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Silly Quirk- Wipers come on when Headlights turned on... 700 1991

posted by  someone claiming to be Jon Belmont on  Wed Nov 29 18:45 CST 2000 [RELATED]

I posted this problem a few weeks ago when I turned on the headlights to flash a warning to oncoming motorists about a speed trap on my way home from Ft. Campbell, and the wipers came on. I got a few responses which hinted at the headlights seeking a ground through the washer pump or something. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to do anything about it, and the problem had not reoccured.... until tonight. I am flying at night now so for the next couple of weeks I'll be needing the headlights a lot and I'd rather not have the wipers on if it's not raining. Any help troubleshooting/fixing the problem would be appreciated!

Thanks,

-Jon '91 Coupe 150K "Gustaf"







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    Re: Silly Quirk- Wipers come on when Headlights turned on... 700 1991

    posted by  someone claiming to be Don Foster on  Wed Nov 29 23:24 CST 2000 [RELATED]

    Ground the steering column.







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      Re: Silly Quirk- Wipers come on when Headlights turned on... 700 1991

      posted by  someone claiming to be Chris Mullet on  Thu Nov 30 00:49 CST 2000 [RELATED]

      Has your steering column gotten loose to where you can grasp the wheel firmly and shake it from side to side and feel some shifting in the mounting? On mine, you could see the ignition switch move with it. On at least one other Brickboarder's 700, this sloppiness was also causing him some washer/wiper/blinker/horn (etc) confusion, due to the poor grounding.

      Removing the knee bolster will expose the two anchor bolts for the column. To tighten it up, however, you will have to drill/easy-out the old and install new bolts. I've been told the manuf used shear head bolts as an anti-theft measure. (Somehow I felt this just wasn't necessary any more on a 10 year old dinged-up Volvo when it's parked next to a bunch of $30,000 Lexus and Mercedes SUV's that have stereos worth more than my whole car.)







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    Re: Silly Quirk- Wipers come on when Headlights turned on... 700 1991

    posted by  someone claiming to be Johnno on  Wed Nov 29 22:16 CST 2000 [RELATED]

    I've had a similar problem with my 89 740 Gl. It started with the warning light in the dash thats supposed to warn you thats something wrong with the lights. It started to blink in the same speed as my left turnlight.But my left-turnlights were all ok. When I put on the headlights, then the wipers started to work, STRANGE. I found that my leftside headlight was not as bright as the right one. Voltagecheck=ok so, I thougt, ground problem???

    And yes, it was. On the inner front sills, on the left ( behind air-filter-housing) and on the righthand side, there are some ground tags and connectors. After cleaning the tags and connectors on the lefthand side with an electronic contact cleaner, everything was ok.






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