So it rained today....duh...in Oregon!

But my wipers don't work on intermittent or regular speed. They work from the "tucked away" position, single down stroke on the switch, and they work in super-fast mode, but nothing else.

So, I figure it can't be a complete failure such as with a bad relay or fuse or lost ground or something.

Could it still be the motor/pulse board? I think I read there is no actual circuit board in there....true? My 98 chev pickup had one....hmmm.

Thanks for any help offered.

 

Check your udders... sounds like you got water in the wiper motor...
Any codes.... not sure if the wiper stick will throw codes or not if it's not functioning properly.... 8vette7 will know...

 

Thanks, haven't checked the udders for a bit. No codes.

 

Holy crap.....now that's complete advice! So now it'd either do this myself or farm it out......crap, I just spent $$ on having a new radiator installed and steering position sensor......but....somehow...this car is SO worth it. thanks much.

 

This is the control circuit board attached to the wiper motor that you may have heard of. They call it a "wiper motor pulse board". Although water resistant, it does not like being immersed in water I'm sure:



It's replaceable as a separate item if need be. The Delco part number (also the GM part #) is 12367295 $66.79 @ Rock Auto

HTH

 

Thanks all.....seems I'm just going to have to find the time to dig down to the motor/pulse board etc and check it out. So far, it does not seem to be a backed up bladder issue.

 

About a year ago I took my car through the car wash (big mistake I know now hahaha). Anyways I didn't even know the vette had udders at that time and I fried my wiper motor. Be VERY SURE you reassemble it properly. Take a ton of photos prior to disassembly the motor from the linkage and ensure the new motor you install is in its "seated" position prior to install. I battled for 3 hours trying to achieve the proper clocking of the cam so the wipers would rest on their mounts. It'll wear your patience thin, just take your time.

 

LoneStarFRC is correct. Wiper motor pulse board. I had an issue with intermittent and it went away with a new pulse board.

 

I just got a 2002 C5 with 20K miles last week and the wipers work but don't park correctly - they stay about 3 or 4 inches above the stops. In researching this issue I have seen everything including replacing the motor, the circuit board, the steering column switch and just re-calibrating (adjusting) the linkage, specifically the parking pawl and the park stop. But in analyzing it myself, I didn't see any mechanism that would reverse the motor rotation to park the arms in the correct location. Analyzing further, and looking at photos of the circuit board from underneath, I see what appears to be a set of contact points actuated by a white nylon cam. I am thinking this is what signals the the circuit board to cause the motor to reverse which would engage the parking mechanism (park stop and parking pawl). Anyone out there have experience with this? It would explain why everything works except the parking, which requires the motor to reverse for about half of a rotation. I'll be taking it apart once the temp gets above 50 degrees (or if I find a warm garage) to diagnose it myself, but in the meantime I thought I would check on the forum.

 

As far as I know, the motor doesn't reverse to put the wipers into a Park position. basically the motor spins a cam. The first position is the parked position, then it rotates in the same direct to the "rest" second position.

The wiper motor may not be getting a signal to park the motors. In my case, the wiring to the motor was heavily degraded from continued exposure to moisture. Once I removed the motor, I had to cutout all of the damaged wires, splice and solder in new wires and reconnect the motor. After doing this, I was get back full use of the wipers again. They were operating slowly before, I suspect due to increase resistance due to the deteriorated wires.

Adam

 

I had a 1999 FRC I ran through a car wash the bladders couldn't keep up with draining that much water so the controller got submerged and water leaked in. My wipers then would stay on or worked sporadically. Once water gets in its not going out. I took the controller apart dried it and sprayed it really well with WD40 put it back together worked great from then on. I only hand wash the Z I have now.

 

I agree that water is the likely cause, and I will rule that out first, however I have yet to see a clear description of the electrical circuit. In looking at videos on indexing the arms correctly, the motor shaft clearly reverses rotation for 1/2 turn in order to park the arms. If you look an the back of the circuit board you will see a white nylon cam that actuates several contact switches. It appears these contacts are the only way 12v power gets to the motor - the wires go to the circuit board, which then powers the motor through these contacts. So my theory is that when the wiper on/off switch on the stalk gets turned to the off position (remember, the switch only sends a control signal, and the + term on the circuit board is always hot when the ignition or acc is turned on) the signal to the circuit board stops, and on the next rotation the direction changes and the parking stop and pawl come into play. I'll have a definite diagnosis when the snow melts and I can take it apart. So for now I'm not buying any replacement parts until I can see exactly what's going on (or not going on)! For now I am thinking one of the relays on the circuit board (similar to the ones that go bad in the door control modules), or the contacts themselves are the likely culprits. Appreciate the feedback and I'll post my final diagnosis in the near future.