Have a 64 cutlass and havent had wipers since I got the car last fall. Recently I replaced the switch and found the ground strap was trashed so made my own wire ground from the motor to the body.

Now I finally have windshield wipers!!.....but they won't turn off. Even if I unplug the switch entirely, they still run at the same slow speed. I have the connector at the motor unplugged so they don't run, but they didn't park so they're 1/4 way up the windshield.

Any help for a guy who's specialty is definitely not electrical?!

I have the round 2 speed wiper motor, and a 2 speed switch. Every now and then

 

The windshield wiper motor control has power at all times when the key is on and operates of the ground supplied by the wiper switch on the dash. You apparently have a shorted ground keeping the motor running. Double check the way you installed the new ground.

 

The problem is likely a bad or mis-adjusted park relay. The two speed wiper continues to run the motor briefly after you switch the wipers off to get the arms to the park position. A cam on the internal motor shaft physically opens this relay contact when the arms are in the correct park position to turn the motor off. There seems to be an epidemic of bad park relays lately, as I've had this happen on three of my vehicles in the last couple of years.

 

I double checked and it's just like the factory unit ground strap. Think the switch isn't making a good ground??

hmm. Is there a way to test the park relay, or can I open the motor up and view it's actions while it's running??

 

Try this

 

^^^THIS! That's a nice, concise graphic.

 

I found it on the internet...

 

See? If it's on the internet it must be true

 

Except that in this case, it is!

 

Hey Joe, just tried this test and we have wipers at low speed! Some clicks for high speed, and step 3 just keeps them going on low speed

Everything on the internet is true, right? If not I've told some weird false-facts 😆😆

 

So just to confirm, when you have terminal 1 connected to terminal 3, and NO connection from terminal 3 to ground, the wipers still run at low speed? If so, you've got some sort of internal short to ground in the motor windings.

 

That's correct. So new motor needs to hit the shopping cart eh?