Retro fit intermittant wipe

[Scotland North AR]

Hi, I saw Colin's thread on the failure of his wipers, I was there that day and the weather was shocking! There was quite a lot in it about the intermittent wipe...or in his case...no wipe at all.

I have a 2009 Sigma 150 and was wondering whether it is possible to retro-fit intermittent wipe capability to it or does it need an earlier harness to be possible?

[Jonathan Kay]

It should be possible to add it but I'm not aware of a plug and play solution from the archives. I'd start by:

1. Finding out if any Sigmas have that function.
2. Checking how the motor is wired, and whether it's the same as in Ks. Let me know if you'd like the diagrams.
3. Reading about the wiper control units used in Ks, which is in the archives.
4. And about the self-park function, which is one of the reasons that this isn't trivial.

With help from the experts it should be possible to do most of the work on the bench, including the testing, and then to fit the new bits as a unit.

Jonathan

[SM25T]

Another option is to consider fitting a flick wipe switch. I use a spring loaded toggle switch like the main beam flash switch ... located to the right of the steering wheel next to the two light switches ... so I can operate it very easily. It involved a relay and simple connection to the wiper switch. I received the wiring details from a club member ... (possibly Ian Bruce  ... edit ... actually Andrew Revill). I had originally tried an additional switched 12V feed to the motor supply, reasoning that the self-parking function would work for this ... but all it did was blow fuses. I tend to use this flick wipe for 90% of the time when wipers are needed, as the feel of the clunky rocker switch feels like it might fail any time !

[Jonathan Kay]

I received the wiring details from a club member ...

They're in the second link in post #2.

Jonathan

[SM25T]

Looks like it was Andrew Revill !

[Jonathan Kay]

;-)

Jonathan

[Scotland North AR]

Thanks for all that, will read further on the links above.

Incidentally, my wipers don't self park as it is so not sure whether that is a motor problem or not. I met up with Colin the other day and he said that taking the motor out to do anything was a quite a bit of a faff. Might be on the winter jobs list.

[DJ.]

I have a Sigma car and decided to fit a flick wipe switch as SM25T suggested. I decided to add the toggle switch beside the wiper switch though.

 

Not parking is a pain, so probably best to investigate that first.

 

Duncan

[Jonathan Kay]

Not parking is a pain, so probably best to investigate that first.

That's what I'd do. You need to know if that fault is in the motor unit or in the wiring or connectors. Two main approaches. I'd remove the wipers first. 

1. Measure the voltage at the terminals and continuity to earth on the motor as you cycle the switch. 
2. Make temporary feeds and earths. Then disconnect the real feeds and earths from the motor and start exploring what happens when you connect the temporary leads to the terminals in the same way as the switch does.

Jonathan

[Scotland North AR]

Hi, that's the parking problem fixed at least, it turned out to be the return spring broken under the plunger on the little switch.

I bought a new one off SVC (Stafford Vehicle Components)

https://www.s-v-c.co.uk/product/wiper-park-switch-14w/

This picture shows the plunger on the top right which had no spring return to it. The new one has a good positive spring

The black clip in the centre of the block is very tight and hard to get on, needs forcing on from inside the cover of the wiper motor after you have put the switch on on the other side. If not, the switch is likely to drop off....probably when you have got the motor nearly back in. This can be got at without removing the wheel.

Whilst waiting for the switch to arrive I scoured Youtube and found out the following video on  a

. Very helpful on all sorts of problems which may be encountered with a wiper motor. It finishes with the immortal saying...."that's that, time for a beer!". I think his job turned out bigger than expected.

I took the opportunity with the wiper blades off to trim the bottom edge (looked at when the wipers go fully to the passenger side) of the blades such that they didn't hit the windscreen surround whilst also having the right parked position. If trimming the blades, use a Dremel with a cutting disk. Doesn't rip the rubber as a hacksaw would.

Will look at fitting the flick switch at a future date.

Thanks for the help above.

[Jonathan Kay]

Well done.

I took the opportunity with the wiper blades off to trim the bottom edge (looked at when the wipers go fully to the passenger side) of the blades such that they didn't hit the windscreen surround whilst also having the right parked position.

Yes. I took the finish off a surround by not doing that with the top end of the wipers. It's also worth checking that they clear the edge of the hood.

Jonathan

[Scotland North AR]

 

I ordered two park switches, one off SVC and one off Fleebay. The one off Fleebay has just arrived and is in bits, packaging very good though. In addition the spring clip for fastening to the the wiper motor body is missing. I think SVC must have supplied the genuine article, it looks roughly the same but vastly more robust in feel. I would have been a bit peed off if I'd had it all in bits just before heading off somewhere then received this!

[David aka Blue7]

Nigel's post suggests it is a Land Rover component, he supplies a link to this video