Hey everyone I just got a 1983 camaro a week ago. A mechanic told me i need a new wiper motor, the motor works tho, it just wont shut off. So i thought id go to the junkyard and get a switch(this was before i talked to the mechanic and i thought the switch was the problem). The switch didnt fit so i tried to put my old one back and now i dont have enough wire. The wiper only hides itself very rarely. I think i might just get a new motor and see if thats it. The problem is how do i fix this wiring problem(see picture).

 

It is funny you should post this today, since I just spent most of the day tracing out my wiper wires after I did a harness swap to tpi last year in my 83' The wipers didn't work after that. By the way, I looked at that picture again after posting this initially, and you cut the wires for the cruise control. The wiper switch is built into the column.

Looks like you really got yourself into a pickle with that one The correct way ( and can be a major PITA ) is to pull the steering wheel, pull out the enough of the guts of the column to remove the harness and switch. It plugs in at the rear of the column, behind the main connector (which goes to things like the turn signals, horn etc.) The cable may be separate or bundled with the main harness which runs through a plastic sheath.

I can tell you that on the 83' birds, (which is basically the same wiring, and am sure the wiper switches are wired identical) the switch provides ground to the wiper motor, specifically the solenoid inside of the motor which unlocks the motor. That is all those are for. The motor itself has a ground to chassis.

The 3 prong connector is wired such that the top and bottom connectors (which are keyed) are grounds which go directly to your switch ( normal and hi speed ) the middle connector is a hot 12v which comes from your fuse panel. This is also spliced to feed the washer pump. The pink wire coming from the switch supplies the ground for the washer pump, The purple and grey supply the grounds which go to the motor solenoids. There is a black ground wire in the connector which supplies the ground to the switch.

If your wiper motor is not shutting off I suspect you have a ground issue in one of the wires. You can pull the 3 pin connector off the wiper motor and connect direct to the car battery. Remember, Pin 1 and 3 are grounds, 2 is hot. So to test it, ground term# 1 and connect term # 2 to a hot 12v source. The motor is self grounded, once it starts it keeps going until you disconnect the ground #1 terminal, then it should retract the blades to their starting position and stop till you ground #1 again. If once the motor starts and it still keeps going after you disconnect ground to #1 terminal, then there is likely an internal short to ground in the motor itself which is causing it to run all the time. Term 2 is hot all the time once the key is turned to "run"

should help to diagnose, but please for your own piece of mind, replace that switch the correct way!

Good hunting!

 

It is funny you should post this today, since I just spent most of the day tracing out my wiper wires after I did a harness swap to tpi last year in my 83' The wipers didn't work after that.

Looks like you really got yourself into a pickle with that one The correct way ( and can be a major PITA ) is to pull the steering wheel, pull out the enough of the guts of the column to remove the harness and switch. It plugs in at the rear of the column, behind the main connector (which goes to things like the turn signals, horn etc.) The cable may be separate or bundled with the main harness which runs through a plastic sheath.

I can tell you that on the 83' birds, the switch provides ground to the wiper motor, specifically the solenoid inside of the motor which unlocks the motor. That is all those are for. The motor itself has a ground to chassis.

The 3 prong connector is wired such that the top and bottom connectors (which are keyed) are grounds which go directly to your switch ( normal and hi speed ) the middle connector is a hot 12v which comes from your fuse panel. This is also spliced to feed the washer pump. The pink wire coming from the switch supplies the ground for the washer pump, The purple and grey supply the grounds which go to the motor solenoids. There is a black ground wire in the connector which supplies the ground to the switch.

If your wiper motor is not shutting off I suspect you have a ground issue in one of the wires. You can pull the 3 pin connector off the wiper motor and connect direct to the car battery. Remember, Pin 1 and 3 are grounds, 2 is hot. So to test it, ground term# 1 and connect term # 2 to a hot 12v source. The motor is self grounded, once it starts it keeps going until you disconnect the ground #1 terminal, then it should retract the blades to their starting position and stop till you ground #1 again. If once the motor starts and it still keeps going after you disconnect ground to #1 terminal, then there is likely an internal short to ground in the motor itself which is causing it to run all the time. Term 2 is hot all the time once the key is turned to "run"

should help to diagnose, but please for your own piece of mind, replace that switch the correct way!

Good hunting!