Honda Car Forum

Mind windshield wipers won't turn off, even when I turn the switch to the
off position. I thought there could be a short in the harness to the
wiper motor, maybe some water got in their but that didn't work. I don't
know how to fix it. Do I need a new wiper motor? HELP!

marty_bob42 wrote:
>
> Mind windshield wipers won't turn off, even when I turn the switch to the
> off position. I thought there could be a short in the harness to the
> wiper motor, maybe some water got in their but that didn't work. I don't
> know how to fix it. Do I need a new wiper motor? HELP!

There is a little switch inside the wiper motor housing (well, sometimes
it is a switch, sometimes it is a slip-ring and brush) that bypasses the
main switch (at the steering column) whenever the wipers are not in the
rest position. This is what causes the wipers to always stop in the rest
position even if you turn them off when they are mid-wipe. If this
switch were stuck on, the wipers would never stop.

That is the principle of things, in practice some cars use the opposite,
a switch that is on only in the rest position, and this switch provides
an input to the wiper control module which in turn turns the motor on
and off at the right times to assure that the wipers stop in the rest
position. In this case, if the switch were to go open circuit, the
wipers would never stop. Don't know how it is done on the '98 Civic.

Randolph <trash@junkmail.com> wrote in message news:<4189CDC0.5DDC6393@junkmail.com>...
> marty_bob42 wrote:
> >
> > Mind windshield wipers won't turn off, even when I turn the switch to the
> > off position. I thought there could be a short in the harness to the
> > wiper motor, maybe some water got in their but that didn't work. I don't
> > know how to fix it. Do I need a new wiper motor? HELP!


n the park switch is bad, you need a wiper motor. there was a
bulletin on this years ago.
Chip