Windshield wipers are always on? OMG D:

[OM3GA]

I recently bought another hatch to use as a daily. It is in decent condition and the engine was completely stock which made me want it even more. It has some small issues one being that the windshield wipers do not work.

Well, i poked around a bit and found that there was no fuse in for the wipers. So now i place a fuse in to see what would happen and the wipers just came on or at least i could hear the motor. I took the arms off and realized that the inside of them were stripped for some reason Weird :/ well the stud that they are attached to was spinning fine so i knew that they worked. The issue is that they are ON all of the time, anytime the fuse is in and you turn the key to ACC or beyond, they come on. I have replaced the Wiper switch(the one on the steering column) and today i also replaced the wiper motor which also did not solve the problem.

Is there a relay or what the hell else could be causing this? I have not seen this happen before.

Thanks for any input.

[Razi]

Is it lowered?
It could've rubbed through the fender harness.

Other than that, I'm not really sure.
Probably a short somewhere.

[OM3GA]

Thanks for the input man, no i checked that too everything wiring wise looks great. It is really strange, the variable speed adjustment in the switch still works as far as the normal speed which is always on and then the high speed, the washer sprayer also works. It is a really strange issue since no wiring has been modified except for an old alarm that i took out but it was not wired to anything really anyways.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

That's really weird. A wiring issue would be my guess as well.

Is the plug damaged in any sort of way? Or maybe you have two faulty wiper stalks. Really can't be much else unless they're tied into something else.

[OM3GA]

The plug looks perfect, i changed both the motor and the stalk from another guaranteed working car. It did nothing, i just found out that the mysterious green box is actually a wiper amp that is located on the drivers side fender apron. I am going to try that next.

[super240sx7185]

Check the green box under the near the clutch master cylinder. Its for the wipers and couldve went bad.

[OM3GA]

Yeah that is what i have been hearing, it is the Wiper amp apparently. I will be trying this tomorrow night!

[Razi]

So that's what that weird green box is for!

[OM3GA]

I know lol, i remember wondering what that secret UNIT is for. lol

[EnjoiNismo]

LOL ironic my room mate has the same problem, started last week.

[coldcuts]

I have the same problem on a 93 convertible I just bought. The timing amp had been fried (fixed via hints found on this site) but there appears to be some other custom wiring work/fixes that went on with this car. I swapped out the Wiper Amp yesterday with no success.

I plan to stare at the wiring diagram until I am hit with some sort of inspiration. My guess is that some previous attempt at wiring a stereo or fixing the dash lights resulted in charging a circuit that shouldn't have been touched.

Fortunately is rarely rains in Pheonix...

[coldcuts]

I removed the timing module and the wipers returned to 'normal' (except for the intermittent function, of course). I am assuming that I screwed up the timing unit when I tried the dash-lights fix. I would try pulling your timing module and see if that cures your issue.

August

[OM3GA]

Ok, so what i did is this.

I changed the following:
-Wiper Motor
-Wiper Switch at the Steering Column
-I swapped out the green box wiper amp unit and tried it without one in and it was the same thing and then i also tried putting another one in and it did the same thing!
-I unplugged the Timing Control unit and it did the same thing also, not too sure how it is supposed to respond to this. I didn't have a spare to try.
-I unplugged a relay that was by the drivers side kick panel the bottom one under the flasher and they turned off but i replaced that with a new one and it still did the same thing.

I am completely stumped, the washer sprayer worked, the speed adjustment works. The first click down does not do anything different than when it is in the 'OFF' position. It speeds up a bit on the last two.

I have no idea what is left but to make a switch to complete the circuit at the fuse panel.

[coldcuts]

I swapped out the green box wiper amp unit and tried it without one in and it was the same thing and then i also tried putting another one in and it did the same thing!

Are you saying the wipers were still running even with the wiper amp unplugged? If so, I think you've definitely got a short, and I would bet it is between the wiper amp and wiper. I *think* you have 3 potentially hot wires into the motor (it grounds itself). 1 wire is always hot with ignition in on or acc, (this allows the wiper to return when switched off.) the other two should be hot depending on the switch position, and (I think) these are fed through the wiper amp. If that is unplugged and the leads are still hot, the crossed wire should be easy to find (or bypass.)

I hope to swap out my timing control unit today and hope that cures my version of the permanent wipers. Good Luck.

August

[OM3GA]

Yes they were running even with the wiper amp unplugged. I checked the motor connector and there was only one hot wire no matter what position the switch was in. I found that to be very odd because the variable speeds change accordingly however the intermittent setting and the off setting are the same speed, and possibly even the next click down.

I do however notice a change in speed with the last click.

I am stumped on this, i will follow the wires but i would hate to rip apart the harness.

[coldcuts]

Like you said: it makes no sense that there would be a change of speed with that last click if only 1 wire were hot. My theory was that something was lighting up the other leads, but if you are only seeing one hot line, then either the issue is in the motor (and the speed up is perceived,) or the your testing procedure is failing you. Or, perhaps the connector itself is faulty? My connector looked practically fried, and in serious need of a cleanup. Maybe the connector is simply shorting out when connected to the motor?

[OM3GA]

I'm not sure, i have swapped the motor out already also with no luck. The connector looks clean besides the grease on it but there is no corrosion or anything.

[coldcuts]

OK, I replaced my timing control unit, and can now dim my dashlights, but the wipers are on all the time. I tested with a voltmeter and, like you, only have power heading to one lead no matter what the switch position. I find that charming.

I found this link

http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/294887-wi ... -help.html

which suggests:

Front wipers not turning off means a problem in the wiper motor wire that goes to the wiper amp. This wire shows ground when the wipers are at base position. Otherwise the wiper amp will keep moving the wipers to try to get back to base.

Trace every single wire to the source and reconnect properly.

Other places suggest that the wiring harness near the passenger wheel well wears through. I am going to start my search there.

Good luck.

[OM3GA]

Thanks for the info, i have replaced the wiper motor and it is not that for sure. However it could very well be a wire leading up to it but all of the wiring is untouched and the car was not low enough to rub through any wires at all. I guess i will take the plastic loom off and check out all the wires but what a waste of time haha.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

I have the solution for your problem!





I think the year or so I drove my car on the street, I could count on one hand how many times I used my wipers.

But yeah, definitely sounds like a wiring issue now. Maybe you have some gremlins in your car. Haha.

[coldcuts]

Solved!

Near as I can tell, my 240 must have had some front end work, as the engine wiring harness appears to be spliced in near the firewall. Whoever did the splicing did a decent job of matching wire colors (Blue with Yellow stripe to Blue with Yellow Stripe, ...) but did consider that there might be TWO of the same color wire in the bundle. I've not finished testing each wire, but so far I've found 4 pairs that needed to be swapped. Correcting these has meant: intermittent wipers work, and wipers return to rest correctly, windshield washer works, headlights retract, cruise control no longer hooked up to horn button, etc.

Granted, this can't be a common issue, but I thought I would share my success.

[bladetech8]

^ ^ ^ lol that's quite a mess someone made there. Good job figuring it all out though lol..

[OM3GA]

That is disgusting lol.

[coldcuts]

Its scary:


When I was a very little kid, my parents bought me a small toy truck. I took it completely apart with a screwdriver, and couldn't get it back together. This feels eerily similar.

I had to pull the fender loose, remove the fender liner and unclip/unwrap the wires to free up the splices on the passenger compartment side of the firewall.

To finish the checks, I have to pull the rest of the dash out. I think there are crossed wires between the automatic transmission control unit and the rest. The OverDrive light doesn't work, etc. There is also a diode pack I can't seem to find but in theory is somewhere behind the center console.

Wish me luck!