Wiper problems

[oilcan93]

I was doing a pre-flight check on the coupe before taking it to get the safety inspection so I can finally have it on the road whenever I feel like driving it. For some reason the windshield wipers stopped working. Now, SFD fixed them for me last time so they WERE working in June. I am not good with electrical issues and I feel confident that it's a bad connection somewhere. So I took it to the BMW dealership here on Maui. The MANAGER of the service dept took a volt meter to the plug by the wiper motor but really wasn't sure what he was looking at apparently b/c he started talking about the windshield washer relay causing the problem. Nooooo, the wipers were working a couple months ago and I don't drive it (yet) so there has to be a bad connection somewhere that I need to work out.
So I have a couple questions before I just have some guy rig up a toggle switch wired straight to the wipers so I can pass safety inspection. The Green Meanie will never see the rain any way so I just need to get formalities out of the way. Lol

1.) Would it be unusual for the switch that controls wiper speed to help affect this problem? I hadn't considered that previously.
2.) There's a blue/black wire, a blue/white wire, a purple wire coming from the wiper switch....which one should I probe to make sure there is power going to the motor and what voltage am I looking for here?
3.) Any other suggestions? I'm open to ideas here

Thank you, gentlemen

 

[sfdon]

What ever you do- Never attempt to connect the plug to the wiper motor while the battery is connected. It will cost you a trip to the ER room.
Pelly was lucky, he had a guy with a crowbar get his hand out.
Sent you a some emails.

 

[Honolulu]

Though I doubt it, the problem could be the relay and tapping on it while switched on may convince it to play nice. Also check the ground, on some motors it's separate from the plug.

Turn on, manually move the wiper blades a bit to see if the wipe portion of the gearbox might not be making adequate contact.

 

[oilcan93]

Thanks, Charlie. Where is that relay?

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Don, the ER is the "Emergency Room" I don't know where the Emergency Room Room is. Can you tell things are a little slow today

 

[jmackro]

Where is that relay?

It is above the hood release handle, beneath the left side of the dash.

My wipers still work with the washer relay removed (when switched from the tip of the dash stalk), so I am skeptical that a fault with the relay, or its connections, would immobilize the wiper motor.