losisonq Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 (edited) Swapped just about everything(wiper switch combo, wiper relay, wiper motor) and it still runs as soon as the switch is turned on. It actually will respond to switching speeds(Hi, Lo) but just will not stop in the off position. Don't know about intermitten operation cause low speed stays engaged. What am I missing? TIA Edited December 23, 2008 by losisonq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Are you sure you swapped the right relay? It sounds like the wiper relay cantacts are stuck together. I am not 100% sure but I think there is more than one relay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted December 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Are you sure you swapped the right relay? It sounds like the wiper relay cantacts are stuck together. I am not 100% sure but I think there is more than one relay. Going by the "Electical Systems Parts Location" page in the service manual, it's the one right in front of the Starter Inhibitor relay on the right side of the battery in the engine department. I had the same thought. Just new that was it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 (edited) Mine wont go, wanna trade? Edited December 24, 2008 by BRAZILBOY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 LOL Brazil are you the only guy with a quest in Hawaii? I feel your pain. What seems to be the problem? I'm dealing with my wipers too. Rear intermittant works fine, front doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAinsworth Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Fried ETACs located under the driver's seat will cause the wipers to run all the time. If the battery was ever hooked up backwards or the car jumped off backwards, it is toast. Try unplugging it and see if the wipers stop. Brazil, I sent you a wiper motor a couple of months ago. You may need to check the relay and fusible link if you still don't have power. Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAinsworth Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 From Mikec: The wiper motor is fed +12volts whenever the ignition key is in ACC or ON... the wiper switch and a few other things provide a ground to make the wipers run. There are two different grounds you can provide to the motor: grounding one makes the motor run at high speed, grounding the other makes the motor run at slow speed. Which speed is yours running? Things that can make the wipers run: * ETACS which controls the intermittent mode. It normally pulses the low speed ground, via a relay, to start the "swipe" and then the internal contacts that Indiana described take over to complete the "swipe" until the blades get back to the park position. If ETACS is bad, or the relay is bad, you'll have perpetual slow-speed wipers. To test: with the key out of the ignition and the battery disconnected, unplug the ETACS connectors - it's under the driver seat and covered by a plate so you have to remove the seat. Hook the battery up and turn the key ON. If the wipers stay parked; get a new ETACS. * ETACS also makes the wipers "swipe" when you activate the washers. If that switch is stuck (and the washer pump will run the tank dry) ON then the wipers will be stuck on. Relay A43X is the relay used by ETACS to trigger the wipers; it's in that panel between the battery and fender. Remove the battery and the metal cover plate and you'll see the relay: 2nd one from the front of the car, on the column closer to the engine. Swap it with the fat one on the end of that column - close to the fusible links - and see if the wiper mode changes. If your right-side headlamp pop-up goes nuts you've proven A43X was shot. Check fuses #1, 8, 10, and 13 - all feed ETACS; if one is missing maybe ETACS is going stupid. A common symptom of hooking the battery up backwards though is a fried ETACS that perpetually runs the wipers. I'll bet that's what happened. Do your power door locks work in sync still? Alarm still work? mike c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbrad511 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 What year is the car? Does your factory alarm work? How about Dome light? Does it slowly fade out when you close the door? The ETACS under the driver's seat affects these and several more things. When it goes bad you can get a multitude of things going wrong. 87's were known to fail on their own. If you've ever hooked up a battery or jumper cables backwards, even for a moment, it's fried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted December 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 What year is the car? Does your factory alarm work? How about Dome light? Does it slowly fade out when you close the door? The ETACS under the driver's seat affects these and several more things. When it goes bad you can get a multitude of things going wrong. 87's were known to fail on their own. If you've ever hooked up a battery or jumper cables backwards, even for a moment, it's fried. It's an 87. I bought the car figuring this would be an easy fix. He could have hooked up jumper cables wrong, don't know. Factory alarm works. Hadn't check dome light lately. Noticed that I could pull out the blue/white wire from the wiper motor connector and it stops. This also allows me to see that the high speed switch controls the motor properly. Confirmed the wiper relay is OK(washer motor works properly). Using a meter, I confirmed that the blue/white wire is being grounded only when the ignition switch is turned on. Makes me think there is another relay stuck closed somewhere or (like you guys say) the ETACS is fried. I have an 88 service manual and a Mithchell On Demand electrical print of an 87 Starion. The 88 print show 1 relay but the 87 shows 2 relays. Maybe chasing my tail here, don't know. I may have an 88 ETACS on hand to try. Are the 87's and 88's the same? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 I don't mean to jack his thread but I have a similar problem. My intermittant wipers pause in the middle of the windshield. I've replaced the relay and motor on my 87. Column switch is good. Dome light, alarm, locks work perfect. Did the blue+orange wire ground test on the Etacs and it pointed to a bad Etacs. Problem is I have 2 87 and an 88 Etacs and all three failed the blue+orange wire test. I know it's possible but I find it hard to belive I have 3 bad Etacs. Could it be something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 LOL Brazil are you the only guy with a quest in Hawaii? I feel your pain. What seems to be the problem? I'm dealing with my wipers too. Rear intermittant works fine, front doesn't. swapped motors mine works now in low only, no high, no int. Yea at least on this island, I get asked all the time what is it....oh yea all the cops know me too...Can't say it was another quest...like the honda guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbrad511 Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 I don't mean to jack his thread but I have a similar problem. My intermittant wipers pause in the middle of the windshield. I've replaced the relay and motor on my 87. Column switch is good. Dome light, alarm, locks work perfect. Did the blue+orange wire ground test on the Etacs and it pointed to a bad Etacs. Problem is I have 2 87 and an 88 Etacs and all three failed the blue+orange wire test. I know it's possible but I find it hard to belive I have 3 bad Etacs. Could it be something else? You'll need to pull the cover off the wiper motor and clean the old hardened grease out of it. Should be 3 philips screws, and you might be better of to pull the motor off the car. Get all that muck out of there, and clean the electrical contacts too. You'll understand better how it works when you get it apart. Put a little dielectric grease on the gears when you put it back together, it should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted December 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 (edited) So is it safe to use a 88 ETAC on a 87? Edited December 25, 2008 by losisonq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starquest34 Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 TRY RUNNING A NEW GROUND WIRE TOO THE WIPER MOTOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 I ended up having to rebuild my wiper linkage months ago. For some of you who may have this problem. If your car has been sitting and the wipers don't want to move check the linkage. There is a bushing\bearing that mounts to the body to hold the wiper shafts. The linkage rotates inside that bushing on your cowl. Mine were frozen from corrosion. Do yourselves a favor and take them apart and grease them while you still can. One of mine broke on the way out. I had to use linkage parts from another car to fix it. An easy way to check this is to remove your wiper arms. Then lube and carefully loosen the nut where it attaches to the body. Turn your wipers on. If they now move freely your bearing blocks may be frozen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Fried ETACs located under the driver's seat will cause the wipers to run all the time. If the battery was ever hooked up backwards or the car jumped off backwards, it is toast. Try unplugging it and see if the wipers stop. Brazil, I sent you a wiper motor a couple of months ago. You may need to check the relay and fusible link if you still don't have power. Jimmy Thanks by the way. I tried it no difference. Checked relay as instructed no difference. Ran new gorund no difference. ETACS is fine everything else related to it works and I tested one from a friends 87 back in Colorado no difference. Cleaned grease and such no difference. Getting proper signal response from what I can tell. Ok heres what it does exactly: INT MODE: Goes from park to full swipe to left, on the return half way to park position going right it stops, then sometimes goes again and repeats this cycle. LOW SPEED: Operates normally. HIGH SPEED: Completely dead no move ment at all. Also, my LOW speed goes normal but putting it in HIGH stops it instantly or going to OFF position it stops instantly where it is. It won't PARK I have to kind of time it to stop near the PARK position. What am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Finally down to my wiper relay. It is energized when the ignition switch is turned on. Confirmed by seating and unseating the relay. The electrical print says it is controlled by the ETAC. I have already swapped ETAC's with another with the same result. Don't know if it is a known good one though. WHAT TO DO NOW? :confused0024: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Finally down to my wiper relay. It is energized when the ignition switch is turned on. Confirmed by seating and unseating the relay. The electrical print says it is controlled by the ETAC. I have already swapped ETAC's with another with the same result. Don't know if it is a known good one though. WHAT TO DO NOW? :confused0024: Get out your wiring diagram and start checking wires and switches with a volt meter. Check for continuity and for shorts. I've noticed most of the circuits in these cars interupt the ground to control the circuit. So if you have a control wire pinched when you bolt something down you may have completed the circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks man. I'll check ASAP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losisonq Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Finally had time to fix problem. 2 things wrong. Wiper motor wasn't ground properly causing it not to park. The other was a fried ETAC which turns on and leaves on the wiper relay when the ignition switch is turn on. Actually bought the car like this thinking it would be an easy fix. Hope this helps someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Finally had time to fix problem. 2 things wrong. Wiper motor wasn't ground properly causing it not to park. The other was a fried ETAC which turns on and leaves on the wiper relay when the ignition switch is turn on. Actually bought the car like this thinking it would be an easy fix. Hope this helps someone. thanks I will try running a ground wire to the battery on mine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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