Intermittent Wipers not working

[Meccathor]

For the past few years, my intermittent wipers have not worked at all. The two other speeds, fast and extremely fast, work perfectly though. I was looking through my factory service manual, and found that the possible causes of the problem are either A) The Time Control Unit (TCU), B) The wiper amp, or C) the wiper switch.

The problem is that I have no idea where any of these things are located. I searched around this site, Zilvia, and 240sxforums, and didn't really find any answers, hence this thread....

I took these two pictures in my engine bay and I'm pretty sure one of them is the wiper amp, so if you know which is the amp, let me know, and then tell me what the other one is...

I think this one is the wiper amp, but not positive, as i've read in a bunch of threads that its located on the passenger side, though that my only be for s14's...



Here's the other side of the engine bay, I think this is the wiper motor, but again, i'm not positive on that...



As for the Time Control Unit, I have no idea where it is at all. The FSM doesn't give a very good description of its location. So if anyone knows, please let me know.

Also as far as when the FSM refers to the wiper switch, is it talking about the physical switch on the steering column?

Finally, As I was looking around for the TCU, I was checking under the driver side kickpanel and I found this connector that isn't plugged into anything. Does anyone have any idea what this thing is? Here's a picture:



Thanks to anyone who replies!

[Meccathor]

I've gotten answers to most of my questions from other forums, so all I really need to know now is where the Time Control Unit is.... Anyone have an idea? Thanks.

[dfw240_EE]

I am having the same problem. So what were the answers? I am curious. I do know that cylinder is the wiper motor, but is that the wiper amp?

Also look at EL-53 to EL-55 of the FSM, I think you may have found that already but it's there. Also, page EL-88 shows where the Time Control Unit is. It is near the Fuse box.

[Meccathor]

dfw240_EE: The first picture is the wiper amp, the second is the motor, the third picture is the consult port. The Time Control Unit is below the fuse box under the driver side kick panel.

I'll probably get around to pinpointing whats wrong with my wipers this week sometime and then i'll let you know what it was.

[Timeless240]

POSSIBLE SOLUTION:

This happened to me when I blew a 10amp fuse under the drivers side fusebox by playing around with my cd deck wiring harness with the car on. Fuse blown, deck would not turn on, and first wiper setting wouldnt work. Replace the 10amp fuse. It's the red one, 4th one up from the bottom on the left side of fuses.

Take it out with needlenose pliers and see if its blown.

Meccathor, see that last picture you posted? I also have that wiring harness just dangling in the wind, weird, huh? Also, The fuse I said to check is right there, where there are 3 consecutive red fuses on the bottom left side. Check and replace the top of those 3.

[Meccathor]

It's not a fuse. Someone on Zilvia mentioned the same thing and I checked every single fuse in that box to be sure. They're all fine.

[Meccathor]

I got it fixed...

I took my TCU out and followed the pinpoint check in the factory service manual. Everything checked out ok, so I put it back together and my intermittent wipers started working again...

Really wierd...

A connection must have been loose somewhere and the process of taking it apart and putting it back together had it make contact.

Thanks for all the help everyone, I hope this thread turns out useful for others.