Sometimes that drizzle is too fast or slow for the stock intermittent wipers. Why not make the wipers variably intermittent? I searched all the forums to see if anyone has made this a possibility on the 6th gen Civic to no avail. So I decided to research wiring diagrams and forums to see if its even possible. I'm here to tell you that it is! It will require swapping the stock wiper stalk with one out of an Accord and piggybacking the ICU with one out of an Accord. By no means this is plug and play. So if you like electrical projects, this is for you.

Out of all the forums I searched through, there was only one that had some of the information that I needed. This thread on cb7 Tuners has some good information on the process they used to add variable intermittent wipers on an Accord. The useful information is on the wiper stalk swap process and the ICU they used, the rest can be disregarded.

Parts you will need:

• 96-97 Accord wiper switch (be sure it has the variable intermittent dial)
• 96-97 Accord ICU, P/N 38600-SV7-A12 (it is a blue box attached to the back of the dash fuse box. It is a discontinued part so sourcing may be a challenge. You can search the junkyards or the internet. They often come attached the under dash fusebox)
• 5 pin relay and relay socket
• lengths of wire
• (Optional) 2 way male Sumitomo HD090 connector and pins
• (Optional) 16 way green connector (not sure of the brand, TE Connectivity I think)
• (Optional) SUMI.090U.A-PIN terminal pins (can get them here)

Using connectors isn't required but makes thing a little easier rather then soldering directly to the board or making permanent connections. The green 16 pin connector is used for keyless entry on 96-98 Civics and can be found behind the radio if you want to source it from a donor car from a junkyard. You could also purchase a relocation harness that has the connector you need or purchase the connector housing by itself. The 2 pin connector goes to the wiper stalk itself. The terminal pins are highly recommended in the event you want to revert back to your stock intermittent wipers and wont require cutting the wires that go to the stock ICU.

First step is to swap out the stock stalk with one from an Accord. Refer to the cb7 tuners forum for pictures. Disassemble the Accord wiper switch by relieving the tabs holding on the cover using a small flat blade screwdriver. Once the cover with contacts is off, you can separate the halves of the switch by relieving the tabs on the inside. Don't worry about breaking the housing of the Accord wiper switch, all you need is the stalk. After separating the halves, the stalk should come right out. Be mindful of the spring and plastic rod at the end of the stalk, you will need to have those pieces in the stalk during reassembly. You can use the ones from the Accord or Civic stalk, they are identical. Swap over the stalks and reassemble.

It would be worth taking pictures of how the switch came apart so you can put it back the same way so you don't have to do it again like I did. If you do put the cover part or the white, sliding contact on backwards, the wipers wont work correctly and you may bend the big switch contact and lose your washer functions. There is no need to file down the end of the stalk as stated in the forum. It is a perfect fit for a civic.




After swapping and installing the wiper stalk, it is time to add the brains. Since the Accord ICU uses an external relay to control intermittent wipers, a 5 pin relay will need to be added to the civic. I made a diagram to help identify the wires, what their function is, and where they go. There are 2 connectors on both ICUs. The only one that matters on the stock ICU is the white, 10 pin connector. You can either remove the pins from the connector and use male pins to connect and heat shrink to secure or simply cut the wires and solder/splice into the wires. I suggest removing the pins that way you can revert back to the old ICU easier. Using heat shrink on the mated pins will help keep them connected and prevent them from shorting together.
On the Accord ICU, most of the wires go to the white PCB connector. There are no connectors available for this PCB connector. You can use the male terminal pins to make connection (be sure to use heat shrink over the exposed portion of the pins to avoid shorting) or solder directly to the ICU. The two wires from the variable dial on the stalk goes to the green connector on the side of the Accord ICU.

There are several options for power needed for the relay and ICU. You can connect to the single pin option connectors (use the one that as power with the key on) on the front of the dash fuse box or adding pins to unused slots in the fuse box connectors. I opted to tap into an unused daytime running lights fuse (fuse 18). If you live in Canada or anywhere that requires DRLs, this will not be an option as they being used. US vehicles do not require DRL. It may be a good idea to have two power supplies, one for the ICU and another for the relay. A factory service manual with wiring diagrams is recommended if you decided to use any unused fuse slots. It'll tell you what location on the connector to add pins. A PDF version is out there on the internet free to download, or you can ask me.


Wiring diagram for the set up. It is a copy and paste of the factory service information with modifications to the intermittent wipers. Color coded. Applies to all 96-00 USDM Civics


I advise to verify it works properly before making it a permanent feature. After wiring it all up, stash the 2nd ICU somewhere out of sight and out of reach of your feet and enjoy your variably intermittent wipers!


This is my "prototype" mock up while testing to see if this will work




Red are the option connectors. Blue is the unused fuse and what connector it goes to

 

Wow, I love the thought of this. I may eventually try doing it on my 5th gen Civic. I've already done the 6th gen ICU swap to get the wash/wipe function.

@TomCat39, I think this should be added to the FAQ.

 

What I skimmed looks real good. Will give it some proper attention this weekend. In the meantime, pinning it.

 

Looks interesting. Where did you get this electrical diagram from? I cannot find one like this in Accord 96-97 service manual.

 

You won't find that diagram anywhere other than here. I copied and pasted the 96-00 Civic wiper diagram into MS paint and made some changes to accommodate for the piggbacked ICU. I did reference the OE Accord diagram for the intermittent wiper circuit, which I got from Alldata.

Accord wiring diagram

Also worth mentioning: the Accord diagram shows pin 11 on the ICU for power input. There is NO pin 11 on the ICU. At least on the A12 variant of the ICU. So I looked at a power distribution diagram and found two other power inputs and it worked hooked up to those two. Another thing is that the pin designations of the white ICU connector is technically backwards (shows correct if you're looking at the back of the Accord fuse box) but for the sake of making it easier, I just renamed the pin designations. Every connector diagram listed above is looking at the terminal side of the connector, not the wire side. The pin designations on the above Accord diagram will not reflect my changes.

 

It may be awhile before I tackle the beast called FAQ. I recall it's a serious beast of a post and if I used the wrong editor it breaks it horribly. I'm on a new PC as well as we are preparing our townhouse for sale so it may be awhile before I copy the post and repost in a test thread to find what text editor works as it's been awhile since I messed with that beast of a post. Also I don't think Ron is around to fix it if it gets broken so some non volatile testing is in order before trying live.

This thread should remain stickied until I can get some time to put towards it as it deserves. I will remove this redundant post once it's assimilated into the borg er... FAQ.

 

I think Ron is still hiding in the shadows, just throw up the bat signal.

 

Appreciate for the photos and additional info.

Already found a wiper stalk and working on a deal for Accord A12 ICU.

 

Great work. I researched this a hundred years ago. My stumbling block was that sourcing a switch with front intermittent wiper + rear wiper (from an Accord Wagon) proved challenging. Of course I could pay eBay prices but .... meh, didn't want to do it THAT badly. Love that this write-up is done, and especially to hear that the stalk arm is a perfect swap to the Civic base.

FYI since the 5G Civic and 1G CR-V have interchangeable wiper stalks with the 6G Civic, this retrofit can be modified to fit these vehicles also.

 

Wow going to have to read this in more detail when I get the time.

Since I first got a 97 Integra, I kind of wanted variable intermittent wipers...as I've often wondered about using a 2nd gen Odyssey stalk to retain the use of the rear wiper and has the variable intermittent feature. Makes me wonder if the parts are similar? The stalk looks similar and there are a lot more Odysseys out in junkyards.

 

Got the parts and started looking at the wiring.

So if I understand correctly - I basically remove wires B1-B4 from my original ICU and route them to the new Accord ICU and relay, right?

Does the pin numbers on the new ICU go in this order?


2 wires from the wire stalk goes here?

 

You got it right for the green connector. The white one is incorrect. Take a look at the connector diagram I had posted. The diagram has that "bar" that goes across the connector portions at the top (it is asymmetrical).

Yes, B1-B4 need to either be removed from the connector or snip the wires and splice into them. Be sure to plug the connector back into the OE ICU, otherwise, some things will not function, such as the door chime.