Well as the title says I'm in the garage right now trying to fix my wipers which will not go on at all. I checked

all the fuses
relays
no power gettin to motor

I changed the gages on saturday to the SE gages but kept the same cluster so I wouldn't mess with the mileage, I'm pretty sure I connected everything I unplugged but I'm actually about to take the whole damn thing apart RIGHT NOW and double check for evertything. Is there anything I can check or do while I have all this taken apart? by the way the motor showed no major signs of wear, still moved the wipers pretty fast and easily when it worked a couple of days ago.

I will be putting down the laptop and checking the thread every 10 minutes for updates, so I would greatly appreciate help from any of you...taking in consideration that I had to drive home from school (20 miles) of darkness and rain without wipers.

Also if anyone could post a link or pic of the fuse diagram I would appreciate it as my car does not say for what each of the 26 (or 25) fuses are for under the steering wheel.

lol and last..if anyone definately thinks they know what may be wrong and think they can guide me over the phone, I can definately take calls just let me know. Sorry I'm a lil desperate cuz I think its gonna rain some more tomorrow and I need to do things.

 

Electrons dont flow into motor win dings... On the way they get lost b/c sw connector loose, relay stuck...?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/5

Toll free number is?

 

yeah man sounds like you didnt plug something pack in when you had the dash apart
we've all done it before...
if you cant figure it out, go get some rainX and rub that stuff in. or go to target and get the orange wiper fluid. its got rainx stuff in it.
i heardly use my wipers, that orange stuff does sucha good job of beading the water up and running off.
safe driving

 

you most likely left something unplugged...

Pledge furniture polish works great in a pinch on the windshield...you almost never have to use the wipers unless its pouring....

 

So I have the whole dash and cluster taken apart and tried the the old gauges back on...checked for cut wires or anything of that sort. Everything looks normal but now my cluster lights wont go on, only the "seat belt" and other warning lights. All I did was put on the old gauges on..I'm starting to get real..frustrated or sad lol. Just got my FSTB and I wanna go driving but want my lights on too! dammit, 2 issues now: wipers and dash lights

 

wipers and dash light are tied to one thing : the timer control box

dashlight is also tied to the brake light, so check that too.

before you start taking things out, try this to confirm if the timer control box is really the culprit. Make sure your dome light is in the auto position so that when you open the door, it goes on, and close the door it goes off. You will then need to open the door, then close it, if the dome light slowly goes off, then the timer control box is fine, if it goes off right away, then I would check the timer control box.

as for the timer control box, its under the steering wheel, behind the factory alarm box on the left hand side where the fuse box is. It is plastic, squareish, and are white in color (bar of soap shape and color)

take that out, carefully pry the top plastic piece out (white plastic part), then slide the circuit board out, check where the circuit trace lines are, chances are, there will be a burnt, just use an X-acto knife and scrape some of the burnt green protective layer ontop of the circuit, then solder in the missing link. After you are done, squeeze some hot glue over the welded area, or drip hot wax on it, then plug everything in .

Also, check your fuses, pull them out one by one is the best way, unless you got a multimeter, then you can just check for resistance.

 

Hey thanks a lot for this very helpful piece. I managed to restore my interior lights and rear lights (not brake lights but general lights in back) by changing the fuse, I didnt have a 10a so I put in a 20a hope it doesnt affect anything (I will change it tonight when I get another 10a) after all lights were on, the dash still was dark so I took it out and took out the bulbs and put some others in and the printed circuit board was starting to burn so I had to quickly unplug some cable..shut off car then put everything back and the lights in the dash were working fine..the only thing not working is the Temp gauge and I think its cuz the link burnt, think I have to do what you said with a sauder and wax over it. As for the dome light, it slowly dims but only when driver door shuts, with the other 3 it just shuts off. Wipers still not working, keeps blowin 20a fuse (6th fuse down on right side) I dont have a multimeter but I check the fuses with tester light. Anything else I can do as to that fuse blowing right when you put it in?

 

Trblshoot the way as told yesterday:
1. Take Timer ctrl plug out
2b. tst
Fuse blown: No= swap/correct Timer ctrl / Yes= proceed
3. unplug motor
4. tst
Fuse blown: No= swap motor / Yes= proceed
5. Unplug switch
6. tst
Fuse blown: No= swap switch, check wiring to motor / Yes= proceed
7. Plug all in
8. Rewire DC-supply to switch

 

Thanks once again for that Wiking just wanted to see if there was any other option. Will be doing this Saturday, for now I got RainX
Will I need a multimeter at all or would my tester be enough? "1. Take Timer ctrl plug out" thats the box behind the anti theft as stated by disgruntled right?

 

that's what he meant, but from the way your dome light shuts off, I would say that the timer control box isn't affected. A digi multimeter is a good investment, since you can get one for around 17 bucks with 9v battery included (Ace hardware or Walmart). From what you described, something is seriously shorting out. From what you posted, you have no brake lights correct? If so, check where the brake light bulb is, chances are, there are corrosion around that area.

As for the cluster, when you swapped clusters, did you remember which screw hole exactly? From what I remember, there is about 4 screws holding the gauge into the housing, also providing it with a connection to the printed circuit, and there is some unused hole also, so make sure you didn't put screws into any holes that didn't need a screw.

As far as I can remember, the gauge cluster only has 3 "dongle" going into the cluster, so swapping out the cluster should be a fairly straight forward job, except for the unscrewing an old gauge and rescrewing it back onto the new cluster, so I really see no reason why there should be a short from just the gauge. Also, I did drive without a gauge cluster before(don't ask, long story), and I can tell you that the wiper is NOT dependent on the cluster, it will still work. Also, the wiper will also work without the timer control box, you will only get 2 speeds however, slow and fast, no in between. So please, just start looking at where there are lots of wire(fuse box area) that you might have touched when doing your gauge cluster swap. Also, check your wiper moto r again, it might have seized, causing a short. To test the motor using your test light, turn the wiper on, and put your test light into the appropriate terminal, and keep it there and watch for blinking light (wiper motor only gets power when it needs to be on, so intermitten wiper = intermittent electric supply being sent = blinking test light).

As for the printed circuit on the back of the gauge cluster, once that thing is burnt, I don't think you can just solder it back up, since the circuits are on a piece of vinyl material. Since you have two gauge cluster, once everything is figured out, try swapping the circuits themselves.

Good luck.

 

All my lights are working, brakes, front and signals are fine. but unfortunately I dont have 2 clusters I only bought the gages and put the on my cluster. tomorrow maybe I will be checking that out and see how everything goes.

 

Lost In the Jungle you'll ask: Will my victorinox be enough, or should I go and buy 10$ machete? Still in this particular (wiper) problem, victorinox tester IS enough, even bag of fuses is enough. (Save fuses as said: wrap wire around one burned fuse, here 8 turns.)

By Option u mean To bypass trblshootin? I've so far heard only one solution to that: Aunt from America dies and you inherit all.

But if u mean opinions, the more u have, the better youre off. Then selectin the right one becomes issue

Unpluggin =closing possibilities out one by one is the easiest way for trblshoot.

 

^^^^^^^ all hail wiking, the electronic wizard of the 3rdgen forum.

 

 

lol good point Wiking I will be saving fuses and yes I meant opinions, but guess what, I was at the shop today getting my PS belt tensioned (since it has warranty) and I mentioned that problem to the mechanic and he looked at it and said its the motor causing the short so I guess I'll be needing a motor..lol I think I'll let the professionals handle with it to so its covered by warranty. I'm just some punk a*s kid who thinks he knows how do things then f*cks them up
thanks to you all for the incredibly excellent advice *imititates zoolanders accent*

 

glad you got your problem fixed, so I was partially right about the motor causing the short, what baffles me is that why is there no warning sign, and the thing just decides to crap out like that.

 

exactly. I hope he's right when he says thats its bad. I'm still gonna do what Wiking said to make sure it is the motor. Think I'm gonna start making my christmas wish-list on all the things I want for my car. My mom and my gf are gettin mad that i spent too much time with/on the maxima, what can I say I love my car Damn I just got it a month ago and I already need another oil change...my my when did 3k miles pass by?

 

3k ??? No wonder women complain... Synthetics, drive 10k miles w/o any problems.

How did the mech get into his motor -conclusion?

 

Hmm I dont know if I have synthetic in or not, I dont even know what kinda damn oil I got in it, all I know its 10w30. but as of this week I'm gonna start using Mobile 1 and I'm gonna do the oil change since a friend just showed me how to do it, so simple.

As for the motor, he just visually inspected it and said it was bad and it should be whats causing the short, I'm taking his word is because he's been in the business for many years probably 25-30 years hell if I get the motor changedwith him and thats not the problem, then thats not my fault he diagnosed it wrong and he'll have to fix whatever else is wrong

What do you guys think about Mobile 1 is it good? What is the best oil you can get?

 

I have used that since it entered into shops. Go for it. Here the price has been yenked so artificially hi, 20$ per gallon, that its "subscription recipe" for fraud: who is able to differentiate between full synthetic the grades?

Last five yrs been using a local chain's full synthetic, half price. (I suspect that chain doesnt want its label ruined).

At the moment my mileage is very low: I change once a year oil&filter, about 10k miles (no racing, no hot summer). Multiple variables define how often one should change, theres not one answer which cover all... Also the dino-oils recommended in 80's were not as good as todays full synthetics. (Note: Maxima 3gen design started in the 70's)

If u want best for u car, buy oil cooler. That will keep the oil temp low enough. Whatever you use, is kept from degrading/thinning in hot racing/towing whatever...

 

If you are going to go synthetic, watch out for leaks since synthetic oil particles are much smaller and are more uniform, so when you put it in a 10+ years old car, with seal not sealing as tight as new, things will prone to leak. As for the oil filter comment, I think it is best that the filter should be changed every 1.5k miles, but 3k should be fine, but as for the electronic guru 10k comment, I think it is stretching it a bit.

 

I use Canola oil personally.

 

So you guys think I should go for Mobile 1? I asked at most autopart stores and they said it was top of the line in the store.

 

Mobil 1 is good oil...IMO for a synthetic i would use castrol syntec for the max....I use the castrol syn/dino blend myself...

 

EVOO dont ya know