Hello all,

My windshield wipers work great in the two faster settings (lever pushed down one or two clicks). In the slowest setting (lever lifted), they will do their thing for one cycle and then quit. Any ideas as to the culprit? Is this present situation indicative of a condition that could worsen? I don't mind going without the slowest setting, but I don't want the wipers to completely quit working in the middle of a snowstorm.

Thanks,
Keith
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1983 245 Turbo, 165K miles; 1987 244 DL, 272K miles; 1980 244 DL (RIP)

"...wipers work great in the two faster settings..."

Your wipers only have two speeds -- normal and fast. Unless you consider "off" a speed......

"...the slowest setting (lever lifted), they will do their thing for one cycle and then quit..."

That switch position is for intermittent sweep, as you'd use in a light mist. The wipers sweep once every 6-7 seconds, or so.

If your wipers don't perform this way, then the wiper relay may need to be resoldered or replaced.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

"Your wipers only have two speeds -- normal and fast. Unless you consider 'off' a speed......"

Not to challenge the mighty Don Foster, but wouldn't you agree that the "intermittent sweep" is a third speed* for the wipers?

*Speed has a time component (e.g., miles per hour). Even if a single cycle for the intermittent sweep and the "normal" setting are of the same duration, the delay between cycles in the intermittent sweep reduces the average speed. Hence, there are three "speeds" to the wipers.

In any case, I'll check the relay. Thanks for the info.

Take care,
Keith
--
1983 245 Turbo, 165K miles; 1987 244 DL, 272K miles; 1980 244 DL (RIP)

"... wouldn't you agree that the "intermittent sweep" is a third speed* for the wipers?"

Good question.

Consider the two conventional speeds -- the rate that the blade traverses the windshield (in order to remove rain) really does change from normal to fast.

But in the intermittent mode, the blade sweeps at the normal speed, but does it fewer times. Son, anyway, I think of the wipers as two-speed gizmos with an intermittent option. (I just wish they'd allow us to adjust the intermittency.)
At least that's how I interpret it.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)