Upgrade to intermittent wipers?

[markbt73]

For the most part, I love my bare-bones truck. Crank windows, manual locks, rubber floors... wouldn't change any of it. But one thing I do miss, especially in Oregon in the springtime: intermittent wipers. Flicking them on and off manually every few seconds is getting really old.

Is that an easy change? Is it as simple as getting a combo switch with an intermittent position from a junkyard? Or do I have to change the motor or some brain box as well?

 

[94burbk1500]

Can't say i have much knowledge or experience on this, but year and model would probably be helpful.

 

[someotherguy]

Yep! Should either put it in your sig or include the info when you ask questions.

New member though so it was easy to poke through a couple old posts and find his truck is an 89 K1500 ex-forest service truck.

There's not really a true all-in-one combination switch like the 1995-up column. The lever on your 1989 model is called a combination lever, sure, and a truck with intermittent wipers does indeed use a different lever - but the actual electrical portion of the switch is a separate piece inside your column and the lever just actuates it.

So you'll need the switch, lever, and the wiper motor itself. Suggest you get the 1991-up design motor as it has the easier-to-repair/replace circuit board for if and when it goes bad.

Not to scare you off from the swap, the intermittent wiper motor does suffer from some issues but rest assured they are ridiculously easy to fix if you're handy with a soldering iron. It just takes re-soldering the joints where the harness connector attaches to the board. Or, even easier to replace the board itself as it's a common issue. (I personally would just fix the original.)

I *think* but am not 100% sure the wiring is already compatible with either wiper motor, but it may take someone with more recent experience to say for sure. It's been too many years since I played with a bare bones model to recall. There were some early GMT400's with a weird little module inline in the wiper harness that may have had to do with intermittent wipers.......anybody else recall that?

Richard

 

[markbt73]

Right, sorry, forgot to mention that... I get so used to forums where I'm an old-timer that I forget I'm a noob here.

Thanks for the info. I'll do a little junkyard-diving when I can; these don't show up in junkyards too often around here, which I take as a good sign, except when I need parts.

 

[someotherguy]

I do also seem to recall the wiper harness is a separate-ish run from the main dash harness, so you may want to compare them closely and grab that segment if needed. If it runs through the firewall block it's a little tricky separating the 4 pieces at the firewall once you pull the screw, but if you take your time it's not bad. It's just been too many years for me to remember. One of those harnesses comes out on its own but I can't recall if it's wipers or cruise module.

Richard

 

[markbt73]

Thanks! It's sounding like more trouble than it's worth for right now, but I'll keep an eye out for the parts. At least I'm comfortable and handy with electrical work... I have to be, my other car is an MGB.