Windshield Washers. Help needed getting it to work (Page 1/1)
fierorestore85 MAR 14, 05:57 PM
(Writing this on behalf of my father who is the owner of the Fiero and is trying to tell me what the problem is so I can write it. This is his account, I'm his daugher just trying to help him out since he's not too comfortable with typing this himself )

Hi!
There seems to be a problem with getting the windshield washers to work. He (my dad) bought a new mutifunction switch but doesn't seem to get the water going?
He tried the pump by it's own but that seems to work. He's not sure what's wrong or how to get the switch itself to work. If anyone has any suggestions to help dear old dad, I'd appreciate it ~!
Mike in Sydney MAR 14, 08:14 PM

quote
Originally posted by fierorestore85:

There seems to be a problem with getting the windshield washers to work. He (my dad) bought a new mutifunction switch but doesn't seem to get the water going?
He tried the pump by it's own but that seems to work. He's not sure what's wrong or how to get the switch itself to work. If anyone has any suggestions to help dear old dad, I'd appreciate it ~!



Which multi function switch did he replace? The one on the turn signal stalk? If that's the one, that won't fix it. I had the same problem and to fix it had to replace the multifunction switch inside the steering column. As a work around until I had time to change the column switch, I located the power feed for the pump and installed installed a momentary contact push button using a piggyback fuse holder fed from a switched circuit. The down side of this was that i had to turn on the wipers with one switch and turn on the pump by holding the push button.
theogre MAR 14, 09:16 PM
Wiper Pulse/Delay or not?
Washer pump goes thru delay board under cover in wiper motor. Switch in the steering column goes to that too.

So Switch could be bad or the delay board could be bad.
If wipers turn on when push cleaning "button" then likely not a bad switch. Wire from delay board to pump takes long way looping thru the switch. Why? No-one knows but some few at GM 30+ years ago.

85-88 Fiero New delay board are available thru many parts "stores" as Dorman PN 906-109
84 use a different delay "box" under the dash and not made now.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

Mike in Sydney MAR 15, 12:42 AM
Ogre's right. It could be the delay board and that's one of the things I checked when looking for the solution, but I would bet that it's the steering column combination switch causing the issue.

With mine, the board was not the issue and I now have a spare. I even swapped the suspect delay board in one GT for one in another GT that the washer worked fine in. There was no change, so I determined it wasn't the board. BTW, I had no wiper delay issues in either car with any of the three boards.

The combination switch for Fieros isn't made any longer but I found that the switch for the Chevy S-10 (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ado-d6262d/make/chevrolet/model/s10/year/1992) works. They also list it as https://www.summitracing.co...el/fiero?prefilter=1 but it's the same switch.

Putting this switch in is not easy. You will need to disassemble the top of the steering column. That means a steering wheel lock plate remover at the minimum and maybe a steering wheel puller. The good news is you don't have to pull the column. Just be careful banging on the column because you could run the risk of damaging the tilt mechanism and that is a lot of work to repair.

Fishing the wires and the connector through the column is a pain. I found that if you unplug the connector on the lower end of the column you can pull the old switch out to a point where you can cut the wires at the switch. You can then "tie" them to the new connector and pull it through the column. Fiddly, but doable. Alternatively, you can cut the wires at the connector, tie them to a strong cord or wire and pull it through the column when you remove the old switch. When you have this pull cord / wire through the column you "tie" them to the new connector and pull it through the column. Again, fiddly, but doable.

Good luck.