wiper switch/dash problem

[unclethunderpants]

Every morning I drive to work in the dark, and all the electrics on the dash works fine, unless it rains and then when I put on the wipers the fuel and temp gauges drop, and both turn signal green arrows on the dash light up. After a short while everything returns to normal but it worries me to use it. Any ideas what it could be? (72 valiant /6)

 

[dschem]

Well maybe this will do it. I developed a similar problem when I replaced my coil about a month ago. I did not replace the radio supression condenser on the coil and it caused my wiper motor to stop after doing about 2 swipes and it also caused my tachometer to stop working. When I turned the wiper switch to off the wipers would go back down after about 2 minutes.

 

[67Dart273]

the radio supression condenser on the coil.

I have very sad news for you. That cap is not what fixed your problem. Far more likely is that the connector at the firewall was a little loose/ corroded, and you moving that stuff around caused it to make contact.

 

[67Dart273]

Well maybe this will do it. I developed a similar problem when I replaced my coil about a month ago. I did not replace the radio supression condenser on the coil and it caused my wiper motor to stop after doing about 2 swipes and it also caused my tachometer to stop working. When I turned the wiper switch to off the wipers would go back down after about 2 minutes.

This sounds like a grounding problem. The wiper switch MUST be grounded, and it might be affecting the "other stuff."

Redfish and I have about 1.21 gigaposts on this

Generally, the biggest problem with dash clusters is.......

Poor ground. The cluster is grounded by the mounting screws. Install a dedicated ground wire from a screw on the cluster to a nut/ bolt on the dash frame or column support

Bad / broken PC board harness connector. Resolder, repair as necessary

Poor connections at the IVR socket, and bad IVR. Replace the IVR, and solder jumpers across the spring contacts to the board traces

Bad connections at the gauges. Loosen/ tighten the stud nuts several times, and or replace the fake nuts with real ones

Dirty PC board where the lamp sockets connect Clean the board

Weak/ dirty spring contacts in the sockets. Repair as necessary.

 

[RedFish]

Every morning I drive to work in the dark, and all the electrics on the dash works fine, unless it rains and then when I put on the wipers the fuel and temp gauges drop, and both turn signal green arrows on the dash light up. After a short while everything returns to normal but it worries me to use it. Any ideas what it could be? (72 valiant /6)

The turn indicators come on but don't flash is the symptom puzzling me.
Raining in the fuse box ? LOL Maybe its just a bad wiper motor added to a bad connection at the base of the steering column. Could be there just isn't enough current to run everything until the heat improves the connection. Maybe the wiper motor frees up some and draws less current after it runs a couple minutes. You might take the arms off and try to recreate these symptoms when its not raining. Meanwhile I'm still puzzled about turn indicators.

 

[TrailBeast]

This sounds like a grounding problem. The wiper switch MUST be grounded, and it might be affecting the "other stuff."

Redfish and I have about 1.21 gigaposts on this

Generally, the biggest problem with dash clusters is.......

Poor ground. The cluster is grounded by the mounting screws. Install a dedicated ground wire from a screw on the cluster to a nut/ bolt on the dash frame or column support

Bad / broken PC board harness connector. Resolder, repair as necessary

Poor connections at the IVR socket, and bad IVR. Replace the IVR, and solder jumpers across the spring contacts to the board traces

Bad connections at the gauges. Loosen/ tighten the stud nuts several times, and or replace the fake nuts with real ones

Dirty PC board where the lamp sockets connect Clean the board

Weak/ dirty spring contacts in the sockets. Repair as necessary.

Agreed.
Most any time something does not work right and other things like lights come on dim when they shouldn't be on at all, it's a ground problem.

 

[dschem]

Sorry but I did not move anything at the firewall or anything behind the dash when replacing it so it could not have been a loose or corroded contact.

 

[unclethunderpants]

Thanks guys for the tips, i'll try to sort this out this weekend, p.s whats an IVR? thanks again

 

[RedFish]

IVR = instrument voltage regulator. OEM was a mechanical instrument voltage limiter.
Most are housed in a canister and plugged into the back of the panel. Others are inside a gauge, either fuel gauge or temp gauge depending on model. I don't think it is the root of your problem, just another symptom.
I just recalled some panels have only 1 indicator for both left and right turn. Even if that's yours, that bulb coming on with the wipers is just strange.

 

[unclethunderpants]

Thanks redfish, mine has both directional arrows and they both light up and stay on for a bit then slowly fade away. Also the wipers will switch off but they don't always fold back away!

 

[TrailBeast]

Thanks redfish, mine has both directional arrows and they both light up and stay on for a bit then slowly fade away. Also the wipers will switch off but they don't always fold back away!

Still sounds like a ground issue with the lights, but there may also be a problem with the park assembly in the wiper motor housing.

If you do a search for "Wipers park function" you will start seeing info on it.