Windshield Wipers
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 5,941
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From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Windshield Wipers (Vette'78)
I was just getting ready to make this post. I am having a similar problem. I cannot even get my wiper door open with the switch, and therefore nothing happens with the wipers. I can open the wiper door with the override though.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,202
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From: Loir Valley Sarthe, France
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Re: Windshield Wipers (Vette'78)
Don't realy know the answer (Sorry :bb ), but it sort of sounds like it might be the switch? Presumably, when youy push the switch in, that is really activating the washers, and the wipers come on as part of that process?
Is the buzzing niose coming from the switch, the wiper motor, or the relay undwer the centre console? That might help narrow it down?
Is the buzzing niose coming from the switch, the wiper motor, or the relay undwer the centre console? That might help narrow it down?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 102
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From: Lawrenceville GA
Re: Windshield Wipers (Stephen Irons)
The buzzing is coming from what seems to be the middle of the dash. At first I thought it was the motor but it seems to work fine when I activate the washers :confused: Where is the relay located at? Right behind the center column?
Pro
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 601
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From: Nottingham
Re: Windshield Wipers (Vette'78)
Do you have intermittent wipers, with an electronic controller? If so, then in a 78 I think the controller is in the centre console. It'll be a circuit board with a relay and an ally heatsink on it. The chattering noise sounds like the park relay buzzing, which to me suggests a poor ground in the controller. (Seen exactly the same thing in my 80) The buzz sounds like its coming from the dash, as you say, but if you think about the position of the motor, it's solidly bolted quite close to the dash, so the noise travels through and makes you think theres a faulty coomponent in the dash itself...
The park relay is what starts the motor off (its built in to the motor) and its ground is made thru the controller. But the actual path thru the controller, that the current takes on its way to ground, depends on what mode you're in . (ie it'll be different for wash/wipe mode than it is for normal wipe mode) The fact that it works ok in wash/wipe suggests the park relay is fine, but a section of the controller board is dodgy.
Locate it, pull it out and resolder all the connections to the board (over 1/2 a dozen wires) Also doesn't hurt to put a hot soldering iron over each component connection on the board too - not for too long, just enough to melt the solder and remake the joints).
Good luck, these things are a pain in the ar$e!
:seeya
The park relay is what starts the motor off (its built in to the motor) and its ground is made thru the controller. But the actual path thru the controller, that the current takes on its way to ground, depends on what mode you're in . (ie it'll be different for wash/wipe mode than it is for normal wipe mode) The fact that it works ok in wash/wipe suggests the park relay is fine, but a section of the controller board is dodgy.
Locate it, pull it out and resolder all the connections to the board (over 1/2 a dozen wires) Also doesn't hurt to put a hot soldering iron over each component connection on the board too - not for too long, just enough to melt the solder and remake the joints).
Good luck, these things are a pain in the ar$e!
:seeya
