jimmyv13

My intermittent wipers don't function all the time. Sometime when I turn them on they will work for 10 min or so and then stop. Then I have to click over to low to get them to work. They work at both low and high speed. It's got to be an electrical problem, but I don't know where to start. This has been an ongoing problem for about three years, so if the relay was on it's way out, it shoulda quit by now, don't ya think?. Is there anything in the steering column that I should check? Ideas, fellas?

Johnny_84_GSL

dude atleast your wipers work sometimes......on occasions you'll see my *** in the middle of the highway picking up my wiper that just fell off or flew off, it sucks when you have to depend on rain-x when it rains......anyway it sounds like a stupid eletrical problem to me, take the plastic cover off the column apart to see if there's any wires with bad connections, maybe your relay is on its last leg, or its been on its last leg for a few years....

Pittdp

Mine has done the same thing for years, if any one knows what part to order or where this part is on the car, please let us know.

rx7passion

just take the system apart and clean it, take steering wheel off and its fairly simple just dont loose the 3-4 balll bearings. make sure you clean the connection too sometimes (like on mine) there was a bunch of crap stuck in there that didnt help the connection.

rebuild the wiper armn if nessicary. usally the U joint things get rotted out and make them all slack. epoxy can help too

Denny

The RX7passion is right...Clean. clean. clean....
Swing by Radio Shack, though sometimes the Auto Supply House will carry it, pick up some Contact Cleaner....Take the cover off and with a toothbrush (NOOO! That one's your girlfriends!) I don't think brake/parts cleaner will ruin the plastic, but try a little first. Clean and brush....Use the Contact Cleaner....Now, regrease the pivot points and the ball bearings, use the type of grease that comes with plug wires....What's it called dilectic, or somethin'....

As for blades flyin' off, make sure that little pin is in the correct way. One way you can pull the blade off and on easy, the other way you can't...Replace the pin when you change blades. I just bought some fancy *** Bosch Blades, can't wait to see how good they really are....

Denny, from the 'ol corncrib....

abeomid

i have the same problem + when i turn off my wiper, it just stops there, it doens't go back to the bottom of the windshield, so i'm use to turning it off right at the bottom

rx7passion

yeah denny said what i forgot to say, dielectric grease works wonders, just dont get it all over your hands and ground yourself when your workin on the battery or alt

jimmyv13

I've torn apart the arm assemblies and greased them........ everything outside seems to be ok. I get into the column this weekend. What do I need to take the steering wheel off for? I can see everything from the side can't I?

Pittdp

I have changed out my entire turn and whipper assembaly and had no change in the delay portion of my whippers working, I have alwy thought it was a relay under the dash, because you can hear a click when the relay starts to work. Mine will work only it starts in the middle of my window and then stops in the middle, and when i have the whippers on high or low and shut off it will just stop were the it was on the window without going back down.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Intermittent wipers work by sending a one seccond pulse to the wipers just to move them up. Once they are up, they run off the auto park switch. The auto park switch is in the wiper gear box. If this switch goes bad, not only will you have bad intermittent wipers, but also, the wipers will no go to the bottom of the windshield as they are turned off.

If you really wanna fix it, you'll have to remove the wiper assembly and dismantle the gearbox to clean or repair the switch.

Pittdp

Pele, that is exactly what mine is doing. Are you refering to the gear box that is out side the car between the hood and windsheald? If not where is this box?

rx7passion

you could try tearing it apart without the steering wheel off but it would be alot harder than taking the nut off and working on it at a bench imo, try it and see if you can do it

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Only gearbox related to the wiper system I know of. :p

Open it up carefully, and turn the shaft that comes from the motor carefully. You'll see how it works.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Logicon is for later model A/C and vent controls. There is a CUP under teh dash next to teh fuse box. (Actually not a CPU. A couple timers and relays for the time-delay wipers, lighted entry system, and other doodads, and noise maker for door open.)

jimmyv13

Thanks Pele....I'll check those out tomorrow.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

You don't need to check the logicon. It's not related at all to the wipers. It's just the thing with all the A/C controls mounted on it.

The CPU shouldn't be suspect if the wipers at least start to move when you put it in intermittant.

It's most likely the auto-park switch in the gear box under the cowl.

abeomid

ok i fix my problem with the int and wiper not going down. I bring out the wiper motor and opened up the big circular thing the the gear come out of it (three 8mm bolts). There are two electrodes inside that come in contact if the wiper is down and would not be in contact if the wiper is not down (hence they move the wiper down).
My problem was that there was so much grease in there that no electric contact was possible. I cleaned the extra grease and the wiper works like the first day out of factory.

Thanks guys for the help.

Denny

I spent over three hours foolin' around with my non-functional rear wiper assembly. Took the unit off, cleaned it all up, regrease, motor and internals work fine. Tracing the electrics I found that the break in the power was where the the gas tube contacts meet each other. I cleaned up the metal as best I could, used contact cleaner, then put on di-electic grease....No good.

Does anyone have knowledge as to getting the power to connect at the gas tube? Anyone have this problem and solved it?

Scratchin' the back of my head,
Denny, at the 'ol corncrib....

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Is there a big gap between the wiper side of the contact and the gas tube? I'd have to take a look at mine to see how they fit together, and how the wiper side of the contact attaches to the piston rod.

Perhaps you can slide the contact up toward the gas shock tube?

You do have power to the center and outer contacts on the tube and a secure ground on the tube and piston rod themselves, right?

jimmyv13

Would the time-delay wiper relay be suspect? This is what I was talking about going to check, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

I would <b>only</b> check the time delay relay and circuitry if the following were true:
<ul>
<li>Fuse is good</li>
<li>Wipers work in both Low and High speeds</li>
<li>Wipers go back down when switched on and then off when pointing up (Try it a few times, sometimes the will work and sometimes not.)</li>
<li>I really felt like digging under the dash</li>
<li>I was sure that position on the wiper switch was good.</li>
<li>I had the proper diagrams on hand</li>
</ul>

P.O.S. Racing

On mine if I jumped 12 volts to the rear wiper and it worked. So I knew I had a good motor. Spent a lot of time cleaning up the spring-loaded connector setup on the strut rod. Mine had the tabs bent a bit on the glass side of the connector, so it didn’t make good contact when the two halves meet. You may have a similar problem

Hope I was of some assistance!

Denny

Right-O, P.O.S. and Pele,

Direct wired it, bypassing the slide contacts. Blew 3 10 amp fuses foolin' around today. With the direct wire it works fine, but now that I think about it I'll bet I'm missing a circular non-conductive gasket/protector in between the contact points. I'll check my GSL with operating rear wiper tomarrow and see if I missed something....Tabs bent? Don't look like it, but Hell, anything's possible....More exploration in order, but I feel close to a final solution....Oh, boy....

A tip of a Stetson,
Denny, from the corncrib

Pittdp

Does anyone have pics?