So I was driving across CO in my 03 VIII the other night and my front wipers started malfunctioning, luckilly it was only raining hard in 40 degree weather. I pulled off the road and heard this noise when turning the wipers ON....

http://youtu.be/B9BzCouQrHQ


So I DID read the "Electrical Gremlins" thread, but was hoping that it did not apply to me as there is still noise coming from the fuse box (underneath the hood). Is that the first place I should be looking? I am not competent with a saudering iron, so how much would a shop charge to hard-wire the connectors and everything?

 

You got Gremlins. Time to solder some wires.

Pull the kick panel you'll see the corrosion. You're looking at 3-4 hrs labor to do it all and correctly. 300-500 bucks I would expect.

If you we're on the East Coast I'd would def of helped you out. Goes quick after you've done a few.

 

And I know this is a long-shot, but would you happen to know anyone in the Denver area that has done the hard-wire work before? I know how shops work around here, and they typically will create problems just so they can charge extra labor hours to cover their "overhead"....

 

Sorry man I don't know anyone in CO. If you do find anyone who's not a scam artist out there I'd be glad to discuss the job with them so they don't hack it up or rope you into unnecessary work

 

The buzzing is from the box or the motor? Did you confirm powers and grounds to the motor? The fuse box had a front ecu? The buzzing noise makes me think current is flowing where it shouldn't, a short or relay maybe.

 

gsrboi80, The job sounds pretty straight-forward. But some of us can barely make a bowl of cereal without causing chaos, let alone saudering 30+ wires together... but thank you for the advice!

 

Where would the relay be for the wipers? The noise sounded like it was coming directly from the ECU, but I could not directly pinpoint the location. I figured it may be a relay, but I did not want to start pulling things apart unless I knew where to go before-hand.

 

Can you get a schematic of the wiper circuit? I looked at the setup of my FTO and it runs directly from the column (the relay) to the motor. That buzzing usually indicates that current is back feeding on a circuit. Have you tried unplugging the motor initializing the wiper controls? Btw the 15A fuse is good?

 

Don't bother with relays, schematics, and chasing your tail. Your issue is 100% the water caused corrosion in the wiring in the connector junction behind drivers side kick panel.

Don't waste unnecessary time and money.

 

So approaching a problem with a systematic scientific approach is a waste of time and money? Oh how I love forums. Good contribution I must admit and it shouldn't be too difficult to examine.

 

Im trying to save the guy time and money, this is a well known issue with this platform documented by countless owners. If you want to spend time with chasing relays and fuses for no reason go right ahead.

Or you can just pop the kick panel and in the matter of 2 min be looking at the problem right in front of you. No guess work, no aggravation, no trial and error, no time and money needed for diagnosis.

I love forums too, because if you are having an issue with your 13 year old car you have a good shot that someone else has had the same problem, found the issue, and documented the fix i.e. the Gremlins sticky in this section.

 

Well youre right, I took the panel off and found some solid corrosion in both the connections. Now onto either figuring out if I want to replace the both male/female connections, or find somebody who knows a bit about soldering. I thought I might as well add some pics, so here they are. Notice, two pings broke off in the male connector in the process of disconnecting it.

 

Yes sir, looks typical.

Showing any competent honest mechanic or even a electronics installer (stereo, alarms, remote starts, etc...) whose is willing to take on the job will have no trouble with soldering, heat shrinking exposed wire, and finally dressing the wires neatly back behind the kick panel.

If you decide to do it yourself, take your time, one wire at a time. Double checking always where the wires pin into the connectors front and back before cutting

Good Luck man you'll get her fixed up.

 

Good, that shouldn't be too expensive to fix, I hope. All the best.

 

I ended up going to Harbor Freight and picking up around 60 heat-shrink crimp connectors, along with 40ft of wire, and another 20ft of heat shrink. Instead of cutting the wires off the corroded connector and directly connecting the two ends, I added another 6" of wire between the two. I also added an extra layer of heat shrink over the crimp connections just to ensure a water-tight seal. I added a picture below of the completed product. Do to time limitations, I was only able to get the eight bottom-most wires (within the connector) completed, but that did the trick and my wipers/sprayers work again! My question is should I do the rest of the 20ish wires that are left, or now that everything works should I just leave it alone?