Windshield Wiper Motor Failure – 2017 Cutwater 242

[eagerkr]

On our way back from the San Juans we took some spray over the bow and tried to use the starboard wiper. That first attempt tripped the resettable fuse at the helm panel. I reset it and tried again, but nothing happened, so I switched it off and figured the motor had failed.

We motored on for a while and later stopped. That is when I heard the wiper motor running almost silently. I noticed a faint burning smell and touched the housing, which was unsurprisingly hot and burned my hand. Dumb, but instructive. I tried the panel switches again but they wouldn’t turn it off.

At that point we cut the house battery, which finally stopped the motor. Once things cooled down we tried to figure out what fuse behind the helm to pull, which was the 30A labeled 4SW PNL PWR which feeds horn, dock lights, and both wipers. It worked.

We are still making our way back toward our home port and everything else seems fine. I wanted to share in case anyone else runs into a similar issue.

Electrical fire avoided and we know what the first project is upon return.

 

[Eager]

Just as a follow up, the wiper initially moved about 5” of its sweep before failing. Thought maybe I had tried to use it too soon before there was enough water to let it work smoothly, so I tossed some fresh water on the windshield. Nothing.

Also, this thing didn’t just “kinda” warm up. The housing around all four screws that held it on had cracked due to the heat. When I took that housing off, there were small pieces of the red cog that forms the main gear littering the inside. Something went very wrong.