my '91 Civic HB suddenly has windshield wiper problems

PROBLEM:

the wipers work on the INTERMITTENT setting only... the LOW, HI, and MIST settings suddenly do nothing at all (front washer fluid spraying is working OK, as is the rear window wiper & spray)

WHAT I'VE TRIED:

disconnecting & reconnecting the wiring connectors under the hood at the motor, plus behind the control stalk switch assembly on the steering column, and also sprayed these with DeOxit contact cleaner... made no difference

pulled the motor assembly out, and visually, all seems OK (have no real way of assessing)... opened motor itself and cleamed out black powder... tried with motor sitting free (disconnected), and ran on INTERMITTENT only... motor seems to run fine and is very strong when I tried to restrain it by hand

the 15A fuse on fuse block is fine, intermittent delay relay seems to be OK since it makes a periodic clicking sound as the intermmittent wipers are running

ANY IDEAS? ... any help would be hugely appreciated! thanks!

PS: tried to gain better access to the stalk switch assembly, but for the life of me, could not loosen the retaining bolt that holds on the steering wheel, and was afraid to break my ratchet!

 

UPDATE:

I finally removed the steering wheel, so was able to get access to the wiper stalk switch connector... I then tested the switch pins for continuity, using the continuity test guide in my owner's manual... ran through all tests, in the specified order

the switch tested perfectly for all the switch settings, so I can assume the stalk switch is NOT the cause of the problems, so I reinstalled it (this had been my most likely culprit)

what next??? next thing to try?

is it possible that the "intermittent delay" relay is somehow defective and preventing the other settings from working? speaking of that relay, I can hear it clicking intermittently (as it should) somewhere very near to the fuse panel below the dash, but cannot find it!... where is that relay and what does it look like? maybe I can open it and check solder joints etc.?

thx!

 

That relay your looking for is on the other side of the fuse panel. It's a gray little box. Its probably that "gray" relay. I got mine from a pick a part. Be sure to get the correct one. If it's from a STD civic it will not have the "int" feature. Just fast and faster. Good luck.

 

SOLVED!

it was a broken ground wire (black = ground) down behind driver's left foot area... it's a common connection to both LO and HI, but INTERMITTENT didn't use it... took a long study of the schematic to point me in the right direction after trying just about everything else

thx!