Wiper problems -- no park, no intermittent

[garyfish]

I recently acquired an '83 SR5 wagon as a fixer-upper, and it's got a few issues. One is that the wipers are all screwed up. The wiper arms won't "park" in the down position when the switch is turned off. Also, there's no difference between the intermittent setting and the low setting.

Is this likely to be a problem with the combination switch, the wiring, or the wiper motor? I have a spare combo switch and maybe a spare wiper motor, but I wanted to ask here first to see if anyone had any words of advice.

Before I took possession of the wagon a couple months ago, the vehicle had not been run for about two years and was sitting under a grove of trees in somewhat damp conditions. I got it running, and now I want to tackle some of the other problems it's got.

[ARCHINSTL]

Goldie had the same problem from when I got her in '05.
It was only fixed when I recently installed an extra switch combo (but not because of this - the Hi beam switch died).
It's on my list of things to fix - 99% certain it has something to do with the intermittent contacts. I think someone here long ago had a post on fixing this, but cannot recall who.
Tom M.

[dlb]

since the intermittent and low settings are wonky but you don't mention the high setting (i presume it's fine), i'm leaning towards the switch being the culprit too. were the motor the culprit, i think it would malfunction on all settings.

[marlinh]

I have a post about the intermittent problem as well. As for the slow position it is probably dirty contacts in the switch. I took one apart that was working slowly on low and fast. After cleaning contacts and treating with dielectric grease it functioned properly.

I am still trying to find someone who has repaired the intermittent setting.

[garyfish]

Thanks for the replies.

dlb -- yes, the wipers do work properly on the "high" setting... I forgot to mention that.

I don't mind so much that the intermittent setting doesn't work... it's the "park" feature that I really wanna have.

Sounds like I should try cleaning the contacts, and if that doesn't work I'll swap in my spare switch.

[Petros]

If I recall, the park function is inside the motor or the gear box on the motor. I had a car do this once, and it seems there was a switch that holds the power on until it reaches the park position and than turns off. You might check the wire diagram for such a circuit, when you turn it off the power stays on at the motor until it parks, than the circuit is opened.

[ARCHINSTL]

I misunderstood your problem.
Goldie's wipers would always park when in low or high position.
They would not when in the intermittent position. When moved to intermittent directly from low or high, they would stop.
Tom M.