W124 Wiper Motor Fried?

[RobertFini]

275 miles and seven hours today through a winter storm in my '94 E320T, and 30 minutes short of my destination the wiper stopped running. I bought the car about three years ago and the wiper was sluggish back then, so I opened up the housing and lubricated the gears like everyone says (although the actual faceplate for the housing was missing and I really just pulled up the plastic cover). It helped somewhat, but would still occasionally struggle and then stop; I could usually get it running again by working the control switch back and forth.

Finally today, it just stopped mid-swipe and wouldn't move no matter what I did with the switch, and then I started smelling the unmistakable odor of burning electrics as I assume the motor tried and tried and tried to get the wiper to the park position but simply couldn't. It did eventually park, but I dared not use the wipers again for fear of having to bail out into the snow as the car burst into flames.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated: is the motor toast? Why did working the switch back and forth used to get it going again? Is there something else I should investigate?

[Zulfiqar]

most probably the motor jammed internally (seen it on other brands of cars). Your best repair would be to find another motor/assy.

almost any later than 1992 W124 will fit

[TnBob]

PnP @ 0 degrees, nooooo fun

[dtf]

My '95 E300D is experiencing the same warning signs...the dealer says the motor and wiper transmission are due to fail. Depending on the make of the system it is between $900 to $1100 to fix both - guess what...I just don't drive in the rain...for now.

[Zulfiqar]

its not that hard to remove the wiper on the E300D - and takes little time to disassemble it and grease it.

[mpolli]

If you have the time you could take the motor apart and see what happened. It could be the brushes are worn. Maybe they could be replaced. I had a ford wiper motor where the magnets became unglued from the case. I kind of doubt that would happen in a Mercedes one.

[Chris W.]

The wiper, motor, and transmission is a ~$100 item at a "recycling" yard. And in case you are wondering, you can get the one piece gasket (assuming your unit has this) off your old one and on to a new (used) unit does not have the gasket with it. Carefully heat it up with a heat gun and it will stretch around the unit to remove, etc.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 411K, on its second wiper ass'y

[pawoSD]

I had the same thing happen on my 300SD....assembly locked up and fried the motor, smelled terrible for days!

[sthomen]

no, hope it blew the fuse. on the wiper arm itself at bottom there is a cover. under that cover is a shock that operates the pulsing of the arm. WD40 it and replace the fuse. the motor should not burn up, if the proper fuse is in place