What is the correct procedure for diagnosing windshield wipers on an 88 f250? Mine work and quit and work and quit. Only work done on high, don't work at all on low or intermittent.

 

My initial guess is to replace the relay box. Was the issue on my 79. My 92 is starting to get pretty goofy too, so ill get to see if im right again. Its the little box that plugs in between the switch and the motor.

On a somewhat related note, anyone know where to get bushings for the wiper arms themselves? I havent verified that they are my problem yet, but they have to be. The wipers are loose and and jerk across the window instead of a nice smooth motion.

 

Mine never worked right until I replaced the multifunction switch. My headlights started acting goofy and I replaced the multifunction switch then my wipers worked like the should.

 

88 is before the multifunction switch. The wiper switch is a **** on the dash.

The relay box that hairyboxnoogle mentioned can have problems. Its located near the ebrake, and the shock from the ebrake releasing knocks the box around some. Combine that with some poor soldering and you can have wiper issues. If you take the relay box apart you might be able to resolder the bad connections and get it to work right again.

As far as wiper linkage bushings, good question! I tried taking mine apart and the best I could do was lube it up and I think shim the drivers side a hair. That made it better, but not great. I'm not sure if you can replace the bushings or the whole linkage. It would be nice to find out though, as my '93 looks to be getting worn as well, and I'd like to keep that one around for a long time.

 

My bad techgod. I remember now that the 88 F150 I had was like that. I still have that wiper switch somewhere. My now ex-wife totaled that truck.

 

While were on this topic wheres the best plCe to get a wiper motor and how hard are they to replace? Mine is getting very week

 

I got mine at advanced auto. Not sure if it was the best place, but it's been in for a few years now. It was pretty tight getting the arm loose.

 

This is totally the ticket, if you're ok with a soldering iron and don't want to pay to replace the box. I had to do this 2 or 3 times but never again once I realized I could solder a piece of wire over the spot that kept breaking. Just put a little bit of wire from solder puddle to puddle, and the skinny joint that constantly breaks won't break like, ever. Plenty of room for that mod too.

 

I'm thinking the wiper switch myself... lots of contacts, lots to go wrong.

I had this problem, but I never fixed it... I just taped a small DPST switch with center off to my gearshift and ran new wires to the three terminals on the wiper motor. I have low and high, but no delay.
Works fine in heavy rain, but in light rain it's a bit annoying.
I've still run it this way for the last 4 years, though... <_<

 

I am doing mine now. 3 bolts 2 plugs and one clip. The hard part is getting to the clip for the linkage it is under the cowl vent panel. You will need to take off the cowl seal, the wiper arms, a row of screws at the back of the panel by the windshield. If you have the tool to remove the windshield trim taking the bottom piece of may let you lift the panel to get to the linkage clip. The clip a push on slide up.. The bolts are 10mm. The bottom one has a ground wire that nut is an 11mm.

The screws are Phillips. There are two close to the hood hinge

To take wiper arms off. Lift off windshield while holding the arm up, you will see a clip where the arm attaches lift the clip up and pull the arm off. If the clip does not lift up raise the arm up a little bit more. The arm holds it inplace. When you put the arms back on the have to be off the windshield to put the clips back in place

After I got the new motor install I had high and park. Tomorrow I am going to replace the switch. Hopefully that fixes my problem. If not it the interveral governor.


Parts from Oriley's
Arms 27 ea
New motor 58
New switch 40

It turned out to be just the motor and switch. The interval governors are getting hard to find and very costly $275.00