**RE-FIXED with Videos** Rear wiper won't turn off

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Tbh1981

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Hello all,

I've run into an issue I couldn't find described anywhere, so hopefully someone here can help.

Today I finally repaired my leaky sunroof drain. It was cracked, or course on the passenger side, right at the elbow that goes through the body. I have almost never completed a more frustrating repair on a passive system...

In order to even see the place where the hose runs through the body, I had to loosen and drop the lower fuse panel. In order to do that, I first disconnected the battery, then I had to unplug the 3 large harness connectors (the orange, green and blue ones on the lower fuse panel. I don't know what they're called...) the 2 gray connectors at the bottom of the panel, and the white wiring connector on the lower right side of the panel. Once I got the god-forsaken drain tube replaced, I re-installed the fuse panel and plugged everything back in. Re-install was fairly simple, and everything plugged back in normally. The repair took a couple days of intermittent work, so the battery was disconnected for about 36 hours.

Now, even with the ignition completely turned off, the rear wiper motor will not stop running. I checked my connectors to make sure nothing was backwards (which is basically impossible) and ensured all my connections were complete. The rear wiper motor is Fuse18 on the lower panel, and everything else with a fuse in that block works perfectly. Front wipers are normal, the rear window washer works normally, but the rear wiper motor now seems to be on a permanently closed circuit, that gets power from the battery even when the ignition is off.

I've started and driven the vehicle, cycled the engine a few times, and the only thing that stopped the wiper motor was pulling the fuse.

I hate wiring and electrical work, and I can't even begin to understand why this is happening. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 

ryanjl

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Probably of little or no help, but I believe when I put my car in reverse with my front wipers on (but the rear wiper not turned on), the rear wiper will still perform one wipe to clear the rear window for backing up.

I say "I believe" because I'm not 100% sure this is true.

So, if it is true, there is at least some built-in reason why the rear wiper would ever wipe without being turned on. Maybe your rear wiper thinks your car is in reverse or something? Maybe try disconnecting the battery again then reconnecting to see if that resets something?
 

Tbh1981

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Yeah, I thought that. I ran it in drive with front wipers on, then switched to reverse to see if I could trick the rear wiper into doing a single wipe then stopping. No luck.

I also disconnected the battery again, jiggled the fuse panel, reconnected everything, checked the wiring loom in the body rail that got wet when the sunroof was leaking, made sure the wiper stalk was set to OFF (as I read quite a few posts from people whose wiper problems were due to operator error)... the only info I've found that makes sense refers to a wiper relay failing in the closed position which makes a permanent circuit, and I have no idea how to diagnose or repair that issue, if that is my problem.

Thanks for replying!
 

Tbh1981

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Quick update: was fiddling around some more trying to figure out this problem, and now I'm getting the Eco stop/start unavailable, so I'm leaning towards the entire problem having to do with low charge on my aux battery.

Maybe next car, I'll get one with even more computers and relays. That way, everything should be fine, because more computers are always better. Right?
 

f1racer328

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the only info I've found that makes sense refers to a wiper relay failing in the closed position which makes a permanent circuit, and I have no idea how to diagnose or repair that issue, if that is my problem.

If you suspect this is the case, you should be able to test the relay with a multimeter if you have one.

There are quite a few articles and YouTube videos on how to do this.

If you're suspecting issues with your aux battery, maybe disconnect the wiper relay/fuse while you drive around for a few days to charge up that aux battery, or replace it, and then see what happens?
 

Tbh1981

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How would I find the wiper relay? I have a multimeter, but between the fusepanel and the wiper motor is about 650 meters of multi-coloured wires that all run through a loom before splitting off into about 40 dozen directions. I don't even know what a wiper relay looks like, but I understand enough about wiring and electricity to know that somehow, power is getting from the battery to the wiper motor through various wires and relay switches regardless of the state of the ignition, or wiper controls.
 

f1racer328

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How would I find the wiper relay? I have a multimeter, but between the fusepanel and the wiper motor is about 650 meters of multi-coloured wires that all run through a loom before splitting off into about 40 dozen directions. I don't even know what a wiper relay looks like, but I understand enough about wiring and electricity to know that somehow, power is getting from the battery to the wiper motor through various wires and relay switches regardless of the state of the ignition, or wiper controls.


Check out this PDF. Just remember that everything is on the wrong (right) side there across the pond.

Looks like it should be in the fuse box near the passenger seat.
 

jlglr4

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What year car are we talking about? I’m looking at the 2016 wiring diagrams, and it looks like maybe they moved it to the drivers rear cargo area in the later model cars.
 

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Tbh1981

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What year car are we talking about? I’m looking at the 2016 wiring diagrams, and it looks like maybe they moved it to the drivers rear cargo area in the later model cars.
Mine is a 2016 like yours. I plugged the fuse back in to get the wiper to run (ignition off) and pulled every damn relay in the engine compartment. Not a single one affected the rear wiper...

I'll try to decipher the diagrams you shared, but I imagine I'll just end up driving around with no rear wiper... ******* electrics
 

Tbh1981

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@jlglr4, I just looked at the diagram. It seems you are correct and the wiper relay is buried behind the passenger side rear interior panel. Hooray! The only thing I like more than messing with electrics is pulling off interior panels...

Edit: I was wrong, it's driver's side (in North America) and the relays can be accessed through the panel that hides the tow kit (if you have one). I pulled the relays, and I made a video I'm going to post here of the problem I'm having.

Edit 2: here's the link to the video
Sorry about the vertical filming, I was not thinking of video quality when shooting this. Have a look and let me know what you think.
 
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