Wiring Wiper motor

[rpm620]

Hello all... i need to wire the wipers in my race car. The car does not have the stock body harness or anything inside of it. All i need to is have one speed. Can anyone help me out.

I would like to just have one switch power on and thats it if possible?

[osborni]

E30 by the picture in your sig?

If it's an e36, you will need the wire diagram and the wiper module.....

Or you could just:
a) take a volt meter to somebody's running car to see what the body harness throws out.
b) trial and error on the motor itself. Brown is normally the ground....

IIRC for an e36 (it's been 6-7 years) there are two powers and one ground. One power is "normal" and the other is "fast". The wiper module does the rest of the fancy stuff (intermittent, speed sensitivity, etc.)

[rpm620]

E30 by the picture in your sig?

If it's an e36, you will need the wire diagram and the wiper module.....

Or you could just:
a) take a volt meter to somebody's running car to see what the body harness throws out.
b) trial and error on the motor itself. Brown is normally the ground....

IIRC for an e36 (it's been 6-7 years) there are two powers and one ground. One power is "normal" and the other is "fast". The wiper module does the rest of the fancy stuff (intermittent, speed sensitivity, etc.)

yes its the e30 in my e30

[ScottL]

Can't recall the wire colors on my E30 but I think you can do this: disconnect all leads that go to the wiper motor or, if they're all gone, get to the motor itself under the cowl. With the negative motor terminal/wire grounded, apply +12V from the batt to each of the other terminals/wires. This will allow you to determine which is hi-speed and which is low. Keep your head out of the way of the wipers.

Once you've selected the right terminal for the speed you want to run, just run a wire from that there to a single-pole single-throw (SPST) toggle switch in the cockpit. The other side of the switch should connect to fused 12V ignition-on power.

[thejlevie]

I'm not positive on the wire colors, but I think the high & low speed wires from the white connector under the steering column are both black on an E30. Grounding a wire turns on that wiper function. Down if all of that has been ripped out, you'll have to put power directly to the wiper motor.

[PCarroll]

The wiring is dead simple. Brown is ground, the small one is park, one is high and the other low.

But before you throw out too much stuff, you might want to keep the wiper control module. Otherwise you probably won't be able to park them. It's a pain when you are racing in the heat of battle trying to flick the switch at just the right moment. If you miss it, they will blow back up in your face.

On my E36, the motor will not park without a wiper module. I tried using a relay and it worked on battery. But on alternator voltage (motor running) it skips over park and keeps wiping... E30 may have the same problem.

Keeping the control module will solve this. Even if you just want on and off.

[flink]

But before you throw out too much stuff, you might want to keep the wiper control module. Otherwise you probably won't be able to park them. It's a pain when you are racing in the heat of battle trying to flick the switch at just the right moment. If you miss it, they will blow back up in your face.

hah. It takes me 25 attempts in the garage to get the thing as low as it will go, and I'm still not sure. Gotta worry about that drag, you know.The wiper arm spends most of the year in the trailer anyway.

I was doing some stuff above the firewall and the passenger side linkage was getting in the way so I took it all out and introduced it to my hacksaw. I have a drivers-side-only system now.

It doesn't rain much here.

[PCarroll]

It's probably no coincidence... At the Glen last fall, I spent the beginning laps fighting with the @#$% wiper switch, trying to get it to park and not blow back up in my face. A few laps later, I drove the @#$% car into a wall.

Wait till you put your wiper back on not realizing the thing wasn't actually parked... very messy.

[rpm620]

still have not gotten this done... I dont have the wiper control module thing that is long gone.

[vpilarry]

There should be 4 wires on the motor connector.
Brown = Ground
Black/Yellow = Slow (switched 12V)
Black/White = Fast (switched 12V)
Black = Park (not sure if this is switched ground or 12V)
The circuit runs off Fuse 5 which is 30 amps so you'll probably need a relay.
I have an extra steering column control and control module if you want to replicate the original setup - $40 shipped.

[rpm620]

i have it to but the thing is this is a race car.. the steering column is stripped its just a tube, shaft, and a wheel. So i need to run it off a switch. Thank you very much for what you posted.

[Murph]

Couldn't you replicate the function of the factory stalk with a multi-position switch on the dash, retaining the control module?

[ncoker]

Summit racing, Speedwaymotors or similar outfits sell old style dial wiper control switches. I have one with two speeds and mounted on the custom dash. Yes, I can't control parking either but I can catch it either low or straight up, and it has been fine for 3-4 years now. Wiring help is already posted elsewhere here.

[Novablue454]

Hey everyone, I am trying to figure this out currently and am a little confused. If I hook up my power probe, connect the ground lead to the BROWN wire, and apply 12v to the BLACK/WHITE, I get high speed. If I apply 12v to the BLACK/YELLOW I get low speed. As other posts indicate, it just stops where it stops when I disconnect power. I can not figure out how the BROWN/GREEN (it's small, I don't have a solid black wire?) works. It shows having ground continuity when ground is applied to the BROWN wire, obv when you remove ground from BROWN it goes away. Applying ground to this wire does nothing (figured I'd try). How do you get these to park??

[Novablue454]

Also, putting ground to just the BROWN/GREEN seems to be the same as putting ground to the large BROWN, everything works the same either way.

I found this in another thread, but it doesn't really make sense/is missing info:

0 - thin brown/green (furthest from motor)
1 - thick black/white
2 - thick black/red
3 - Thick brown (closest to motor)


Wire the main wiper (1 + 3) to the toggle up position.


Wire the other two (0 + 2) to the momentary down.


To park, just hold the momentary down until wipers stop, then release.
__________________________________________________ ________________

Connecting 1 to 12v and 3 to ground gives high speed.
Connecting 2 to 12v and 0 to ground gives low speed.
Still no park.

[PCarroll]

I assume you are wiring a racecar?

The thin wire (P) is for wiper parking. It is shorted to ground inside the motor all the time except for the park position. It floats at park.

A wiper motor has a coil in it. This coil stores enough energy to keep the motor going for a while. This is why it does not stop when disconnected. Sort of like electrical momentum.

You can immediately stop a DC motor by shorting its power input to ground. Then the motor will stop immediately.

On the BMW wiper motor, you can use the thin wire to control a relay. The relay needs to supply power when the wipers are "on" or when the wiper is "not parked". So you control the wipers by grounding the relay.

The wiper motor goes to 30. 87a goes to ground. 87 and 86 go to Power/fuse. 85 goes to the thin wire as well as shorted to ground by the on/off switch. You can have Hi/Lo by using another SPDT switch between the motor and 30.

Makes sense?

[Rix313]

The wiper motor goes to 30. 87a goes to ground. 87 and 86 go to Power/fuse. 85 goes to the thin wire as well as shorted to ground by the on/off switch. You can have Hi/Lo by using another SPDT switch between the motor and 30.

Makes sense?

Thanks for this it’s what I’ve been searching for, for a while. When you say ‘the wiper motor goes to 30’ what exactly do you mean here? I’ve drawn your explanation out on paper to understand it but it still doesn’t quite make sense to me?

[PCarroll]

It might help to define what all the DIN pin numbering means. Each number has a specific meaning. The Germans are very methodical. But you have to think like a German...

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_72552

It doesn't mean you have to do it that way. But that's what the labels are for. e.g. you can invert the relay and put pin 30 to ground to park a wiper from 87a if you like.

[Rix313]

It might help to define what all the DIN pin numbering means. Each number has a specific meaning. The Germans are very methodical. But you have to think like a German...

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_72552

It doesn't mean you have to do it that way. But that's what the labels are for. e.g. you can invert the relay and put pin 30 to ground to park a wiper from 87a if you like.

Hia,

Yes I am familiar with this 👍 Maybe I need to reread. This whole thing has been driving me mad but I know it makes sense to make it work in the long run.

Rich

[rudeboi187]

I have the same dilemma of no factory loom but i've decided to keep the stock wiper stalk and i think i still have the wiper relay. What wiring do i need to create to replicate the factory setup?