About every 30-45 minutes my wipers run once or twice all by themselves. It only happens when the truck is on. What could be causing this and how do I stop it?

 

I heard somewhere it was recalled, and your dealer should repair this for free even if you don't have the recall papers on it. Mine is still like that, only they come on once every 2-3 months.

 

It's not like a fuse or something (i.e. electrical connection)?
I remember when Neil submerged his Ranger the whole electrical system was loopy and one of the things that happened was the windshield wipers would just go on every so often.

But hey if there's a recall on that get Ford to take care of it.

 

phantom wipers...


http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...ntomwipers.htm


enjoy.

 

I dunno what birdies link is because im a lazy bastard but I believe you need to go into the switch on the wheel and put some dialectric happy grease inside. OR something..follow his link!

Aaron

 

here you go lazy


The following is based on observation of my 1999 Ranger, other years may be different. I fixed the phantom windshield wipers myself, you can too. It turns out all you need to do is clean the switch up.

To clean the switch does NOT require removing the turn signal from the steering column and takes about ten minutes.

1. On the turn signal lever, remove the end cap with a small screwdriver off the part you twist.

2. Remove the phillips screw located under the end cap.

3. WATCH IT! there is a spring to push back against the wiper rotating ****. Hold in the wiper switch so it won't go flying.

4. WATCH IT! again. When removing the wiper rotating switch there are two detents that are pressed against the inside of the **** (with another small spring pushing against each other) to give detents to the different levels of wiper delay when you rotate the ****.

5. Inside you will see the switch wiper mounted to a white plastic piece that you can just pull out. It looks kind of weird with 4 arms and an elbow wiper coming out of it.

6. After you pull out the switch wiper just gently clean everything inside, a sort of circuit board looking goodie with rings for the switch wiper to rotate on.

I used a rag and a small (jewelers) screwdriver to clean the board inside and very carefully made sure the gaps between the traces were clean. There is quite a bit of grease in there.

I reassembled the switch using lubriplate (it was handy) and it was very easy to disassemble and to reassemble.

I have had no re-occurrence of the phantom windshield wiper and I don't miss it a bit.
Hope this helps!

 

Score! I was partially right! Laziness For Teh Win!

Aaron

 

The recalled problem stems from a faulty GENERIC ELETRONIC MODULE or GEM for short.

 

I will try this and let everyone know how it turns out. I have had this problem since i bought this truck new. Got no recall in the mail. Thanks for the help

 

I will try this and let everyone know how it turns out. I have had this problem since i bought this truck new. I got no recall notice in the mail and it has been going on now since about 1997 and this a 1996.

 

This has to be a record for bumping a dead thread. Wow..

 

I was thinking the same thing. I literally face palmed when I clicked this thread and saw the OP date.

 

So you've had this problem for nearly 20 years and you're finally looking for a solution?

 

Yes. i've had this truck in the shop several times and no one has been able to figure it out. I've replaced
the relay and the multi function switch and nothing seems to work. I just found this site and figured i would give it a try.

 

Wiggle around the plugs and wires in the passenger side kick panel. Problem solved lol.

 

I will add this has only been going on the past 2 years.

 

Well, here we are in 2023, and I just encountered this for the first time on my 2009.

I'm going to follow Birdie's helpful advice and see what happens.