W126 wiper mechanism failure does happen...

[pawoSD]

I was on my way to work this morning when I thought I'd give the window a quick wipe/spray, so I press the stalk, it sprays, and the wipers come on out of their cave, a second later, they are stopped dead on the window over the passenger side....so I figure, darn, blew a fuse. So I continue on to work and begin to smell and electrical burning smell.....by the time I get to work it is really strong. So I park, and check the fuses, none failed! So I then notice smoke coming out of the wiper/cowling area. I unplugged the wipers from power, and made sure there was no fire. Now they are dead, I was able to manually push them back down into the "cave" but they first would not move, then a "pop" sound happened and now they move really easily. Sigh. So my entire assembly is probably shot. Tomorrow I will swap it out with the one on our parts car.

So even the W126 wipers can fail.......and the motor smells VERY bad when its burning up!

[JimmyL]

Yea, but aren't parts cars great!!

[MS Fowler]

Sounds like you popped the linkage off the ball stud on the now frozen motor.
The plastic socket for that ball stud is not available--at least I couldn't find one.
You need the whole motor to transmission assembly--junkyards are great place to find them.

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Sounds like you popped the linkage off the ball stud on the now frozen motor.
The plastic socket for that ball stud is not available--at least I couldn't find one.
You need the whole motor to transmission assembly--junkyards are great place to find them.

I know, I have one on my parts car and another on the shelf.

[pawoSD]

Replaced my wiper assembly yesterday. Motor was fried and smelled horrible....and the main pivot arm that connects to the motor had snapped off the ball joint. Its a pretty easy swap, and the one in my parts car was in great shape and works well. While in there I also found that the heated wiper deck flow-valve was leaking coolant, which is why I was smelling coolant sometimes while driving. Swapped that too. Good to know it was not the heater core!

[Junkman]

I've got the same thing on the diesel ram. There are contacts in the motor that fry but can be repaired. Easier to do the parts car swap but post pics if you take it apart. The problem on the ram was caused by ice that prevented the wipers from cycling back to home position.

[pawoSD]

My motor decided to give it up on a bright and clear day when I was washing the window (thankfully), I guess the last 3 months of intense snow storms and sleet did it in. The replacement works great though.