2000 Ford F-150 wipers, windshield & visibility problems

Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford f150. On march 8, 2008, after activating the windshield wipers, the wiper motor caught fire. The contact was able to extinguish the fire. The vehicle is currently being diagnosed by the insurance company. There were no warning lights; however, the passenger side windshield wiper stopped working the previous night. The contact thought the failure was due to the snow on the wipers, but after they were cleaned, the wiper failed to operate. The current and failure mileages were 118,000.

The starter motor was engaging while the engine was running with the key in the run position. I had to disconnect the battery to stop it. The heater blower, parking lights, dash light and gauges, key chime, and radio would turn on and off by themselves without a key in the ignition. According to the ford dealer, this was all caused by water leaking in from the windshield causing the fuse block and gem module to short out. They said it was a common occurrence with windshield leaks on 2000 ford f-150's.