I'm getting ready to fix my wiper switch and have been doing some searching and reading. I found the how-to's, but haven't seen anything about which relays do the specific functions. I'd like to know which relay to focus on.

The how-to here shows the three relays:

http://fc3spro.com/TECH/HOWTO/WIPER/wiper.html

My particular problem is the mist function. When I release the button, the wipers stop immediately without completing the cycle and returning to home.

Many thanks!

 

Hai**rs, P*le, any hardcore rotards?

Hello...is this thing on?

 

Do the blades park themselves if you're in any other wiper mode and flick the switch to "off"? I usually encounter switches that run only in low and don't park themselves. Replacement of what they're labelling Relay #3 solves the problem. Just be sure not to burn out any traces and you'll be fine.

 

The big one in the middle (partially covered) controls the 'low' (I) speed, and often doesn't go bad. The one on the bottom (little guy), control parking, intermittent, and high speed. That one's a pain in the *** and often is the source of trouble. The third relay is for the rear wiper, and often isn't even installed, but it's located at the top and shouldn't be covered from the factory.

I was able to fix both of my switches by cutting the plastic cover off, popping the relay cap off, removing the swinging plastic arm (Be careful with that!), and using a tiny file to grind the carbon off the relay then reassembling. I had one that had a bad contact on the portion that rotated which required tearing half the switch apart itself and sanding that down but in the end I didn't have to replace a single relay.

The little relay can give you quite a bit of trouble. The plastic arm should be 'up' and contacting the top pole by default. in high speed and mist, it should be pulled all the way down and stop contacting the top pole. In intermittent it sits in the middle and contacts both poles. Often you'll find that after cleaning the contacts it doesn't quite contact in the appropriate positions (my faulty switch wouldn't even trigger the relay on Int.). Took a lot of fiddling with to get it adjusted to contact properly.

 

Thanks guys. BTW, was the link I posted the same content as Mazdamark's site (Icemark, may he RIP)?

 

Ifryrice's tactic may also work, but for the switch rebuilds I perform I find it much more worthwhile to replace Mazda's non-sealed relay with the sealed one they should have used from the factory (Digikey Z950-ND) and eliminate the possibility of the contacts corroding again. I don't think the link you posted was the same one Icemark had on his site, but I could be mistaken. I believe his was different, but the web archive I checked only goes back to late 2007, and his writeup was not there.