The wiper wasn't working at all for about six months, but now it starts wiping every time I hit the brakes. The switch on the column has no effect at all, except to make a slight click in the rear when turned to "on."
Sounds like a bad ground to me.
Testimonial: "OK - excellent. Your explanation definately makes sense when you explain it that way. I very much appreciate you taking the time to respond - thanks a ton! I'll post what happened when I fix it."
Yes, that sounds about right. Thease kinds of things are pretty common, especially in hatchback models. You will probably find more than one broken wire, and I can almost guarantee one of them will be a ground wire. probably the one to your high mount brake lamp.
I think the part that you are not understanding is that you probably have at least 650 cold cranking amps being pushed by 12 volts and it is looking for ground. Now, being that electricity is WAY too smart for its own good....it always finds the shortest, easiest route to ground in less than a millisecond...AND it doesn't care which circuits it invades in an effort to accomplish its mission.
So, when you step on the brake...if the only way to ground is THROUGH the rear wiper motor, that is the route it takes. Fixing the brake lamp circuit may or may not fix your rear wiper problem. That could still be elsewhere. If your rear wiper has not been working for a while, this must be diagnosed on its own merit. However, it is pretty likely that you will find BOTH problems inside the conduit to the lift gate.
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It is likely that where the wiper arm is attached to the linkage it is either loose or stripped.
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I went to the dealer and they showed me how to do it. Just pull it back, I thought it would break off----but it doesn't. Pull it back and it snaps right off.
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I think I've tracked it down to being where the hatchback hinges to the car body. The electrical lines go through a conduit there, and it is apparently shorting - though I still don't understand why the column switch wouldn't have an effect.
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