Hi All,

My wipers stopped in mid stroke. I thought the fuse burned out but there is no wiper fuse in the box (glove compartment). Is there a fuse and where? Please and THANK YOU. I'm in the NW and I cannot drive without wipers.

 

Do you have a second fuse box in the engine compartment?

 

The fuse may not look blown as the Gen 1 use Glass AGC fuses, check them with a fuse tester or meter. Also the fuse block wiring may be a bit loose. Take out the glove box, and press up on the fuse panel while pressing down on the individual fuses. There should be a paper cover on the bottom of the fuse panel as you do this or you may get a nice shock.

The only fuses in the engine compartment are the fusible links, and if one of those is gone, you would loose more than just the wipers. You may also have a loose ground wire someplace, otherwise the wipers would return to the home position rather than just stopping.

What type of control do you have for wiper control? the dash mounted or control stick version?
You may have a loose connection there as well, simply unplugging and replugging securely can fix intermittent issues. Another trick for finding loose wiring after you are 100% sure of the fuses, is to leave the ignition and wiper controls on, and gently move the wiring harness around to see if they restart. It is possible for the motor to fail, but usually there is some kind of warning that is about to happen.

Good luck and Happy Holidays.

 

Thank you for the input. There is no place for a "wiper" fuse in the fuse box and the switch is the dashmount lever, left of the steering column. I'm hoping it is just a loose wire.....jiggling them with the switch on...nice. Sometimes I worry about myslef.

 

It is is possible that the wiper switch has failed. The replacement is easy though. To get the switch out, you need to yank the chromed plastic **** from themetal shaft. Then unscrew the bottom edge screws on the dash. The panel will just push in and slide out. The dash is ground for the switch. Then you can take the switch off of the plastic panel. Install is the reverse of
removal.

I should say the removal is easy if you don't have vents on that panel, though I don't think any of the early 80's vans had this feature.

 

Great call, thank you. I had turned the wipers on and tried to get some action from the wiring. No luck. I'll try the switch in the morning. Thanks again.

 

How did the switch replacement go? Everyting fixed?