Need windshield wiper help asap please

#1

I’m running an enduro Thursday and need the wipers to work. The car came to me with the wiper stalk removed from the car. I don’t understand why, but its gone and I can’t get another one to me and installed in time.

I have seen under the hood where the wiper motor cable runs into the fuse box. I’m thinking about just cutting the harness wire to the wiper motor, running the ground wire to ground, and putting a switch on the wiper high speed circuit. I understand that there will be no “return” to make the wipers automatically go down when you turn them off, but I will just manually make that happen.

Problem is, I don’t know which wire does what. Can anyone help me determine what wire does what please?

#2

Do you have a copy of the ETM? If not get it from here:

http://wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm

Hopefully the wiper module is still present in your fuse box and your wiring is intact. If so this is easy.

Look under the steering column for the connector where the wiper stalk was plugged in. It’s a 6 plug flat rectangular connector. The back of the ETM has a diagram.

Black/violet wire to ground will turn the wipers on high. That’s where you want the switch.

#3

I just looked, I assume the wiper stalk would come out the right side of the column. There is no stalk and I don’t see any 6 pin harness in there, either. The wires from the wiper motor that lead into the fuse box appear to be unmolested, so how do I hack into that circuit?

#4

In the ETM, page 6160-0 has the schematic for the complete wiper system, but for your purposes…

Under the hood remove the panel in front of the wiper motor/heater fan. This will give you access to the 4-wire bundle going into the motor. Peel back the outside plastic cover on the bundle to get to the wires within.

Black/white stripe is high-speed
Black/yellow is low speed
Black/red is park
Brown is ground

Rather than cut the wire, use a piggyback connector like this:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotchlok-Electrical-560B-BOX-Retardant/dp/B0002BFZ8E/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1389072483&sr=8-25&keywords=automotive+electrical+connectors which should be part of any decent automotive electrical connector set

As long as ground is intact, then powering the Black/white bypasses everything and should give you high speed. Then when you have time you can repair the original setup without having to re-splice anything.

PS inside the fuse box, the 2-3" long relay on far passenger side of the fuse box is the wiper relay. You should probably remove that relay while your temporary solution is in place to prevent unwanted signals on the other leads.

#5

you can also hot wire them directly into the fuse box with a switch

#6

Sure you can do it these other ways, but then you’re running the wiper motor power directly through your switch. Not a great solution. At least make sure the switch is rated for adequate amperage. Wiper fuse is 30A so I wouldn’t go less than that.

The 6 pin connector I mentioned would be under the plastic cover of the steering column. If it is indeed removed or missing, open the fuse box and find the black/violet wire I previously mentioned coming out of the wiper module. Splice a new wire to your switch. It’s really not much more work to do it this way and you won’t need to redo it later.

#7

When I wired mine like this I used fused power to relays, and the dash switch is actually just the relay ground. My issue was that something was hosed farther up the line and I ran out of patience trying to diagnose. I agree that running high amperage through a dash switch not a good solution.

#8

My wipers are controlled by a single pole, double throw, center off toggle switch that grounds the hi or low inputs to the wiper module.

#9

I am in the process of installing a new wiper motor assembly. So, this thread is very timely. Thanks for the info.
I just found that the PO cut off the connector at the end of the wires from the relay/fuse box. (Previously, I was not using the relay and steering column switch.)
I’ll need to re-wire, but which wires go to the four posts in the motor-side connector?
There are four wires to the motor from that connector: white, brown, red and green.

Thanks,

#10

You should be able to pull that info from the wiring diagrams (http://wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm)

#11

Thanks, Jim. But Unfortunately, unless I’m missing it, the diagram at that link does not show the wire colors on the motor side of the connector.

#12

I guess I didn’t realize you were missing the connector. The diagram does show the other side of the connector.

#13

My car did not have the 6 pin connector under the dash and all of the relays were gone, too. We tied on the high speed line, and that worked good for a while, but eventually either the wiper motor or the switch burned up at about the 5 hour mark, when we were running the wipers without a lot of rain on the windshield. We had a 30 amp switch and some 12 gauge wire, so it should have handled the power, but I guess not… So, moral to this story, find a way to use the relay, as those German engineers knew best.

#14

Given that the wiring diagrams do not show wire colors on the motor side of the connector, this will require visual inspection. Can someone with visual access to the wiper motor/relay connector please ID how the 4 wires from the relay line up with the four wires from the motor? What are the color pairs? Thanks,

#15

I can ID the colors this weekend when I get home if no one else does before then.

#16

Thanks, Chuck.

#17

Chuck Taylor provided the wiring info. Thanks! For the record, at the wiper connector near the motor, here are the wire combinations:
Brown to Brown
Black/Yellow to Green
Black/White to Red
Black/Red to White