Wiper and Washer Problem

[BroncoII87]

Hello, Everyone! This is my first post on this forum. I have a 1987 Bronco II which I purchased about 18 months ago. It appears to be all original and it only had 87,000 miles on it when I bought it. Originally, everything worked fine with the windshield wipers (2 speed only, High & Low) and the windshield washer system. Recently, this has changed. The washer pump will no longer come on and the wipers do not move. (I do not remember if the wipers moved automatically when the washer switch is turned on.) When driving in the rain, the wipers work on both speeds but when they are turned off the wipers stop at whatever position they are at. The wiper parking function has stopped working. Where should I start looking to fix these problems? Are these functions controlled by the switch in the steering column or at the wiper motor itself?

Thank you for your assistance.
----- Jim

 

[XTC90BII]

Jim

You might try replacing the pump in the washer reservoir. You can get it at rock auto

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1990,bronco+ii,2.9l+177cid+v6,1106198,wiper+&+washer,windshield+washer+pump,8840

Dennis

 

[BroncoII87]

Dennis, thank you for your reply. I will try to connect 12v directly to the washer pump and see if it runs. If not, I will use the link you supplied to get a new one. I see your B2 is slightly newer than mine but do your wipers automatically come on when you activate the windshield washer?

Thanks. ------ Jim

 

[JerryC]

Dennis, thank you for your reply. I will try to connect 12v directly to the washer pump and see if it runs. If not, I will use the link you supplied to get a new one. I see your B2 is slightly newer than mine but do your wipers automatically come on when you activate the windshield washer?

Thanks. ------ Jim

They do on my 88. When I got it, the pump was bad and the nozzles at the cowl were clogged. I have the delay wipers.

 

[XTC90BII]

Jim

Yes they do. When I push the end of the stalk in calling for washer fluid the wipers will start. If I just push the end of the stalk they will go back and further twice, if I push and hold and fluid starts to flow they will continue until I let off of the end of the stalk and then go twice more and stop.

Dennis

 

[BroncoII87]

Okay, I got the washer working by changing the pump in the reservoir. (Thank you Dennis for the suggestion.) My local O'Reilly store had the pump cheaper than Rock Auto once shipping was added. The wipers still will not park properly even though I have cleaned the connections as well as I can. I can live with this because the high and low speeds are functioning properly so you just have to pay attention to turn the switch off at the bottom of the wiper stroke. Thanks to everyone who responded to my post!

----- Jim

 

[XTC90BII]

Jim

Does fluid come out the sprayer by the windshield?

Dennis

 

[BroncoII87]

Yes, the windshield washer function is working fine now. When I pull towards me on the lever, water squirts out of the nozzle on the cowl onto the windshield. Wipers stay parked until I move the lever up to either the low or high speed position. I am now convinced that with the 2-speed wipers the washer and wipers work independently (at least on '87 models).
As I mentioned in my post above, the only thing that is not working is the parking function when the wipers are turned off. I have looked at this and believe the problem is inside the wiper motor. Four wires go into the motor housing with no apparent way to check anything from outside.
----- Jim

 

[BroncoII87]

I now have a new problem with my wipers. Since late September, the wipers have been functioning as I described in my late post - everything working except the wipers would not "park" themselves when turned off. We pull this Bronco2 behind our motorhome when we go on trips and recently had it in the Detroit, MI area. We used the Bronco a couple of days and all was fine. Then the Bronco was unused for about 3 days and during that time a front came through with a lot of rain and temperatures dropping into the high 20's for lows and 40's or 50's for highs. The next time I tried to use the Bronco, the wipers immediately came on at low speed when I started the engine. Wiper switch was turned off. Wipers will go to high speed if the switch is moved there. Washer still works and wipers will only pause momentarily when washer is activated. Only way to stop the wipers was to turn ignition switch off or pull the fuse.

When we got back home last week, the wipers are still acting up. I think the steering column switch is functioning properly after checking voltage at the 4-prong connector going to the motor. One wire has 12 volts all the time. One wire only has 12 volts when switch at low speed. The third wire only has 12 volts when switch at high speed. The fourth wire never shows voltage so I'm thinking that is ground.

I'm thinking the wiper motor assembly has an internal problem, however, I am confused at the results when I applied 12 volts from the battery directly to the individual wires going to just the wiper motor assembly. When I applied 12 volts to the wire that stays hot all the time, I expected the wipers to start running given the recent problem but they did not. Applying 12 volts to the low & high speed wires resulted in the wipers moving as they should. Wipers still did not park themselves in this test and I did not expect them to do that.

The only electrical schematic I have found is for a Bronco II with a variable wiper system. Does anyone have a schematic for the two speed wipers? Is there another test I can run?

Thanks. ------ Jim

 

[BroncoII87]

One more thing, I inspected the wiring harness for possible damage from squirrels since there was a lot of them at the campground but I saw no physical damage to the wiring harness.

------ Jim

 

[JerryC]

When i got my 88, the wipers had one speed, High.
Two different shops diagnosed it to a bad wiper governor.
After a year of looking I finally got the part and when i went to replace it saw that wiring in the steering column was a mess. The old wrap was falling off and missing in places. I taped all up that up and put it back together and it worked. Should have done that a year earlier. Never replaced the governor, just fixed the wires.

 

[BroncoII87]

I checked the wiring in my steering column and everything looked good. I ten disconnected the switch and determined that the switch is the culprit. I took the switch out and tried to spray contact cleaner into it and moved the switch through its positions numerous times. It seemed to stop the problem but while placing it back into the steering column, the wipers started to run again. Evidently something is broken or loose in the switch. Now to find a 2-speed switch. Auto part stores don't have them and LMC Truck only has the variable speed switch.

-------- Jim

 

[JerryC]

look on ebay.
does this look correct?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Replacement-OEM-Ford-E6FZ-17A553-A-Windshield-Wiper-Switch/121962684768?fits=Model%3ABronco+II&epid=1523119677&hash=item1c658ae160:g:6R8AAMXQM0FReD1A:sc:USPSPriority!38017!US!-1:rk:8f:0

 

[BroncoII87]

I apologize for being away from the forum for awhile. We were doing some traveling during the holidays. I saw that switch on ebay and it looks similar to my switch even though my switch has a different Ford part number (E3DB-17A553-BA). I tried contacting the seller twice and never got a response. I ordered the switch anyway since it didn't look like I had any other options. I should receive it tomorrow. Hopefully it will work. Thanks for the suggestion.

-------- Jim

 

[BroncoII87]

I received the replacement switch last week. Electrically, the switch is exactly like my original with the same markings by the contacts. Physically, the switch installs into the steering column just like the original but the actuating arm that sticks out from the column is bent at a different angle from my original switch. This places the wiper switch arm very close to the turn signal arm so the driver has to be careful to not turn both switches on when making a right hand turn. The replacement switch arm has more metal rod exposed so I am hoping that I can adjust the bends to move the wiper arm away from the turn signal arm without breaking the wiper switch arm.

Other than the arm position, I am pleased with the replacement switch and have driven the Bronco roughly 50-60 miles with the wipers not coming on by themselves. I had hoped the new switch would also solve the problem with the wipers not parking properly but it did not. I can live with parking the wipers manually by properly timing when the switch is flipped off.

------- Jim

 

[BroncoII87]

Okay.....I am reviving this old thread because my old problem of the wipers not turning off came back. Since January the wipers have stayed off but thinking back the B2 was only driven on good weather days. Earlier this week I got caught in a decent rainstorm. The B2 was parked and initially the wipers seemed to turn on/off correctly as I drove through the parking lot. Before I got to the street, suddenly the wipers would not turn off but instead acted like intermittent wipers (single wipe...short pause...single wipe...short pause...etc). I was only a handful of miles from home so I drove like this to head there. About a half mile from the house the rain stopped and while getting the B2 back in the garage the wipers finally turned off. It has been dry since then and the wipers have turned on/off properly (except for the parking issue) since. I need to get this fixed and am thinking the only other possible cause would be the wiper motor itself. The wiring all looks good that I can see. Any ideas???

Thanks. ------ Jim

 

[JerryC]

It's a simple circuit, power flows through the switch to the wiper motor and the ground is through the wiper motor case and mounting bolt.
First thing I'd do is cleanup the bolt and case for a good contact and test. Next would be to run jumper wire from the bolt to the negative terminal of the battery and test.
If the jumper wire works be sure that the ground strap from the driver side cylinder head to the firewall is in place.
Then power the connections for the hi/lo speeds. That all checks out then the wiring back to the switch.
This is from my manual for my '88.

 

[BroncoII87]

Thanks JerryC! This is very helpful. I checked the ground strap to have a good connection at the wiper motor previously but I didn't check the other end and the heads were off of the motor last year to remedy broken exhaust manifold bolts. --------- Jim

 

[JerryC]

Happy to help. Good luck!