Can someone confirm that there were 2 different versions of wiper motors in the '98 XJ8s? Mine went kaput yesterday (or so I believe so far - could be just the transmission armature), anyway, spent 1/2 a day wrestling it out, found that one of the short arms of the armature had popped out of it's pivot point on one of the longer arms. Popped it back in, shoved the whole unit back, buttoned everything back up, still no workie.

Realizing I'm probably going to need a replacement, I checked out ebay to see what was available. I cannot find one that looks exactly like mine though. Mine has the motor and armature completely covered by the plastic housing. The ones for sale on ebay have the motor more or less on the outside of it's housing, with just the armature concealed under it. Also, the plug to it is different. Mine has a yellow 5 pin plug, and the ones for sale all have a blue plug, which appear to have 4 pins (could be wrong on that though... )

Has anyone one else encountered this with a early '98 XJ8? My car's man. date was 08/97 according to the door sticker. After doing some more (not much) testing later today, I'll probably be heading down the road of snatching a used replacement, and I want to make sure there's hope for my seemingly oddball motor predicament... i.e., adapt or plug-n-play this different variant motor I'm seeing. I'll snap a few pics later when I get it liberated from the firewall (*again*) this afternoon (weather permitting). Thanks!

 

Are you sure it is not a bad relay (or relays)? I thought mine was dead, but a swap of relays was all it took.

You should also pull down the SNG Barrett parts catalog and check for motors.

 

Yup, forgot to mention, swapped the relays and the checked the fuse, didn't make a difference. Which is kinda odd too. My relays are behind the driver's side headlamp as expected, but in order to disengage them, you have to pull the plug out from the bottom. Every relay I've ever seen, the relays just pull straight up to disengage. Thought that was odd I thought. At any rate, swapping them over didn't do anything for me.

The symptoms were strange when this first started. The wife hit the wipers yesterday morning to clear off the dew, and the wiper made one pass, and parked itself at 12 o'clock. After pushing it back down (with no resistance), we tried again, same thing. I messed with it a little, and probably caused the armature to snafu.

The motor is getting power I can tell, because it vibrates and makes noise while trying to push the wiper, so it's bound somewhere.

I'll check out the SNG catalog as suggested, and check for wiper motor variants. Thanks, and I'll keep at it 'till I get it resolved.

 

So I took another crack at it this morning. Still no workie. Was able to take the whole thing out again, and unbolt the armature. Hooked just the motor up by itself, and it worked perfectly. Then I bolted the armature back on, ran it again, while just sitting out in the open again... worked just fine. Arms moving and twirling just like they're supposed to. So I said to myself, just hold your mouth right now, and re-install it with as little jimmying, prying, and persuading as possible. Uh.. no. It takes a rather herculean effort to get the thing back under the cowl. You have to pry on the arms, wiggle, curse, 1 inch forward, 2 back every step of the way. So I finally get it back in, and fire it up... nope, the arms are binding somewhere in their travel and hanging up. And of course, you can't see back in there at all. Additional prying and persuading didn't cure things.

If you're thinking I'm just hacking at it, I'm not. I'm unbolting everything in it's path of egress and moving it out of the way. There just is little to no wiggle room to install the motor. You have to shoehorn the armature first in at a steep angle, then get under the arms with a pry tool to nudge them forward a little, then shove a little, then pry again... so on so forth. I know I'm being my own worst enemy here, probably bending the arms irretrievably out of spec when re-installing.

I took Jhartz suggestion and downloaded the SNG Barrett catalog to see what parts are listed for the 98-03's. The only wiper motor unit they show looks just like mine (page 82). Not sure what to make of that. I don't see any like mine for sale online right now.

So back to my original quandary. Realizing I'm fighting a battle I'm not going to win, the units on Ebay are looking better and better. They are different than mine however. The motor itself isn't fully tucked under the housing, it's more or less on the outside. Only the armature is under the housing, which looks like to me, that there would be less hardware to shove under the cowl, making the job a whole lot easier. Secondly, my existing unit has a yellow plug with 5 pins. The ebay units have a blue plug and 4 pins. I think I have that one figured out though. There's an adapter harness on my car which takes the native 4 pin plug to the 5 pin my motor requires. I think I can just eliminate the harness pigtail and the electrical should be plug-n-play. Additionally, from what I can see in pictures, the bolt holes of the housing all appear to be in the same place between the 2 variants, so that should work out as well.

So pics... the first is my unit liberated from the car. You see how the motor and arms are tucked under the housing?

The second is the harness adapter showing the connections it bridges.

The third and fourth are snaps swiped from Ebay ads, see the difference? Motors more or less on the outside and blue 4 pin plug.

So... has anyone else dealt this before on an early '98? I can't hardly believe I'm the only one. How did you resolve it? Hopefully someone knows that the infernal design I'm currently dealing with is easily remedied by just bolting up the other variant. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

May have just solved it... in my mind anyway. I'll have to test it during daylight hours tomorrow. I believe that when one of the short arms originally came undone, I probably hooked it back up 180 degrees opposite. Looking at the picture I posted of it, the 2 short arms are like 2 boomerangs facing each other. By comparison, other pictures of the ones for sale online, seem like 2 boomerangs curving away from each other. I think I need to reverse one of the arms and try again. We'll see. I'll post results tomorrow.

 

Last night I said I'd try reversing one of the shorter arms today. Tried.. failed. Doesn't work.

So now I'm searching out the best deal I can find for a used newer style motor and transmission armature. Got a line on one locally, but no deal yet. Anyway, that's okay... not really in that big a hurry now. As it turns out, I think my ill-fitting unit was put in xj6/xj12/xjs models . I see one on Ebay currently just like it, the ONLY one I've seen identical to it, advertised as being for a 6/12/S - up to 1997 model year (that part I think I figured out somehow) - but just 'cuz the seller says it is, doesn't make it a fact. But if it's true, that sort of confirms my suspicion, that the early VINs in the 98 run of production XJ8s got fitted with a different unit than what eventually became the more prevalent units you'll see for 98-03's. To further muddy the waters, I called a local Jag dealer today, and tried to pry out of the parts guy what his database said about the motors. He was convinced that the motor style I had was the only one they offered.. motor and armature fully enclosed in housing. I doubted that, especially since all I see on Ebay for XJ8s are the other type... but no matter. Turns out, a new one of those, whatever they are, costs $916 and is on backorder until May I think he said. So be it. All I can say is if these were indeed installed at the factory, they must have been installed before the engine or, most likely, from the other side of the open, gaping cowl. Maybe someday someone who knows will read this and set the record straight.

So yeah, I just couldn't make it work. I can't squeeze it back in the cowl without destroying it's operation. I can take it out, and bench run it, but it will not fit properly in situ without the transmission arms binding. Sure, it came out of there, and it's run there for the 7 years I've owned it, but it ain't going back in. Ain't happenin. After spending 10+ hours trying to make it work, I reached my break point today and ran - ran for the other style unit. Even if I have to kludge some kind of work-around with it for some stupid thing, it will be x1000 more satisfying and interesting than busting my back and knuckles another second with this thing. Shame too, because it's probably built better than it's predecessor. But it sure doesn't fit the application.

I realize this whole thread has mainly been just me whining, but there's a reason. I'm documenting my pain and anguish for the next poor guy who comes along and finds this thread when searching why his wiper motor in his '98 XJ8 is beating him up and eating his lunch. If your motor looks like the one in the first 2 pictures above, and it's a FHP Elmotor model# KSV 5035/590 12V - well... this is all for you. If you somehow manage to houdini it into the cowl of your XJ8 and it works, then my hat's off to 'ya man. Save your sanity though... 75 - 100 beans'll get you a better alternative. I can even say that without having one yet - There's no way it could fit worse.

I'll update one final time when I get the replacement, hopefully with a sweet success story, and I'll try to figure out how to change the name of this thread to append *SOLVED* or *FIXED* to it.

 

Gave up on hustling the motor/trans locally. Got one coming from Cali for $39 + free shipping. Can't beat that! Now if it'll just work... will update in about a week after it gets here and I put it in.

 

A few weeks ago, my wiper went to the passenger side and just stopped. I sprayed the pivot points on the arms and it works now as it should - it was binding. Not your scenario, but maybe will help someone here.
Jim

 

I had this issue (changed relays to no avail). I was able to find an aftermarket motor from a medium sized repair shop for about ~$115. They installed it. Of course, they did 'uncross' the coolant lines which promptly dumped all my coolant. I noticed immediately when looking under the hood. They fixed it. The chance you take with a shop that doesn't see many cats...

 

It slipped right in sooo easy... like buttah. All bolt holes lined up and electrical is plug-n-play (minus the harness adapter, it's not needed). The lesson I took from this, and likewise, the lesson anyone else who should find a FHP Elmotor model# KSV 5035/590 12V wiper motor and transmission in their XJ8 is this - Once (*if*) you get it out, DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT even try to put it, or another like it, back in. You'll be regrettin' it. Instead, get the different style (4 pin, blue plug), *used*, from a reseller.

The job is a piece of cake with the correct part.

Thanks to all who replied.

 

It's a shame you had to go through all that, but at least you have the satisfaction of contributing to the body of knowledge here on the forums.

Usually, if there is some kinda "red headed stepchild" anywhere in the mix, I'll end up with it.
I appreciate you taking this one!

 

Ha! Thanks. I figured my number was due to come up sooner or later. Happy to take one for the team. In the last 5000 miles I've logged on her, I've replaced the secondary tensioners and rear shocks using the easy methods detailed on this forum (zip-tie and bending rear subframe plate down, respectively) - both jobs went totally smooth without a hitch. I'm just thankful for the knowledge that's here, and that when Murphy finally caught up with me, it was just on a wiper motor.