CJ-7 Wiper Ground

[18delta]

After a month of sitting idle my 86 CJ7 wipers (and washer) have decided to go on strike.
Everything worked fine when I parked it and now nothing. I suppose it's a result of some grounding issue, resulting from corrosion or whatever.
Does anyone have a good place to start?

 

[Torxhead]

The corrosion does sound like a good possibility. The wiper motor is grounded from a steel braided wire running from the negative battery terminal to the firewall. From there it does still have a lot of traveling to do. You could try running a jumper wire from the negative battery terminal to the wiper motor housing, this would bypass the oem ground connection. There could also be a corrosion issue with the wiper motor switch also, but a little operating the switch should correct that. The wiper motor will also not operate with the windshield down as that can break the ground connection.

 

[18delta]

Thanks Torx..
I always think bad ground when anything electrical raises it's head.