Its the wiper motor/relay question

[doclees]

OOPS too late. Just toasted another starter. Wipers, battery corrosion and starter seem to be connected with all this issue.

Change starter. No change in wipers. Just as a note though Advance auto now uses a different manufacturer for these starters because of QC problems.

 

[sdpatt]

The wiper motor sounds suspicious to me. Have you measured the resistance in the motor? Measured the voltage at the motor leads with the motor on amd off? Excessive current could cause the breaker to open until it cools down.

 

[doclees]

No I haven't done that yet. Really don't have much of a clue how. I'm willing but I need to be walked through electrical trouble shooting. I have a 89 shop manual and I just found a trouble shooting guide for the wiper motor and wiring diagram. Damn if I couldn't find this before! I also just found a Chilton's for up to 92. Looks like the same wiring.
The motor is a know working one from my 89. Never had any trouble with it before.
Well now I have something to work with. I'll start from scratch and follow the book guide but I won't be able to update until next Friday when I get back from vacation.
My recent dead starter was a blessing. As I go get my wife I see the muffler is hanging. Cracked at the Y pipe. After the tow truck dropped her off the joint broke free. This would have let loose while she was driving. That would have been a bigger ear full.
Do you think there is any possible connection between my bad starters and the wiper issue?

 

[doclees]

Finally got a change to check the motor amp draw test. Using my Actron multi meter to test amp draw set up the meter with the red lead in the 10A connection and my black lead in the common. As per my shop manual I pulled the top electrical 3 prong connector to the wiper motor, ran a ground from the battery to the low speed connection and a line out from the common connection. I set my meter so circuit passes from this common to my common (black) on the meter. My red lead connects to the pos battery post. Ignition key is off. Wiper switch is in off position. My meter reads 17.5 and the leads heat up quickly so 10 sec is tops. Soooo does this set up sound correct and if so I assume that 17.5 amps out of something that should be less than 3 amps is a bad thing.

Wait I may have screwed up the test. The book says disconnect the motor from the control arms. I didn't.

 

[doclees]

Otay, who has the answer to my puzzler??? The clue is above. Need more of a hint? I pulled the plugs to the installed motor and put them on the old motor. The old motor worked fine. So if the known good motor replaced the suspected bad motor why did I have the same symptoms? Easy, I mixed them up when removing them and reinstalled the suspected bad motor. I think we learned something here today. Turn your back on identical looking parts and they WILL switch places!

Thanks all