Rear wiper doesn't work

M

m9199

VibraJeeper
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2019
Messages
104
Location
Biloxi, MS
My rear wiper system hasn't worked since I got the jeep in January. I've got a 05 TJ, but the vents on the back of the hard top suggests that it's from an 02 or earlier. In addition to that, my build sheet says that my Jeep came with a soft top, with no mention of the hard top, yet the wiring and switches for the rear defroster and were installed. The sprayer hose was disconnected so that emptied my reservoir in about a day.

Owners manual states that fuse 6 is the rear wiper, and fuse 15 is the defroster switch. Both were missing. The strange thing is that while the wiper switch did nothing, but the defroster worked perfectly (I think PO didn't wire the fuse in).

Fuse 6 had a wire shoved into one of the holes that the fuse pin normally go into. When I found that, I disconnected it, thinking that it can't be safe. The wire doesn't appear to do anything.

Another thread mentioned replacing the switch, I'd did with an AutoZone part. I tried using a multimeter to see if power was going to the motor, but I'm not sure if I was touching the contacts.

Currently I'm at a loss of where to go from here.
 
m9199 said:
I've got a 05 TJ, but the vents on the back of the hard top suggests that it's from an 02 or earlier.
Click to expand...

There's your issue right there. No one converted the plugs to match. Your older hard top has different plugs than the newer 03-06 hardtop.

You'd have to do something like this: Hardtop wiring: converting plugs to match different years

@Jamison C did a great write-up on it here as well:
How to Factory Wire your TJ for a Hardtop Part 1 (Dash Harness)
How to Factory Wire your TJ for a Hardtop Part 2 (Rear Tub Harness)
 
Chris said:
There's your issue right there. No one converted the plugs to match. Your older hard top has different plugs than the newer 03-06 hardtop.

You'd have to do something like this: Hardtop wiring: converting plugs to match different years

@Jamison C did a great write-up on it here as well:
How to Factory Wire your TJ for a Hardtop Part 1 (Dash Harness)
How to Factory Wire your TJ for a Hardtop Part 2 (Rear Tub Harness)
Click to expand...

I just took a look at the pins. They both have the 10 pin connector, but the clips are broken.
My top has pins 1 345 and 6 89, so I guess the 8 and 9 pins means that it's an old top. And the tub has pins 1 345 and 6.

Right now, it looks like I have a Friend with an '05 tub, '00-'02 wiring, and a pre '00 top. I'm looking at the wiring diagram right now to see if I can figure this out.
 
m9199 said:
I just took a look at the pins. They both have the 10 pin connector, but the clips are broken.
My top has pins 1 345 and 6 89, so I guess the 8 and 9 pins means that it's an old top. And the tub has pins 1 345 and 6.

Right now, it looks like I have a Friend with an '05 tub, '00-'02 wiring, and a pre '00 top. I'm looking at the wiring diagram right now to see if I can figure this out.
Click to expand...

I've never tried to figure it out personally, and I'm glad I haven't. I'm horrible with electronics.

However, I'm pretty certain your issue has something to do with this. I'll bet money if you put on the correct 03-06 top, the rear wiper would work fine.

Let us know what you find (hopefully something!).
 
Chris said:
I've never tried to figure it out personally, and I'm glad I haven't. I'm horrible with electronics.

However, I'm pretty certain your issue has something to do with this. I'll bet money if you put on the correct 03-06 top, the rear wiper would work fine.

Let us know what you find (hopefully something!).
Click to expand...

I guess today we're lucky. In PO's install, which I previously though was missing fuses, was actually done (almost) properly. Rather than running the wires through the dash to the fuse block, they just put in line fuses under the steering column. Sure enough, the 20A labeled rear wiper/washer was blown. Sadly, it was the large type, so I don't have a replacement on hand.
 
m9199 said:
I guess today we're lucky. In PO's install, which I previously though was missing fuses, was actually done (almost) properly. Rather than running the wires through the dash to the fuse block, they just put in line fuses under the steering column. Sure enough, the 20A labeled rear wiper/washer was blown. Sadly, it was the large type, so I don't have a replacement on hand.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, gotta love previous owner work. It's always amusing uncovering the way that someone else did something. It's a good thing you looked though, honestly. This would have been one of those things where no one else would have been able to help you resolve, because we never would have known about that wiring job the PO did.

Sounds like that fuse should fix it!
 
Whelp, the fuse didn't work. I bought one of those "easy read" fuses with the led indicator because that's all they had. I plugged it in, started up my Jeep, and flipped the switch. Guess what? It immediatly blew. That means there's a short somewhere, doesn't it?
 
Ok, so. I went around with some extra fuses and a multimeter, unplugging different parts of the harness and flipping switches.

If I disconnected the wiper motor, the fuse blew, but when I unplugging the top it worked fine. So that means that there is an issue with the harness inside of the top.

Is it possible to open up the top and replace the harness inside of it? If so, where can I buy the required harness?
 
m9199 said:
Ok, so. I went around with some extra fuses and a multimeter, unplugging different parts of the harness and flipping switches.

If I disconnected the wiper motor, the fuse blew, but when I unplugging the top it worked fine. So that means that there is an issue with the harness inside of the top.

Is it possible to open up the top and replace the harness inside of it? If so, where can I buy the required harness?
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any way to access the wiring harness inside the hardtop unless you fish it out of there with a coat hanger or something. I could be wrong, but you'll have to do some investigating.

No one sells that harness. You'll either have to make your own, repair the existing harness (what I would do), or get a new hardtop.

Maybe you could find one from a damaged hardtop here: http://car-part.com
 
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