orange and my black pinched and exposed. i cut out the bad and replaced with good. unfortunately issue remains. mine seems odd because i have two orange, one black, one blue and one brownish. no 3 oranges in the harness. Any tips for me on next steps? I'd appreciate it. '02 SLT

 

[TJBaker57]

Was there 12 volts on the orange wire you repaired? Did that wire go to the wiper motor? There should be 12 volts there always.

Looking at wiring diagrams I cannot find more than one orange wire going to the liftgate. But then automotive wiring diagrams have always seemed to me to be poorly executed.

 

[Scrappy608]

I do have 12v on both orange wires and continuity to body at ground at this connector. i haven't chased back into the wiper motor yet. i replaced my tailgate with one from a junk yard (needed better back glass) and swapped over the LGM from my original (pro tip: the key fob is programmed to the LGM for remote locks/security). my original wiper didnt work and neither does the replacement gates. i shot a pic of my harness connection.

 

[Scrappy608]

UPDATE: So my truck is an '02 and the liftgate is from an '06 or '07. The photo I sent last night of the harness connector was from the body side and only has the two orange....however the gate side of the connector has 3 orange..... and sure enough, at the wiper motor I am not getting 12v. I traced the orange (+) back to the harness connector, and sure enough, it lands on the empty pinout on the body side of the connector. Is splicing the thicker orange to provide power to the powered orange the answer? thoughts?

 

[TollKeeper]

If you still have it, you need to replace the TGM from your old tail gate.

I know I personally would see if there is a way to pull all the wiring thru? Not sure why you replaced the tail gate?

 

[Scrappy608]

If you still have it, you need to replace the TGM from your old tail gate.

I know I personally would see if there is a way to pull all the wiring thru? Not sure why you replaced the tail gate?

Are you referring to the LGM? If so, when I replaced the tailgate I did move over my original LGM into the replacement (because otherwise as mentioned earlier, the key fobs dont work without re-programming) The '02 has a 5 wire (2 orange), and the newer one has a 6 wire connection (3 orange)....

as far as reasons to replace: rust, two lines of the glass worked versus all....not sure reasons are relevant though

 

[Mooseman]

Did you also swap the wiring harness? Sounds like you didn't and have a mismatch there. Hopefully you still have it. Or you'll have to run a separate wire or do some creative circuit jumping. You would have to see the differences between the 06 and 02 schematics to see if that orange wire on the body side is able to carry the current and if it's the same one that powers the wiper in the 02.

 

[Scrappy608]

Did you also swap the wiring harness? Sounds like you didn't and have a mismatch there. Hopefully you still have it. Or you'll have to run a separate wire or do some creative circuit jumping. You would have to see the differences between the 06 and 02 schematics to see if that orange wire on the body side is able to carry the current and if it's the same one that powers the wiper in the 02.

I think you are 100% right...I will need to get creative I pulled the old harness outta the '02...but then thought..."nah, they gotta be the same"....and now it is in some recycling centers pile. I appreciate you weighing in on this old topic Moosman.

 

[mrrsm]

If it helps... Here is an image of an LGM displaying the Part Number for comparing with your arrangement showing the Two Orange Wires:



And here are all of the LGM Harness Connectors within that same 'Dual Orange Wire" Harnessing with their unique Colored Wire Layouts splayed out to assist with Tracing and making Wiring Diagram cross-comparisons:

 

[Scrappy608]

If it helps... Here is an image of an LGM displaying the Part Number for comparing with your arrangement showing the Two Orange Wires:

View attachment 99359

And here are all of the LGM Harness Connectors within that same 'Dual Orange Wire" Harnessing with their unique Colored Wire Layouts splayed out to assist with Tracing and making Wiring Diagram cross-comparisons:

View attachment 99361

That is very helpful. Thank you. So, the connector to the body and the gate is the only place where the 3 orange wires are seen. One of those orange wires goes directly to the wiper motor and the other two go to the LGM. I appreciate it

 

[Scrappy608]

Ok! Final update: Up and running I jumped the main orange at the body side 5 wire connector to the gate side orange that home runs to the wiper motor and voila! rear wiper is workin like it should now! This jump was done in the gate itself where there is more real estate to work with... tested all other lift gate functions (locks, fobs, rear defrost voltage) and all are working as the should. And no melting wites or popped fuses is always a bonus haha! Here are photos of what i did and my LGM:

 

[mrrsm]

These images will put this LGM and Connectors-Color Wires 'Up Close and Personal' to aid in distinguishing just how close these Damned 'Pastel' Colors are similar with each other to get wrong if looked at further along the Harness. Note that this LGM has a DIFFERENT Part Number... but still adheres to the same Wiring Harness Connector Layout shown in Post #25: