Back to this issue: my wiper delay!

[hairball]

Okay, so as I previously posted a while back, my wiper delay only seems to work when it wants to. It doesn't works very often. I'd say MAYBE 1 out of every 25 times I used my wipers. So, naturally I thought it was the delay relay or switch. So, after I called the dealer and their oldest, most experience service tech said the relay was inside the switch, I replaced the switch. Still did NOT work! But hey, I got a more "cool" delay from an LE. This one has variable speed delay and my original had only one delay speed.

So now for the shocker: Yesterday, it worked again. A couple times. This is with the new switch.

Now, since I believe it might not be in the switch, I'm again (as I did 15 months ago) wondering if the problem could possibly involve the wiper motor. Anyone know? Anyone have no delay until they replaced their motor?

I've had a replacement wiper motor for over a year, but never installed it because someone told me it was NOT the motor, it was the switch. Well, if any of you has ever replaced a wiper motor you know they are not fun. So, I figured it was in my switch.

Now, since it didn't work after buying another switch but suddenly worked again yesterday, I'm baffled and bewildered and beffudled.

COULD IT BE my motor? The guy at the wrecking yard said the motors with 2 wire plugs have the wiper delay relay built into them, but if they have only 1 plug, they do NOT have the delay relay in them. It made sense, so I believed him. Then on a wiring diagram, it shows the relay INSIDE THE SWITCH.

My wiper motor only has ONE plug. It's square, with 4 prongs.

Any ideas on why my wiper delay works when it wants to would be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind: I live in Washington State, and it's winter.

[white90dx]

Do the wipers always work in "low" and "high" ?

Do the wipers work when you 'mist' the windshield?

Do the wipers correctly park themselves if you turn off the wipers when they are mid-stroke?

The delay control is internal to the switch according to the diagrams I have.

The four wires are:
high speed power
low speed power
'power in' for 'parking' the wipers
'power out' for 'parking' the wipers

The motor is grounded directly to the car body.

-Charlie

[hairball]

Originally Posted by white90dx

1. Do the wipers always work in "low" and "high" ?
2. Do the wipers work when you 'mist' the windshield?
3. Do the wipers correctly park themselves if you turn off the wipers when they are mid-stroke?

The delay control is internal to the switch according to the diagrams I have.

The four wires are:
high speed power
low speed power
'power in' for 'parking' the wipers
'power out' for 'parking' the wipers

The motor is grounded directly to the car body.

-Charlie

Answers: (I numbered your questions for easy reference)
1. Yes, always.
2. Yes. Every time.
3. NO! NEVER! EVER!

Does this help? I sure hope so.

So yes, the wipers ALWAYS work. But if I put them in the delay position on the switch (old one AND new one) they just go regular speed slow. If I move the switch to High, they move fast. So far, so good. But when I turn them off, they never park!!! Even when I use the mist thing, I have to park them. If I let of pulling for mist, they stop where ever they desire.

Sound like the switch? Or motor? Again: nothing changed after newer combo switch. It did the same thing before as it still does: never parks and only delays when it decides it wants to.

[hairball]

I was tempted to buy an aftermarket delay from J.C. Whitney like I had years ago, but I remember (and still have the instruction sheet) that you have to set them up to park. But since mine never park, it seems an aftermarket unit would only do what my factory one already does. It would stop where ever it decides to stop.

[nuron]

http://www.camryforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36769

Post #6 might be able to help you.

[hairball]

Hey, thanks much Nuron! Had I stayed in that "other" forum, I might have seen that. I left after a year because it was getting overpowered by spam posts trying to sell purses and handbags, shoes, sunglasses, and more. That was the day I found TN and never looked back! TN wouldn't think of allowing spam, but the "other guys" not only allowed it, but would do nothing to control or stop it.

Thanks again! I'm going to try that trick this weekend! Well, first I'll try the new motor that I picked up from the wrecking yard over a year ago! If that doesn't work, then I'll open up one of them. At least I have a spare motor in case something breaks inside! LOL!

I appreciate your link. It's too bad the OP of that wiper fix post didn't take a picture of what he was talking about. Like our "famous" Charlie, a.k.a. "white90dx" (famous in my eyes because he seems to know a LOT about the Camry!) would say...
"A picture is worth a thousand words"!

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by hairball

Answers: (I numbered your questions for easy reference)
1. Yes, always.
2. Yes. Every time.
3. NO! NEVER! EVER!

Does this help? I sure hope so.

So yes, the wipers ALWAYS work. But if I put them in the delay position on the switch (old one AND new one) they just go regular speed slow. If I move the switch to High, they move fast. So far, so good. But when I turn them off, they never park!!! Even when I use the mist thing, I have to park them. If I let of pulling for mist, they stop where ever they desire.

Sound like the switch? Or motor? Again: nothing changed after newer combo switch. It did the same thing before as it still does: never parks and only delays when it decides it wants to.

100% sure its the motor. The "park" function is located within the motor. If that isn't working, the switch/relay never recieves the signal to start timing the next wipe and the wipers just keep going. Conceivably, you can fix/clean the switch (it would be inside the motor) or you can just replace the motor.

Next time, report all odd behavior - I could have gotten this one the first post otherwise. Originally, I thought you meant that the wipers didn't work at all in the intermittant mode, so I was confused that changing out the switch assembly didn't work.



-Charlie

[hairball]

Thanks again, Charlie!

Man, you need to just move to Tacoma so I can call you every time I have a question. It would save a lot of typing!

But yeah, perhaps I didn't explain things clearly enough to start with.

My wipers "work" in delay mode, but without any delay. Just slow speed. And since nothing changed after I replaced the switch, I figured I just bought a bad switch.

I'll mess with in the motor in a few minutes and get back to ya on this one. If the motor is my problem and the delay works, I'll be REALLY happy because this combo switch came out of an LE and has the variable speed delay instead of single speed delay.

It sure helps to have a spare motor just in case I break something inside the original one.

[hairball]

Oh great... more problems!

How the heck do you get the wiper motor off?

Haynes just says unbolt and remove. Yeah, right!

Chilton says to remove cowl louver and disconnect the arm.

Well the problem is, I have NO cowl louver. Chilton shows this big huge plastic cover behind the firewall by the motor but I don't have that. All I have are those small vent things on top between the firewall and windshield. I removed the one on the passenger side but can't seem to get to the ends.

So, any suggestions on how to pop the arm off the motor?

When I got my replacement motor from the wrecking yard, I just popped it off with a large screwdriver because I wasn't gong to be putting the motor back onto that car.

Should I move wipers to a certain point before I try to pull the motor off? Will the arm come out that little hole?

Help! I have the motor unbolted already and the other one ready to go in its place.

Thanks.

[arabianobsession]

Try AllData. You can get it for one car for $30, and is WAAAAAAAAAY more detailed than Haynes/Chilton.

[hairball]

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

Try AllData. You can get it for one car for $30...

That might work if I had more than 30 cents in my pocket! LOL!

Here is my wiper motor, unbolted.


And here is all I have to reach into!


See, no big panels to access wiper arms.


Here is what Chilton is showing. Well, I don't have that panel.

[hairball]

I figured it out. Pics in a few minutes!

[hairball]

Someone at Chilton was smoking some good stuff when they did that manual.

Here's what I did. I grabbed the right wiper and moved it up, at the same time slowly pulling the motor toward the fender until the ball was right by the hole. Next, to be safe and NOT lose it by dropping the arm back down inside, resulting in several words not allowed on TN, I used bailing wire to hold it out as tight and secure as I could.

Now for the swap. Will let ya all know if I'm smiling when I come back on.







No doubt someone is going to chime in and say "That's exactly how you're supposed to do it!".

[white90dx]

Whoa! There are words not allowed on TN?

I can't imagine its too difficult to pop it off there now that you have it all exposed... Good luck!

-Charlie

PS. Since the Haynes manual covers gen2 and gen3 Camrys, it sometimes has the wrong pictures...

[hairball]

Another 90 Camry repair success story! Yep, it's all working again!

Thanks again to Charlie for confirming this my problem all along! It was the motor, NOT the wiper switch!

Had I known this all along, I could have installed the motor I got 14 months ago but never put in.

But hey, my wiper delay is working now, AND my wipers park every time! I'm smiling now, even more so because I not only have wiper delay, but variable speed. Maybe it's a good thing in a way that I thought it was my switch because had I installed the motor last year, I might not have went out and got a new switch which happened to have the variable delay speed.

This job only resulted in very slight blood loss! (In case nobody knew it... bailing wire ends are sharp!).