Wipers starting in the UP position

[rim_bender]

I had to install my wipers from scratch since a hackjob motor swap from the previous owner messed up a lot of wiring and other stuff.

I had to put in the wiper motor, the wiper arms that are behind the firewall, and the actual wipe arms themselves.

Here is the problem, my wipers start in the up position (vertical). When you turn on the wipers the first thing they do is go down and then up and then down. Instead of up then down and up then down. I have pushed the wipers down while the car was off and no matter where you start them at, the motor always goes back to up position and starts from there.

Is there some kind of memory in the motor that when the first time it sees power it remembers that spot as ZERO and always starts from there?

Anyone have any ideas? My car looks retarded with the wipers vertical along the windshield while im driving.

[unicoladron]

i've never had this problem or heard of it. but here's what i think you should do. it seems like you wired the motor correctly and everything like that.

1. take JUST the wiper arms off. so unbolt the arm, and remove it from the spline.
2. with the arms off, turn your wipers on, observe.
3. turn the wipers off. in theory this will take the splines back to their natural position (down).
4. re-install the arms correctly.

doing this in my head it seems it would take everything back to the way it should be since you turn the wipers off, this should take the motor and associated mechanisms to their natural off position.

not sure if this will work, but give it a shot!

[rim_bender]

done that several times. That is the exact issue, my NATURAL position is up for some reason and not down. And, even if i make them go down they will go back to the up position and then start from there.

[unicoladron]

hmmm.interesting

then probably the wiper mechanisms behind the firewall are incorrectly installed. does the FSM shed any light on this?

[rim_bender]

I have the FSM and i cant find the actual wiper installation in there.

All the motor does is spin in a circle, and the offsets on the arms in the back are what makes the wipers go back and forth. It looks like they only go on one way and only fit one way. So i dont think i have them wrong. The middle wiper is just a pivot so i dont think that is even possible tog et wrong.

But something is messed up, so i guess it could be anything.

[unicoladron]

yeah, i guess if there doesn't seem to be any wrong way to install them mechanically, there must be some type of relay/switch electronic device that is either backwards or screwed. but with wipers i believe there is a switch, and an amplifier. it's that green/brown box by your brake booster or by the wiper itself, can't remember right now. but you can try swapping in a different wiper switch or amplifier, wiper systems are very basic.

[unicoladron]

here found this:

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=131582

the last post shows the op's resolution.

[rim_bender]

I have also swapped out the combo switch and the wiper amp, and they still do the same thing.

[Mister.E]

just a thought...but do you have the right motors? to me it sounds like you have JDM motors which are causing it to sweep "down" when in reality it is trying to sweep from the left. here is a pic comparison of my 180 wipers which sweep from the left and a USDM 240 which sweep from the right. hope this helps you some.

*sorry if i am using someones personal photo, that they didnt want posted.

JDM 180sx
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6617/180wipersgp9.jpg

USDM 240sx
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i257/bigjohn151/jnhcghymk.jpg

[rim_bender]

i did have both USDM and JDM wiper motors when i was installing mine. But i am pretty sure the S14 US and JDM motors are not the same. I thought they were shaped different to mount to opposite sides of the firewall.

[Mister.E]

its definitely possible that they are different types of motors. to tell you the truth i know absolutely nothing about wiper systems, just trying to throw an idea out there.