The vehicle is a 1997 Fiat Punto 1.3ltr.
Originally the wipers stopped working, and this was put down to a wiring fault in the fuse box. The motor has now been hard wired (with fuse) and avoids the fuse box. Next the wiper motor was replaced (twice) as it started making a noise when operated. Now the motor is noisy again, and occasionally the wipers wont operate (although the rear wiper is never affected). Our local garage puts the problem down to the motor filling with water! Does anyone have any similar experiences and how was it overcome (short of scrapping the car)!

IanB, July 2009

this fault is actually caused by excessive loading of the wiper arm spring tension , it causes excessive load on the plastic pinion gears in the wiper motor gearbox , as a result the bearing cage dissintigrates on the commutator end of the motor shaft , causing noise and the wipers will stop as the shaft jams from turning . replacing the motor unit will result in the same fault on the new unit . the fault is not caused by water entering the motor casing , which is a common story . if you wipers stick due to ice , then a heat dependant resister in the motor return to ground , protects the motor winding from burning out . the wipers go ok when it cools down , however if the wiper tension is excessive, the motor will slow and stop in heavy rain .
hope this helps - peter freeman - senior technical advisor for fm security services .

peter freeman, November 2012

Hi there we have a p reg fiat punto and had a similar problem in that an awful noise would come on every time we put the wipers on it would you crazy. The wiper linkage was all dry and worn so we went to a car breakers and got to take a motor and the linkage off a t reg punto for 10 pounds,best 10 pounds we ever spent, we fitted it (only took 10 mins) and its brand new no noise and the wipers are going better than ever!

Emma, July 2009