Why does it always happen at night

I switched on my headlights this evening ready to go out to the supermarket
and the wipers came on, and would not switch off.

I ripped out the wiper switch, literally, it would not unscrew I had to use
brute force, and substituted a temporary of, on, on, switch which works ok.
However does anyone know how the self parking system works, I have one wire,
brown/green left over which seems to be live.

Just when I think I have the electrics sorted, something else like this
happens

--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes

On or around Wed, 29 Sep 2004 02:17:33 +0100, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>I switched on my headlights this evening ready to go out to the supermarket
>and the wipers came on, and would not switch off.
>
>I ripped out the wiper switch, literally, it would not unscrew I had to use
>brute force, and substituted a temporary of, on, on, switch which works ok.
>However does anyone know how the self parking system works, I have one wire,
>brown/green left over which seems to be live.
>
>Just when I think I have the electrics sorted, something else like this
>happens

self-park has a live wire going to the motor and a switch on the motor which
turns the motor off when it gets to the "parked" position. If the switch
detaches from the motor or shorts out or such, then the wipers operate
continuously.

have you got a wiring diagram? that should show what does what. If not,
remind me which vehicle and I can have a look.

Haynes manual is not a lot of use, the wiring diagram is just a diagram and
does not show how the switch actually works at the switch end or what goes
on inside the motor end.


As it is there is a green wire, which is live that feeds the live pole of
the wiper on off switch and also goes direct to the connector plug on the
motor, the wire that operates the motor is red and green, and that is on
when the switch is on. The other wire is brown and green and I have
determined with a test meter it is live when the wipers are not parked and
neutral when they are (connected to erth perhaps or nothing ?)

anyway I attempted to see what would happen if when the motors were not
parked I connected the live to erth, and it just blew a 10 amp fuse so
obviosly it is just live and not going through the motor. a veritable
puzzle. Could well be that the fault was at the wiper motor end not the on
off switch end which is a pity because the switch just came apart when I
tried to get it out the dash, and a new one would be around £20. I suppose
if the other end is gone that could be just as costly.

It is a petrol series 3 1973.


--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes

"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Wed, 29 Sep 2004 02:17:33 +0100, "Larry"
<[email protected]>
> enlightened us thusly:
>
>
> self-park has a live wire going to the motor and a switch on the motor
which
> turns the motor off when it gets to the "parked" position. If the switch
> detaches from the motor or shorts out or such, then the wipers operate
> continuously.
>
> have you got a wiring diagram? that should show what does what. If not,
> remind me which vehicle and I can have a look.
>

On or around Wed, 29 Sep 2004 16:00:52 +0100, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Haynes manual is not a lot of use, the wiring diagram is just a diagram and
>does not show how the switch actually works at the switch end or what goes
>on inside the motor end.
>
>>As it is there is a green wire, which is live that feeds the live pole of
>the wiper on off switch and also goes direct to the connector plug on the
>motor, the wire that operates the motor is red and green, and that is on
>when the switch is on. The other wire is brown and green and I have
>determined with a test meter it is live when the wipers are not parked and
>neutral when they are (connected to erth perhaps or nothing ?)

argh. the information's here, somewhere, but I can't find it.

I *think* that you have the following connections:

G -> RLG : wipers on.
G -> NLG : wipers off and will self-park.
G -> LGB : washer motor, if fitted, on.

G: green
L: light
R: red
N: brown
B: black

but I've not found the diagram that would confirm that one way or another.