Title:MID-90'S WIPER MODULE CIRCUIT BOARD REPAIR
Author:Compiled from articles written by: Jonathan Race & Rod Williams
The fault in this circuit board is quite common & is attributed to bad solder joints (design error or manufacturing flaw). Symptoms that indicate a bad circuit board include (but are not limited to): wipers won’t work or work intermittently, wipers stop working for no apparent reason, erratic wiper function in mid-stroke, delay feature doesn’t work; delay time doesn’t change regardless of setting, or no low- or high-speed setting. Wipers may start to work if you tap on the wiper module or move the electrical connector. The fault in the board is most often caused by bad solder joints holding the large socket onto the printed circuit. Re-soldering the cold solder joints on the wiper circuit board, on a 96 GMC Sierra, takes about 15 minutes. 1) Pull the wiper fuse, disconnected the harness from the wiper motor board, use a T20 Torx driver to remove the 3 fasteners, the circuit board should come out with little coaxing - be gentle. Do not crack, bend or break it. The circuit board is approx. 2"x 4" & has two distinct sides. The top is the side where all the components reside; the large black socket is for the electrical connector. The bottom is where all the lead wires from the electrical components poke through the board & are soldered to the printed circuit. Carefully wipe any excess grease off the board. Use a good electrical cleaner & canned air to remove any dirt. 2) Take the circuit board to a suitable work surface/bench. Set your circuit board bottom side up so you can see the solder joints for the socket onto the printed circuit. Use a powerful magnifier & inspect the board & all of the solder joints, looking for any that have obvious cracks in the solder, where the connection have loosened up. If the board itself is cracked or broken, then you may have to get a new one. (See NOTE: below) Each drop of solder connects a lead wire from the socket to the printed circuit. Carefully inspect the tiny mounds of solder underneath the large socket on the bottom of the board. A bad solder joint may look like it has a tiny circle in the drop of solder around the wire end, a chip or crack in the little mound of solder. At this point, you will need a soldering gun & solder, & a steady hand. 3) Heat up the soldering iron, clean the tip with a damp sponge (important), tin the tip with the hot iron using rosin core solder (not acid core) just long enough until the gun melts the existing solder & the new solder mixes in with it & each joint has been re-melted together.. Re-melting the original solder & adding some extra should repair the joint & make continuity again & reinforce it. Repeat for all the solder joints in question, & for all the socket solder joints. Don't overheat your work, or solder may run down & create a short to another circuit, or you may unknowingly fry a component on the other side of the board. Allow everything to cool. 4) Make sure there is plenty of grease in the motor gears then re-install the assembly & test. The wipers should now work fine, including the delay cycle. Note: (The following is UNTESTED) If there is any place on the board where it appears that the circuit board & copper lead (that goes to the largest component) has split, or that looks like a burned area, & you are still experiencing problems, I.E. the washer fluid mist does not work, the piece of copper lead that is missing might belong to the mist function (but this is NOT KNOWN). Perhaps soldering a wire connecting these two parts might work. Compiled from articles written by: Jonathan Race & Rod Williams
Edited by: Dougofthenorth
Revision date: 2004 Jul 30
Edited by: 92SonomaST
Revision date: 2004 Aug 6
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