1999 Impreza wagon rear wiper question

[tidd1340]

Wiper doesnt work.Clicking sound to the relay,but no power to wiper plugs.Ive read that the clicking is normal.Could it also be a sign the relay is bad?

[Rooster2]

Are you sure the clicking is from the relay that controls the rear wiper? Yea could be a bad relay. See if any of your other relays are the same, as the one clicking, if so, swap relays to see if that fixes your problem.

 

Suggest you pull the electrical connector off the rear wiper, and check to see if you have power at the connector using a light bulb tester or multimeter.

[ivans imports]

oh i see thiss alot check the wire harness where it has the flexable conduate btween the body and the hatch likes to break there as thiss is where it moves last one had 4 broke wires and was shorting the brake lights out i also see it on legacys and foresters and outbacks and justys even on sedans always where the harness moves

[crazyman03]

i can't remember what type of relay they have in there but you can test it to be sure with just some wire (speaker wire works) and your battery. usually, the numbers match up and a lot of the time there are diagrams on the relay itself

 

 

before you do anything, If you have a DMM, probe for connectivity between "30" and "87a" it should be good. apply +12 power to "85" and "86" (doesnt matter which polarity), and it should click. with power applied, now probe between "30" and "87a" again-there shouldn't be any connectivity. probe "30" and "87" - you should have connectivity.

 

If all that works, then the relay is fine.

 

this is for a standard "accessory" relay so double check what yours is before probing. This should give you an idea if there is a diagram on the relay you have, you can see how it works in order to test it.

 

 

-Justin

[89Ru]

check the wire harness where it has the flexible conduit between the body and the hatch

 

+1

 

click is normal. relay is likely good. look for melted wire insulation under the rubber flex conduit.

[edrach]

Another vote for broken wires in the harness. Mine has 6 or more wires that I had to splice together.

[danbennett2u]

I say check under the boot on the left side top of the hatch, I agree the wires are probably broken, mine were on both of my imprezas, and this is way easier than swapping relays and pulling out mulitmeters etc.,

[tidd1340]

Well,it was the wires.The previous owner fixed the defrost wires but just left the wiper wires broken.All fixed now.Had an issue though because the wiper fluid hose was also cut and worked its way down the rear pillar.I tried for 90 minutes to run a wire down through to tape to the hose and pull back up,with no success...any ideas on a better way?

[avk]

I did have to fix the window washer hose (even before I had to fix the wires). In my case, it was squished and hardened at the bend, blocking the flow. Fixed it by splicing in a new piece with two connectors. If you can't reach the broken end, you will need to remove the pillar trim. For repair, use a thick-walled vacuum hose.

Edited August 28, 2012 by avk

[danbennett2u]

Well,it was the wires.The previous owner fixed the defrost wires but just left the wiper wires broken.All fixed now.Had an issue though because the wiper fluid hose was also cut and worked its way down the rear pillar.I tried for 90 minutes to run a wire down through to tape to the hose and pull back up,with no success...any ideas on a better way?

 

Instead of pulling it back up, can you find at the bottom where the hose feeds up through the pillar, and push it up with a coathanger etc.

[89Ru]

Here is my writeup on the fix in a '96 Impreza OBS, blunders included. Hope it helps some.

 

Symptoms were audible relay closure heard but no wiper motor activity. Researched on Subaru website noted problem at rubber hose in hatch hinge joint. Inner plastic body panels removed to expose wiring harness on right side and relay near right tail light. Circuit check at 4 pin motor connector shows no voltage. During subsequent removal of harness, the harness was nearly completely severed at the hatch hinge at a stress concentration point inside the flex hose. Wires were all severed at the same location. New harness from Subaru genuine is $62 (not purchased). New harness would require installation hatch door connector removal to insert harness down wire tray. This contributed to the decision to splice & repair rather than buy new. Due to the difficulty of the repair this decision may not have been the best one. Harness power conductors were melted together and resulting heat & oxidation damage to neighboring wires required cutting out damaged sections however due to limited exposed length significant oxidation remained and even with application of flux and 40 watts heat soldering was still difficult and cold solder joints may exist in harness. Harness was spliced with 18 AWG hook up wire power conductors were spliced with 2 18 gauge conductors each. Due to shrink tube & tape wrapping the resulting repair diameter was significantly larger than original harness diameter. At this point it was observed that the harness repair technician should have gone to bed & got some needed rest because the protective rubber hose was not threaded into harness before splicing. This blunder required the removal of 3 connectors & the threading the harness through the hose with difficulty.

Harness test: Harness was mated at both ends turning wiper switch on, motor sounds were heard however sounds like excessive loading or bogging down or binding or intermittent shorts were heard., like the motor was running at high speed , low speed, high speed or not at all. At this point the motor assembly was removed from hatch it was noted that with power applied to motor by wiggling the white plastic two contact housing motor would appear to have a momentary internal short. Motor assembly was disassembled and white plastic contact assembly was observed to be melted, spring contacts were bent & offset with heat damage, white plastic connector was removed from spare motor assembly (purchased salvaged motor assembly for $35 Impreza year unknown does not match existing motor assembly) Existing damaged spring contacts were bent in approximate shape of spare motor contacts & sanded down. Installed motor gearing was regreased. Reassembled and passed test. Previous shorting or bogging down symptoms disappeared & motor was observed to run much quieter due to the regreasing of the gears.