How to: END ALL 98-01 REAR WIPER PROBLEMS!

[Willcall]

How to: END ALL 98-01 WIPER PROBLEMS
This will show you how to install a 2002-03 Sport rear window glass with the integrated wiper into a 98-01 4 door. Recommend two people.

This was performed on a 1998 4 door using a 2003 Sport glass from the JY.

Get the glass, wiper assembly, as much interior wiring as possible, the gas shocks (or buy new ones), and if the interior panel matches yours, grab that too (if you can’t, that’s okay. You can reuse the old)

Total Cost: $125

Step 1-Remove old rear glass: Need torx bits and a screw driver.
1.) Disconnect the defrost
2.) Disconnect the lift shocks
3.)Unscrew the window from the hinges








Step 2- Wiring: For this, you will need four wires (I grabbed three that were 4 feet, and one that was 6 feet)
1.)Remove the rear lift gate panel.
2.)Find motor wiring and splice away



+For this install, you will need a constant 12v. The existing wiring does not have a 12v source, so I wired into the 25 amp source coming from the wiring of the old stock amp.Try to tap a fused line. Here’s how to wire I wired it in:
1.) Drop the roof liner down just enough so you can see the wire connection that goes into the lift gate.
2.) Splice the constant 12v into the Brown/White wire.
Now you have a constant 12v.

*On 98-01 Explorers, it takes two electrical pulses for the wiper to make one complete cycle. They both go thru the White/Orange wire. The Sport, though, only needs one electrical pulse to make one complete cycle. Therefore, the Sport wiper on the 2nd Gen will always make two complete cycles before pausing according to the speed setting. (trying to find a fix for it)


For the connection, I ran the wires along the right side of the lift gate panel, splice to the Sport’s native female plug, and had the Sport’s male plug to it where the defrost plug comes out.

Step 3: Place glass in position: It will mount just like the old one and the defrost plugs are the same.

Put the new panel on and you’ll be ready to go. Or you can cut your own to fit the motor’s panel. See pics




And...


So far it works ALOT better then the old one! Now waiting on some rain to do a driving test.
-Will

[mounty71]

I like that! Definitely gonna look into doing this. I've tried bending my wiper all different ways and just can't get it to work, so looks like this is the best option. Thanks!

[BigBlackMerk]

do you have pictures of the wire routing locations

[Dono]

I love this! Some metal work and bondo to the old mounts and you could have a perfectly clean back end. :-)

I wonder..... would a newer X with the right colour tailgate bolt right on?

[CDW6212R]

Thanks Will, that is a good solution.
Why did you tap into another constant power wire, if the 98 wiring already has one(black/blue wire)?

I have the 2003 Sport hatch glass and wiring already. I was waiting to find a solution to the difference in wiring, four wires to three to the motor. I didn't know the hatch trim was different also, I'll have to see what those later panels look like.

The later Sport hatch should bolt on, but the bottom trim will likely be different(swap your trim etc).

[Willcall]

Originally Posted by CDW6212R

Thanks Will, that is a good solution.
Why did you tap into another constant power wire, if the 98 wiring already has one(black/blue wire)?

I have the 2003 Sport hatch glass and wiring already. I was waiting to find a solution to the difference in wiring, four wires to three to the motor. I didn't know the hatch trim was different also, I'll have to see what those later panels look like.

The later Sport hatch should bolt on, but the bottom trim will likely be different(swap your trim etc).

Thanks! I could never get it to keep constant power on the Black/Blue wire for some reason. It only registered power for the start and nothing. But that could be the reason why my old one only worked intermittently. Now I have noticed a bigger problem:

YouTube Video

Any ideas? Didn't happen at first and only happens when the car is on.

-Will

[albi1cnobi1]

The violet/yellow wire that you didn't use is for the GEM wiper park sense. It doesn't do it when you turn off the truck because when you remove power it parks by default.

[Willcall]

Okay... I thought that it might not actually have a park function because when you apply 12v to the trigger wire, it does one revolution and returns to its resting position. but it could be an integrated park/trigger on the Sport. I will see what happens when I put the V/Y wire in. And while I'm at it, I'll get some pics of the wiring.
-Will

[albi1cnobi1]

Any progress on this? If you get the bugs worked out let us know.

[Dono]

hopefully this summer ill get my meter on the different wires and see what the different wires are doing on my 2nd gen over a beer or two.
maybe someone with a gen 3 can do the same.

This would be a great mod to sort out.

[Willcall]

Sorry guys, This has been put in the back burner till I can sort Wendy's other more drive-threatening problems. I will try to figure it out as soon as I figure out everything else .

[Newblood]

I don't suppose if you were doing this mod to a sport model it would be plug and play? I'm sure no such luck.

[CDW6212R]

Originally Posted by Newblood

I don't suppose if you were doing this mod to a sport model it would be plug and play? I'm sure no such luck.

91-94 models are all alike, and so are 95-97's. 98-01 4dr and Sport are the same, as well as the 2002 Sport rear wiper system.

[Dono]

I have a feeling that making the rear wiper work properly on a different generation isn't going to be straight forward. There might be some more extensive rewiring required.

Anyone have a detailed schematic of the 2nd and 3rd gen wiper systems?

[Willcall]

Today I ordered the Ford Service and Wiring disc for the 03 Sport and I already have the 98-01 disc. Hopefully I will get the wiring sorted out soon.
-Will

[CDW6212R]

That's encouraging. I have many of the DVD's also, but up to 2002 IIRC.

[jcevans2]

Originally Posted by Willcall

Today I ordered the Ford Service and Wiring disc for the 03 Sport and I already have the 98-01 disc. Hopefully I will get the wiring sorted out soon.
-Will

I was trying to fix my rear wiper problem when I came across your post. I had already downloaded the rear wiper circuit diagram for my 1999 Explorer 4-door from the ARRC website. I was curious so I looked for the rear wiper circuit diagram for the 2003 Explorer Sport. I couldn't find it on the site so I looked at the diagram(s) for the 2002 Sport model. It seems to show that there were different early and late production rear wiper circuits for that model. There are four different diagrams. One is nearly the same as the circuit of my 99 4-door having the 4-wire wiper motor. The only difference is the on/off selector switch. Two other diagrams have a 3-wire motor. The fourth diagram seems to have the relay, motor (3-wire design), and possibly a microprocessor or control module all integrated in one unit.

The circuit with the 4-wire motor has a generic electronic module (GEM). I'm assuming it somehow controls the flow of current and the switching of relays in the circuit based on how you set the on/off/high/low selector switch. The battery junction box (power distribution box) under the hood has five sections. A diagram is embossed on the inside of the box's cover. The maxi-fuse section has slots 1-10. The mini-fuse section has slots 1-15. The relay section has slots 1-10. The diode section has slots 1 and 2. I can't remeber what the last section is but it only has one slot. This circuit's 15 amp fuse is in mini-fuse slot #8 and it's wiper-up relay and wiper-down relay are in relay slots #10 and #8, respectively.

I think the GEM first allows current to flow only through the wiper-up relay, through the white/orange wire, into the wiper motor, out through the black/light blue wire, into the inactive wiper-down relay, and then to ground. Wiper goes up. The GEM then changes the flow of current to go only through the wiper-down relay, through the black/light blue wire, into the wiper motor in the opposite direction, out through the white/orange wire, into the now inactive wiper-up relay, and then to ground. The wiper motor is reversed. Wiper goes down. When the selector switch is turned off, the GEM controls current through the violet/yellow wire, into the wiper motor, and out through the black wire to ground. The wiper parks itself in the lowest position.

One of the circuit diagrams with the 3-wire motor has the same color wires as your wiper motor. It uses only one relay. The GEM and the on/off selector switch are different than the 4-wire motor circuit diagram. There are two wires (or one wire spliced into two) in the battery junction box, one going from the 15 amp mini-fuse to the relay, and the other is the brown/white wire going from the same mini-fuse to the wiper motor. The violet/yellow wire goes from the relay to the wiper motor. The black wire from the wiper motor goes to ground.

[jcevans2]

Originally Posted by Dono

I have a feeling that making the rear wiper work properly on a different generation isn't going to be straight forward. There might be some more extensive rewiring required.

Anyone have a detailed schematic of the 2nd and 3rd gen wiper systems?

You can download and print circuit diagrams from the Auto Repair Reference Center website. It saved me from taking the vehicle in for air conditioner repair. I thought it was a bad compressor clutch but it was just a broken relay in the fuse box.

[jcevans2]

Originally Posted by Willcall

Thanks! I could never get it to keep constant power on the Black/Blue wire for some reason. It only registered power for the start and nothing. But that could be the reason why my old one only worked intermittently.

-Will

I beleive your rear wiper circuit is controlled by two relays. It sounds like you bypassed one relay when you tapped into the amp wiring. Also, current through the black/light blue wire is controlled by a relay. It would not be continuous. It would "pulse" as you call it. Both the 3-wire motor circuit and the 4-wire motor circuit use 15 amp fuses. Probably not a good idea to be using a wire on a 25 amp fuse for this circuit.

I think I understand how the 3-wire motor works now. The 3-wire motor circuit uses only one relay. The relay allows a current "pulse" through the violet/yellow wire into the motor and out through the black wire to ground. This causes an internal switch to move from the "park" position to the "run" position. This allows a continuous current on the brown/white wire to flow into the motor and through the black wire to ground (actually it's "pulsed" internally because of the internal switch). The wiper goes up. When the relay stops the current pulse through the violet/yellow wire, the motor's internal switch moves back to the "park" position, the current from the brown/white wire stops, and the wiper goes down to the same position as being parked, because on this window design, it has no need to lower itself off the glass.

If go back to your original wiring configuration, check your fuses to make sure they are all the right amps and in the right place, and your relays are functional, I think this might work. I am assuming your 98 Explorer has the same circuit components in the same positions as my 99. You should verify everything yourself.

1. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and remove the rear wiper down relay from the battery junction box under the hood (relay slot #8). The rear wiper up relay (relay slot #10) will act as the single relay from the 2002-2003 rear wiper circuit.

2. Connect the violet/yellow wire of the 3-wire motor to the white/orange wire that previously went to the 4-wire motor. The violet/yellow wire that previously went to the 4-wire motor will not be used.

3. Connect the black wire of the 3-wire motor to the black wire that previously went to the 4-wire motor.

4. Connect the brown/white wire of the 3-wire motor to the black/light blue wire that previously went to the 4-wire motor. With the wiper-down relay removed, this wire will no longer get "pulsed" current. We will set it up to get continuous current.

5. The empty rear wiper down relay slot has five terminals - two horizontal and three vertical. The two horizontal terminals are #3 (the other end of the black/light blue wire) and #5 (a series of white/violet wires that connect to the 15 amp fuse in mini-fuse slot #8). Connect a jumper wire or cotter pin between terminals #3 and #5.

6. Reconnect the negative battery terminal, turn the key, and turn on the rear wiper.

If it works, you should make arrangements at some point to replace the jumper wire or pin with a more solid connection between the black/light blue wire and the white/violet wire inside the battery junction box.

If it does not work, then I have thoroughly wasted your time and mine. On paper, it looks like it would work.

[Dono]

Wow, thanks for spending the time to look at the diagrams JC!
This is something I will be trying this summer. Hopefully someone will beat me to it, and let us know if it works.