92 Dynasty Windshield Wipers

I have suddenly developed a problem with the windshield wipers on my '92
Dodge Dynasty. I can't turn them off! Intermittent settings also no longer
function. When the switch is in the off position, the wipers are working as
if they are at the "low" setting. I can switch it to the "HI" setting, but
can't turn them off. I also noticed that the headlight warning has also
stopped working. Both were working normally this morning, but just stopped.

Any thoughts?

'92 Dodge Dynasty, 3.3 L, A604 147000 miles.

Bret

 

One other bit of info - The power door locks will unlock the doors, but will
not lock them. The doors no longer automatically lock when the car is in
motion anymore, either.

 

Problem resolved.

I found the connector on the TCM to be loose, so I disconnected the battery,
disconnected the TCM, cleaned the connections using some electrical contact
cleaner, reconnected the TCM and battery. Everything now works as before.

 

The wipers have nothing to do with the TCM/PCM or even the BCM on that model

 

Perhaps not, but that is what I did, and the problems are gone now. Now the
locks work properly, the wipers work properly and the headlight reminder
operates as it should. None of these worked just before I tightened the
connection, and all worked properly after I fixed the connection. What else
could it have been?

Oh, and this car has no BCM to my knowledge.

While I don't have a FSM for this car, none of the aftermarket manuals lists
a BCM for this car.

 

There are lots of possible causes, ranging from a dead fuse (do your power
locks still work?) to lost ground(s) behind the dash to faulty module(s)
behind the IP, to a faulty wiper (multifunction) switch.

If by 'headlight warning' you mean the chime that sounds if you leave the
headlamps on and open the door, the chime module and the intermittent
wiper delay module are both located behind the instrument cluster.

DS

 

Bret, ignore "maxpower". He likes to pretend to know what he's talking
about. He neither impresses nor fools nobody with his nonsensical noises.
The reason tightening the TCM connection worked was because there's a
ground path for some body functions, and a feed for the auto door lock
function, through the TCM harness. The wipers were a byproduct; when one
function loses proper ground, the current paths can get very, very strange
and truly bizarre symptoms can result. In this case, it's probable your
lock circuit was trying to ground via the intermittent wiper module.

Anyway, it's all fixed now, eh?

DS

 

Yes, it is all fixed now. Thank you for your comments and explanation, they
help a lot. If I may be so bold as to ask more questions, they would be:

If several circuits ground through the TCM harness, is there a way I can run
another (perhaps more secure and/or reliable) ground connection, to prevent
this from happening again? Or, are these grounds controlled by the TCM? If I
can run another ground, where would I connect it? I know where to connect
the ground end, it is the other end that I would need to know about. Or
would this open a big can of worms and not be worth the effort?

Thanks for your response,

Bret

 

Talk about pretending, You do it well, there is no ground going to the TCM
that will effect the door locks from not working. Nor are the wipers
effected by the TCM, take out the mopar body book and view the flow chart
DS, or should i say BS? But then again, you have your Haynes manual. If
the TCM even went down it would not pull down anything with the wipers or
door locks, By Bret poking around im sure he may have hit something or
tightend something but the TCM it wasnt. Dont mean to ruin your day
again, you have a nice weekend

 

Yes, it is all fixed now. Thank you for your comments and explanation, they
help a lot. If I may be so bold as to ask more questions, they would be:

If several circuits ground through the TCM harness, is there a way I can run
another (perhaps more secure and/or reliable) ground connection, to prevent
this from happening again? Or, are these grounds controlled by the TCM? If I
can run another ground, where would I connect it? I know where to connect
the ground end, it is the other end that I would need to know about. Or
would this open a big can of worms and not be worth the effort?

Thanks for your response,

Bret

 

The '92 FSM disagrees with you. Study your wiring diagrams harder. Or even
just use your brain (if so equipped): If there's no connection between the
TCM and the power locks, how do the locking solenoids "know" to lock the
doors at 15mph?

Not normally, no. But when circuit paths are disturbed, weird things
happen. 'twas always thus.

DS

 

Don't attempt to modify the circuitry; the odds of causing more problems
are MUCH greater than the odds of helping/fixing anything. The stock
circuit worked for 12 or 13 years until a connector loosened; retightening
the connector fixed the problem. There's no need to go further.

DS

 

we call it a speed sensor, that gets the info from the PCM to operate the
door locks .... alot of cars dont have the 604 trans and they have no trans
controller. I wont play your silly games with you, find someone else to
argue with

 

I shall not disturb the wiring. You are correct, it worked fine for over a
decade, so I'll not mess with it.