Intermittant Wipers not working

[Coleman Brumley]

Hello.



I've been having an issue where my wipers weren't working on neither the intermittant nor the low settings. My wipers would only work on high.



Thinking the multifunction switch was bad, I ordered one from Tom Clark to help him part out his '01. I removed the upper and lower steering column covers and found that a couple of the wires were loose on the connector for the switch. Similar to <a href="http://www.mysporttrac.com/MySportTrac/projects/Steering_Column_Wiring_Repair_Gen1.pdf">this article</a>.



I made sure the wires were tight and got a good connection. Before putting everything back together, I tested the wipers. No dice. :cry:



So, now I'm wondering what else it could be. Every other function of the multifunction swtich is working (blinkers, emergency blinkers, high beam, etc.). Could it be the relays for the wipers? How would I test those before buying new relays, or do I have to just bite the bullet, get new relays and swap them? And, if that doesn't work, then what else could it be?



UPDATE: I replaced the 45A and 45B wiper relays (high/low relay & run/park relay) and this corrected the problem. The replacements were cheap enough ($15 for both at NAPA) that I just replaced them without testing the old ones. So, in my case, it looks like the culprit was bad relays. However, I'm suspicious that the loose wires in the wiring harness also had something to do with it.



Thanks in advance,

Coleman

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Possibly the realy or the motor itself.

 

[Coleman Brumley]

I'm going to get both high/low and Run/Park wiper relays tomorrow and try that.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Try testing the relays with a circuit tester to see if their working.

 

[Richard L]

Try tilting your steering wheel in different postions and see if that gets your intermittent wiper workin.



Early Gen-1 Sport Tracs had a problem where the wiring harness in the steering column did not have enough slack and it pulled on the wires when the wheel was tilted up. Wires would get pulled out of the connector or even broken and caused sporatic and strange failures of the wipers, lights, turn signals, horn, ignition, stater, and everything else that is wired through the steering column.



The only way to know is to remove the covers from the lower steering column and inspect the wires and connector to insure there is sufficient slack to allow the wheel to tilt the full range, and that no wires are pulled loose or broken.



...Rich

 

[Jeremiah Morgan]

Im going to go with wiring issue or Multi-function switch!

 

[Coleman Brumley]

Rich, I've already removed the cover checked all of the wires and made certain they were well seated. No wires were burnt or frayed, but two were loose in the wire harness. I've corrected that via the article from my original post above. Tilting the wheel either way (all up or all down) makes no difference in how my wipers are working.



At this point, I'm going to rule out the MFS because it's peculiar that 2 would fail the same way. I could be wrong though, because the replacement was used.



My next step is to change the relays and see if that works. Then, the motor after that.



Coincidentally, it's raining here today (for the first time in several days) so the relay changes are going to have to wait a couple of more days.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

It just stopped raining, get out there and fix that truck. Are you affraid to get wet.

:bwahaha::driving::banana:

 

[Coleman Brumley]

Jerry, not afraid of getting wet, afraid of getting shocked! LOL



:bwahaha:

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Yea big baby, that won't put out enough current to barely feel it. If you were closer to Pittsburgh I'd help ya out.

:banana::bwahaha::driving::haveabeer:

 

[Coleman Brumley]

The problem was the relays. Swapped both hi/lo & run/park with new ones and all is good now. :banana:

 

[Coleman Brumley]

Yea big baby, that won't put out enough current to barely feel it.

I know, I was joking!!! :rofl:

If you were closer to Pittsburgh I'd help ya out.

Thanks for the offer. I'm in the 'burgh all the time for work, we should get together for a frosty beverage sometime.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Yeah we should, JohnnyO was talking about meeting up again too. Not sure when or where as moneys kinda tight but we'll figure out something. I'll be out at TruckFest at Summit racing on Saturday, hopefully I can sell my show truck out there. :haveabeer: