Intermittent wiper setting
The intermittent wiper setting on my '93 Plymouth Grand Caravan has stopped working. I hear a faint, regular clicking sounds when on intermittent, like a signal is being sent. The constant wiper settings still work fine. Also, possibly related to this, the wipers will not return to the bottom of the windshield when I turn the wiper control off. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have searched the forum and found only one similar problem but not exactly the same as mine. Thanks!
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I'll let someone else do this, I've spent enough money. Please reply if you resolved your problem.
It is really scary when this happens as you are driving down the road.
Has this happened to others?
Will I need a motor or I read here about a relay and corrosion. Any suggestions for me?
Thanks for your help. I appreciate all that can help me.
I'll keep you posted.
Okay, I have (mostly) good news; the wipers on my son's 1998 T&C seem to be working, for the moment at least.
Situation: Over the last six months the wipers became more and more argumentative, and finally got to the point where they wouldn't function at all in any mode.
What I've done:
1) Based upon the claim by the previous owner that the wiper switch (turn signal lever) had been recently changed, I bought a new motor and swapped it in (kind of an annoying job, especially when I noticed that the motor I pulled out was obviously recently remanufactured). The new motor didn't do anything and turned out to be a waste of both time and about $70.
2) Thinking that maybe I misunderstood the previous owner, I ordered a "multi-function" switch (none of my local shops carried this switch), and when I opened the box two days ago, I found a turn-signal lever for a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder (contrary to the correct Gen 3 Chrysler part number on the outside of the box). A couple of phone calls later and I had the correct part in my hand as of last night. Tonight I put it in (five screws and 1 plug, nice and easy), and once again, no improvement; the entire wiper assembly was completely dead. Another waste of time and $116.00.
3) I had the van in my nice quiet garage tonight (as opposed to working on it outside with kids, cars and whatnot making noise of all sorts) and I heard a relay clicking from under the hood every time I tried to activate the wipers. "Hmmm," I thought, "something is happening." I pulled the cover off the fuse panel and took a good look at the schematic. I unplugged a few of the relays and rotated them around, all seemed to be working but still no wipers. I then pulled the 30A fuse for the wipers (quite a chore getting that sucker out with just my fingers) and noticed some corrosion on the terminals. I gave them a quick wire-brush treatment and plugged it back in. BINGO! The wipers worked!
After thinking about this for a bit, it makes at least some sense. I remember seeing a schematic for the multi-function turn-signal stalk a few years ago, and the wiper control specification indicated that the different speeds and such were controlled by differing thresholds of resistance. If the fuse block had some corrosion on the terminals of the two Wiper Control relays and/or the Wiper fuse, then the levels of resistance would probably not be exactly what the system was expecting; and that might very well result in finicky wiper control.
At this point I'm going to keep a close eye on things, and if they start to deteriorate again I'll pull the entire fuse block and give it a good once-over; that or I might just pop for a new block entirely.
Oh! About the turn-signal wiper switch I pulled out; looks pretty new and has the exact same marking on it as the new one that I just put in. I suspect I now have a perfectly operable wiper switch as a spare. :P