Intermittent Wipers..

[dlb]

okay, got my adjustable intermittent wipers in. VERY psyched, this is almost as awesome as the clinometer. there were a few things i thought i'd mention for those interested in doing this cheap, easy, worthwhile mod as well.

first, not all of the wiper/indicator/hazard controls from '84-'89 4runners and pickups are compatible with our tercs. they all look the same externally but if you take off the steering column cover and dash panel from around the steering column you will see the plugs for these controls. some of the wiper/indicator/hazard controls have an extra plug with 2 yellow wires coming from the controls, and these ones are no good. the extra plug is for the intermittent wiper control and tercs don't have a receiving plug for it. the controls that do work have just the big blue plug. i looked at about a half dozen 4unners and trucks and it was 50/50 as to which ones they had. the bad controls are marked A11 on the plug, and the good ones are mark A06. i took pics of both.

the disappointing A11 controls:


the useful A06 controls:


if you want to test your new controls just lower the tilt steering and remove the steering column cover and dash panel from around the steering column. unplug your old controls and plug in your new ones. i tried a few controls that were no good so no point tearing everything apart for nothing. pop off your steering wheel center cover and remove the 19mm nut holding your steering wheel on. reef on the wheel now and it will come off, just takes some elbow grease. remove the 4 screws holding the old controls in place, unplug them, and slip them off. slide the new ones on, plug them in, and screw them down. if you leave the wheel off for now you will have more room for putting the column cover back on.

the wiring for the new controls is quite a bit longer than the old ones and pushes the column cover out of place so i used a zip tie to keep them out of the way:



now for the column cover trimming. i was in a hurry to do mine before work so it's not as clean as i'd like but it's fine. i used a hacksaw blade and a coarse file. the new wiper arm sits closer to the dash and lower down than the old one so you have to cut a new hole for it. here it is before you start hacking and slashing:



...and here it is after:



the indicator arm sits lower as well so you have to trim the hole for it down about 1/2". i forgot to take a 'before' pic but the the cut i made was about as wide as my finger, and is right where i'm pointing:



put the dash panel back on, put the column cover back on, put the steering wheel on, and that's it. now you don't have those annoying f*cking wipers going ever 3 seconds even though it's barely spitting out.

[ARCHINSTL]

Another + + + for you!
Tom M.

[dlb]

thanks tom! one more thing i thought i should mention. as DCN noted, the hazard button sticks up a tiny bit higher on the new controls but no cutting is required for that.

[dcn]

Awesome!! Glad it worked out for you!

[SynthDesign]

Great write up guys!

[Mad_Marx]

Thanks, a very handy thing to have!!

[dcn]

Now that my car is a daily driver again (moved to a house from an apt and have to drive to bus terminal each morning instead of getting bus outside apt) this is a little more tempting ..

[SynthDesign]

Found the factory option in a fully loaded 86 SR5 which had intermittent wipers AND cruise control.

20130707_155050.jpg

20130707_155112.jpg

I just pulled the combo switch and plugged the other unit in. No wires to swap. Works awesome and also has a cruise control button.

[dlb]

i can't believe it! i think this is the first mention of anyone on the forum actually seeing this.

all sr5's were manual trans, and i've never driven a manual trans vehicle with cruise control. how does that work?

[TominMO]

Probably off of intake vacuum. My Aspire had this kind of dealer-installed cruise control when I bought it. I took it off because it took up a lot of real estate in the engine bay.

[ARCHINSTL]

I think the "other Tom M in MO" is correct. While I must admit I've never looked for it in the FSM, I'm pretty sure "the book" is mum on cruise.
My beloved '86 626 was a stick and it had cruise. I never did much work on the 626, so didn't have a FSM for it.
Although - the 626 obviously had some kind of electrical switches as well, as cruise was disconnected if the brake or clutch were even touched - there was a "Resume speed" feature on the stalk to recover cruise.
My '85 and '86 T4WD OM's also mention similar electrical switches.

Great score, Synth!
Tom M.

[Petros]

I have had cruise on a number of manual trans cars, no issues. It only works in high gear (usually fifth) and if you touch either the clutch or the brakes it kicks off. Otherwise works the same way as autotrans cars with cruise control.

[CathodeRayTube]

Im interested in adding inter-wipers into my dlx automatic also...i already have a combo switch from a 4runner but its apparently one of the A11 ones that "wont work"...or atleast not easily...i didnt know about that when i bought it.. but i did notice the extra plug & wires that didnt connect to anything that i have in the car. My plan and what i was going to do anyway was to further disassemble the combo switch from the 4runner and only install the wiper control arm/switch itself into the Tercels original switch assembly...and just solder/desolder all the corresponding wires as needed. This should solve all the problems with the slight differences in dimensions between the Tercels combo switch and the 4runners when swapping the whole assembly...

Do we know what the extra yellow wires on the "bad" switches actually do ( my best guess right now is they are to a variable resistor in the wiper speed control) and where they could be attached to make it all work? what is the difference between the ones that do easily work and the ones that dont? do the "good ones" have extra control circuitry inside them vs the "bad ones" requiring an extra external module?

[dlb]

Do we know what the extra yellow wires on the "bad" switches actually do ( my best guess right now is they are to a variable resistor in the wiper speed control) and where they could be attached to make it all work?

it was a while ago but i think i remember the receiving plug for the extra plug w/ yellow wires disappeared up into the mass of other wires. i also assumed the bad switches simply had an external resistor or relay but was able to find another good switch so i never looked further into finding the external resistor/relay.

what is the difference between the ones that do easily work and the ones that dont? do the "good ones" have extra control circuitry inside them vs the "bad ones" requiring an extra external module?

that was the only difference i could find. they plugged in fine and worked on the other settings but i don't think they worked on intermittent at all.

[SynthDesign]

I just drove 30 minutes for the 1st time using the intermittent wipers in mixed rain. Wonderful. I think I'm going to have to add this to the must have upgrade list. Also the "Fast" setting is much faster than the stock speed on ny of my other tercels.