Another intermittent wiper / Centech thread

[chuckyb]

Hi all

I have purchased a used intermittent wiper set-up from one our great suppliers. It’s the used 1980’s F-150 type and it was sent to me “repinned” to work on the early Bronco. I cannot get the slow or intermittent functions working, but fast wipers seems to work fine. When I test using an OEM two speed switch instead of the intermittent switch, both fast and slow work perfectly. Is there any reason for this besides a bad intermittent switch?

Some other details - I have the Centech harness installed per the instructions, and have the blue, red, white and black wires spliced together to a 73 OEM harness and wiper motor. On the harness end toward the wiper switch, I have the wiring pigtail with the Centech wires arranged as per the attached diagram. I have read the articles on repinning, and to me the repinning appears to have been done correctly. I do think I have good grounding.

I did note on the TBP site that they state that the used intermittent switches are not compatible with Centech or Painless, but have seen that it’s been done countless times here. Any ideas appreciated!

 

[DirtDonk]

No idea chucky, but subscribing to hear more details and possible solutions.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[904Bronco]

Factory switches can be made to work with Centech harness. (Never done a Painless) They have the same wires, but Centech uses an aftermarket switch.

You need the black plug from the factory harness, you will probably have to change out the female spade connectors to Ford types that lock into the black connector.
I guess if you do not have that, then you could just reattach the Centech spade connectors directly to the intermittent black box male connector...

Looking for Todd Z's write up that came with the switch I bought from him years ago, so I don't have to type the whole thing out.

https://classicbroncos.com/tech/centech-wiper-switch-connector Try this one...

 

[chuckyb]

Thanks all. A few more pics. My rig is a 68 so I have started this from scratch as it originally had vacuum wipers. The windshield frame and motor are from a 73. I have the TBP black pigtail connector and correct female spades to route the Centech wiring into the intermittent switch (pic one). Another pic of the wiring on the intermittent switch (pic 2). What I exactly experience with the intermittent switch is hi speed works fine, nothing happens at low speed (no movement / no parking) and when I switch to intermittent, the wipers “park”. Also, my Centech instructions.

 

[toddz69]

That sounds like a bad switch to me if your stock one works fine plugged into your Centech harness.

I'll PM you.

Todd Z.

 

[RonJones]

I’m wrestling with the same issue, in this case a 1973 with a Painless? harness. I had the F150 intermittent unit working for years before starting the harness replacement. As near as I can tell, the trick is trying to figure out which wires on the Painless harness correspond to the Ford connector to the intermittent switch.

I found a helpful wiring schematic here:

https://www.supermotors.net/registry/media/874221_1

the switch diagram on the first image seems to match my harness connector (2nd image), once you mentally flip the wires over to the other side, as if looking at the connector pins. Hopefully, this will help get the wiring correct.

 

[chuckyb]

Thanks all for the information and input and special thanks to Todd Z and Randy (ransil) for supplying some addition parts. Turns out the approach and wiring was correct. A bad black box was the culprit. One other note, I have read here that the grounding wire on the intermittent wiper switch is optional. However, I needed the ground attached to have the switch work correctly.

 

[68Broncoz]

I was reading the write up on adding the extra wire to the Centech wires for the delay to work properly. However in looking at my Centech it appears I have all the wires needed
Park Black
Hi speed Blue
Low Speed White
Red Return
Black Ground

Did Centech upgrade the harness and wiper switch so that the extra wire is not needed nor the Mod to the wiper motor as in the write up?

Thanks
Chris

 

[chuckyb]

I was reading the write up on adding the extra wire to the Centech wires for the delay to work properly. However in looking at my Centech it appears I have all the wires needed
Park Black
Hi speed Blue
Low Speed White
Red Return
Black Ground

Did Centech upgrade the harness and wiper switch so that the extra wire is not needed nor the Mod to the wiper motor as in the write up?

Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris

I did not have to add a wire. It came complete from Centech with everything needed. It is possible that Centech upgraded their harness somewhere along the way - I am not sure. I bought my harness about a year ago. Let me know if I can help further.