C5 X7 Wiper Motors, is there a permenant fix?

[Barney1979]

I have a 2009 C5 X7 2.2 HDi Exclusive Tourer. I bought the car in November 2024, almost straight away the wipers failed in the rain. The master motor was replaced with a used part and all worked well until a day of heavy rain last week. This is the second faliure in only a couple of months. Scuttle drains are clear and water doesn't appear to be pooling arund the motors.
I really like the car, but this is dangerous, is there a permenant fix? Do I get it repaired and sell the car?

[GiveMeABreak]

These can be deceiving as there is a master and slave motor and without a proper diagnostic, you may find it is the other wiper that is the issue!
Second, replacing with a used one may be have the same problem. But ther eare some guides on the forum where people have repaired these and resealed them. Usually it's water ingress and corrosion of the boards.

[Walter white]

I recently had similar problem with my wiper motors even though I contacted Citroen hq whom would replace my driver side motor under their recall policy but wanted me to leave them the car for a day? 20minutes would swap it out ?.

Anyhow I had removed them myself and cleaned out a pile of corrosion from water ingress cleaned what I could followed up by copper greased all around mechanical parts, inspection at electrical side all looked good circuit board has a waterproof coating over it. Replaced back into car still no movement inspected connector and thought it to be a little too lose. Tighten connector still no movement so give driver side a tap with back of screwdriver while wiper switch engaged and pressto got a flicker, so removed again back electrical part and bent out the two pins that go into the motor connector away from each other by a couple of mm reinstalled. Wipers working better than ever, have been running perfect for last six months at this point.

[aerodynamica]

Hi, I had this issue at the beginning. I connected the lexia and it said there was no communication with the driver side wiper motor. Trouble was that at the time ,(2021) there was a 25 week wait for parts caused by covid. Anyway I found a brand new passenger side motor for cheap and bought it and then a driver side used motor. Installed this and all was well. I examined the old motor and found it has let in water and the board was corroded. Mu plan with the left hand motor was to try and convert it to a right hand motor using its board but found that they are Left and Right specific. Seems obvious now but I was getting desperate with the car immobilised without wipers. Anyway I found that the main cause of water ingress was the single rubber seal around the edge of the alloy housing two halves. It was caused by the alloy corroding and distorting the seal. My solution was to paint the new motors with a coating of roof sealing paint. The stuff that can be used to fix garsge roofs even while wet. This was intended to protect the alloy from corrosion. It also acts as a second seal for the join.

Further, there's a plastic outer part that has a little groove to drain water away. This appears to have been modified after a date eg. My car is a 2008 so later models. Anyway this change has a longer lip to ensure any water drains below the level of the seal area. I swapped this plastic part from a later- manufactured motor to ensure longevity. So far so good and 3x winters later.

Probably only solution if you source new motors though but makes them last

[Estately]

Hi,
You will also find well documented and pictured on the forum a solution to wiper motor problems that involves realignment of the magnet on the drive shaft.

The correct magnet alignment ensures that the wipers are synchronised.

The magnets slip down the drive shaft and I suspect that this is caused by heat build up in the motor, cleaning and lubricating/greasing all moving parts will reduce

the likelihood of heat build up. With difficulty thread locker can be put on the drive shaft to reduce the possibility of the magnet moving once aligned.

To do this the cover has to be removed which will also give the opportunity to clear the drain hole and reseal the motor case. There should be a plastic sheet above

the motors to increase protection from water.

Hope that helps.
Andy.

[wurlycorner]

Just curious, it sounds like this was/is a recall item on x7's? Am I right in that and if so, do we know if it is still active and what model year to when, etc?