Tale of 2 Taurus's Wipers parking 180 out

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I wouldn't normally post this since it was an oddball thing on my older daughter's 91 Taurus. It didn't happen to her when she used it ..but when she returned it to me, the wipers would park in the upright position. It was as though the wiper motor stopped 180 out of the intended park position.

The thing is we just got a 93 Taurus on the road after engine work ..and while testing everything out ...SAME THING. Wipers parking themselves in the UP position. Not mid span ..full up ..as though the motor is 180 degrees out.

Now I can buy it on ONE model, but one would tend to think that someone would figure it out sooner or later. Then again, GM took a decade to figure out LIM gaskets ..and Chrysler took a decade to hang bean counters on parts for transmissions.

Anyone else run into this and figure a sure fix?
 
It's the same thing as on the crown vics, it affected multiple years of crown vics, and I still don't think it is corrected! There is some sensor that goes bad that tells the wipers where they are when they are parked.
 
I just googled it. I had not even imagined that it would yield endless references to this situation. Way too many years over way too many models. At some point, you would think that someone would get the hint. This isn't even in the same class as the GM LIM issue, that was limited to one engine family.
 
Some wiper types have internal mechanical contacts that can be cleaned or replaced - these sense the position of the arms.
Many newer types are electronically controlled - good luck.

Still, I'd yank it and take it apart to check and clean it with common sense and a little grease where needed.
 
They put too much brains in devices these days (and for a while). Self parking wipers were old news over 30 years ago. Nothing like complicating it ..and having trouble show up ..and continuing to complicate it ..and expecting different results.

Yeah, I'll do the detective work on tracking down the usual suspects.
 
It's a big pet peeve of mine as well. Automakers have been making reliable wiper systems for decades. Why the big step backward in technology? It's not as if government regulations mandated the changes.

Maybe you could try taurusclub.com.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I just googled it. I had not even imagined that it would yield endless references to this situation. Way too many years over way too many models. At some point, you would think that someone would get the hint. This isn't even in the same class as the GM LIM issue, that was limited to one engine family.


What did you learn was the fix then or did you just find that it is a widespread problem? Wiper switch (I think that Honda refers to them as the driver's multiplex controller)? How much are they $40?
 
That's my next stop. It appears that there's a complex relay under the dash somewhere (varies by year/model) ..as well as the switch carrying about 25 functions on the stalk/turn signal ..then there's always the unit itself.

Ford has a number of better ideas ..really. They're surely the masters of assembly line efficiency. They also make some timely products that fit sensible needs. The Taurus was one such item. The Crown Vic was another ..but they compensated with complexity and aftermarket mark up nightmares.
 
The "park switch" is on the wiper motor itself, not under the dash or anywhere else. One of our techs knew how to fix them, but since FoMoCo wouldn't pay to fix them, only replace the wiper motor, we didn't mess with them. A new wiper motor will fix the problem, or you can take it apart to find the switch.
 
They've complicated this too ..but I should do something with it. It's not really a BIG issue, just an annoying one. I had to replace the motor on the 91 due to random sweeps. That was long before the parking issue. Not too bad, but needlessly cumbersome. As usual, they made it jeeeeeeeeeest 3-5mm too "whatever" for a 5 minute vs. a 1 hour job (rusty wrench).
 
Originally Posted By: benjamming


What did you learn was the fix then or did you just find that it is a widespread problem? Wiper switch (I think that Honda refers to them as the driver's multiplex controller)? How much are they $40?


I found that "work" is in my future
LOL.gif


I'll do the usual cross analysis of time at labor versus parts replacement and go from there.
 
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