Wiper fuse keeps blowing
 

Just bought this 1999 Eldorado for my girlfriend and the wipers and fluid won't work. Checked the fuse and replaced the blown 30a with another and it blew (did this twice) with the car off. Figured that I can just unhook neg battery and replace fuse but it blew as soon as the battery was hooked back up.


I noticed that there was no fluid (that I could see) in the pump reservoir so this must have been a previous problem the guy "forgot" to tell me about. I can move the wipers by hand which seems weird because any other car I've had you couldn't move them very easy yet these will let you pull one and both will make a full cycle.


I didn't figure the motor or pump would cause the fuse to blow without being turned on so I'm guessing it must be something grounding out somewhere. My question is where to start? I poke around with a flashlight but quite frankly I'm just not sure of where to start and stop at. It looked like the wires coming out of the motor and pump (if they are on the driver's side up against the firewall-if not I'm really not in the right place) were taped together (the wires coming from each unit not both units together) from the connector to where the disappear into a large group of wires surrounded by a protecting plastic shroud.


:(

I would look towards steering column. It would easy to unplug wiper motor just to be sure it's not shorted. You will need to remove panels under column & dash. The most likely place for short is column or shield below it.