Attention Electrical Gurus, Need help with windshield washer wiring Options

[bbrock]

Right after ordering a complete Car Magic kit to convert my windshield washer to electric, I read Sir Andy's excellent tech article on the conversion. The idea of pulling power for the washer pump off the intermittent wiper feed so the washer is activated by pulling back on the wiper lever was too elegant not to try.

I happened to have this nifty vintage VW style splitter I bought some time ago for not other reason than I thought it might come in handy for some future custom wiring project. It was just the ticket for splitting off of my intermittent washer relay to power the washer pump.



After hooking everything up, I pulled back on the wiper lever and HUZZAH! The washers squirted and the wipers ran for two sweeps and parked. Pretty slick! I couldn't understand how the intermittent wipers would work when the lever was pulled down to turn the intermittent wipers on. I pull down on the lever to test them and nothing. As soon as I unplug the washer pump, the intermittent wipers start running. I'm not sure how the intermittent relay works, but thinking the timer is from charging a capacitor which then "bump starts" the wipers to run a single cycle.

Is there is a reasonably simple way to isolate the pump so it allows the intermittent mechanism to run without activating the washer pump? Could be a fun project. Or should I just go back to the original plan of installing the Car Magic switch? I just like the idea of minimizing the wiring.

[lesorubcheek]

I know the feeling. You just can't let this go without solving it. From the diagram, you can see a connection from a contact on the pull circuit (right 2 contacts) to the input of S1, so you can visualize that just pulling back on the lever will energize the intermittent action, just as 53c should be energized when pulling back on the stalk.


The part I can't visualize from the diagram is what's going on at S1 when the stalk is down or in the J position. It doesn't look like it's connecting to anything if you rock the angle up or clockwise one tick in the diagram. It looks like 53e will connect with 53, just as in the off position, which makes sense as that would connect the output from the intermittent relay to the low speed wiper. I'd expect 53a which is the 12V input to the switch to be connected with S1 when the switch is in the J position..... maybe it is, it just doesn't look clear in the diagram.
Dan

[bbrock]

I know the feeling. You just can't let this go without solving it. From the diagram, you can see a connection from a contact on the pull circuit (right 2 contacts) to the input of S1, so you can visualize that just pulling back on the lever will energize the intermittent action, just as 53c should be energized when pulling back on the stalk.


The part I can't visualize from the diagram is what's going on at S1 when the stalk is down or in the J position. It doesn't look like it's connecting to anything if you rock the angle up or clockwise one tick in the diagram. It looks like 53e will connect with 53, just as in the off position, which makes sense as that would connect the output from the intermittent relay to the low speed wiper. I'd expect 53a which is the 12V input to the switch to be connected with S1 when the switch is in the J position..... maybe it is, it just doesn't look clear in the diagram.
Dan

Here is a better pic of the switch circuit. [Bad info]: Looks like the J position connects S1 and 53a and any other position sends it to ground except when the lever is pulled back if I'm reading this right. My DMM tells me with the lever in position J, I'm getting 12v at the relay end of S1 and 0v in the off position so that agrees. Actually I'm reading 11v because I have a low battery due to a busted alternator I replaced tonight. I'll get the battery fully charged and see what it reads.

[Spoke]

I've been following this discussion but haven't chimed in because I'm severely confused on the operation.

I'm trying to understand this switch function. Please let me know if I've got this correct.

Switch positions:
J : Stalk pulled back; Relates to left-most selection of the contacts.
0 : Wipers off
1 : Wipers on low speed
2 : Wipers on high speed.

Contact S1:
J : No connection
0 : Ground
1 : Ground
2 : 12V

Did I get this right?

[bbrock]

I've been following this discussion but haven't chimed in because I'm severely confused on the operation.

I'm trying to understand this switch function. Please let me know if I've got this correct.

Switch positions:
J : Stalk pulled back; Relates to left-most selection of the contacts.
0 : Wipers off
1 : Wipers on low speed
2 : Wipers on high speed.

Contact S1:
J : No connection
0 : Ground
1 : Ground
2 : 12V

Did I get this right?

Ah! There is something I should have explained early that will not be obvious unless you have messed with the intermittent option. J is lever pulled down and is not available by default. There is a plastic tab in the switch that has to be broken off to allow the lever to move one click down from the off position. So to complete what you have:

Switch positions:
J : Stalk pulled down - intermittent; Relates to left-most selection of the contacts.
0 : Wipers off
1 : Wipers on low speed
2 : Wipers on high speed.
P: Stalk pulled back - activate short cycle of wipers.

Contact S1:
J : No connection
0 : Ground
1 : Ground
2 : Ground
P : 12v

[Spoke]

Ah! There is something I should have explained early that will not be obvious unless you have messed with the intermittent option. J is lever pulled down and is not available by default. There is a plastic tab in the switch that has to be broken off to allow the lever to move one click down from the off position. So to complete what you have:

Switch positions:
J : Stalk pulled down - intermittent; Relates to left-most selection of the contacts.
0 : Wipers off
1 : Wipers on low speed
2 : Wipers on high speed.
P: Stalk pulled back - activate short cycle of wipers.

Contact S1:
J : No connection
0 : Ground
1 : Ground
2 : Ground
P : 12v

@bbrock

OK, so for position P stalk pulled back, does that move these 2 contacts? I wonder if the double horizontal lines broken between the 2 contacts means when the stalk is pulled back.

If so, it looks like you want to connect the washer motor to 53c which looks like it is not wired out. 53c is open unless the stalk is pulled back.

So you had the washer motor connected to S1, correct? Pull back on the stalk and the washer and wipers go. But since the motor is connected from S1 to ground, the motor shows S1 a ground connection thus the J, 0, 1, 2 position of S1 are all ground and the intermittent wipers do not work. Does this sound plausible?

[bbrock]

@bbrock

OK, so for position P stalk pulled back, does that move these 2 contacts? I wonder if the double horizontal lines broken between the 2 contacts means when the stalk is pulled back.

If so, it looks like you want to connect the washer motor to 53c which looks like it is not wired out. 53c is open unless the stalk is pulled back.

So you had the washer motor connected to S1, correct? Pull back on the stalk and the washer and wipers go. But since the motor is connected from S1 to ground, the motor shows S1 a ground connection thus the J, 0, 1, 2 position of S1 are all ground and the intermittent wipers do not work. Does this sound plausible?

Yes on all counts.

I think 53c is indeed the correct (and factory according to @lesorubcheeks ) way to connect the washer. It would require adding a wire, and possibly a pin to the switch connector to run through the bulkhead and over to the washer pump. I don't know about you all, but working on anything in the steering column is a recipe for a bad mood for me. Much of that is because the connectors for my signal and wiper switches fit really tight so I have to pull the knee pad to get sufficient access to unplug them. Plus, I don't like running stray wires through the car. Had I thought of this when I was rebuilding the harness, I might have added a 53c wire.

Sir Andy and Jeff Bowlsby drew my attention to the S1 wire being powered in the P position on the lever, and now I'm like a dog with a bone. If this works, the conversion bits will cost < $50 which includes pump, LVD and enclosure, connectors, and wire, and I'll retain my intermittent function. The best part is the whole retrofit takes place up front except to pull the rubber washer hoses off the plunger valve on the switch. That can be done from under the dash without taking anything apart.

Up front, you have to remove the washer bottle, fuel tank filler neck, and charcoal canister to gain access to everything. Much easier IMO, than working on the column.

For cars not running intermittent wipers, it's looking like replacing the wiper plunger valve with a microswitch was never necessary for cars that have the S1 wire in them. For those, you can just dig the end of the wire out of the harness per Jeff's instructions, and extend it to plug into the washer pump and be done with it!