Today I tackled the front wiper issue I've been having for... too long!
I really studied the wiring diagram this time. Couldn't find anything useful online so I just went with what I had.
So it seemed that the separate blue wire really was responsible (good as it was the only remaining one!). I've noticed a few minor errors with these diagrams in the Haynes manual. For instance, apparently the wipers only work with the ignition in the ON position, which we all know isn't right.
So anyway, that blue wire. I can see now why it's separate to the rest of the controller. A small additional module within the entire block controls the intermittent timing. Looks kinda like an after-thought to be honest.
It then came to my attention that the wiper relay hadn't been checked. Turns out, the wiper relay doesn't even exsist on this car. Then how do the wipers work? Well, you'll see soon. I went to Cassie and stole the wiper relay from next to the battery. I knew it was the right one despite them not being labeled, because it had the correct wire colours and the right amount, as per the diagram.
Then I suddenly had a eureka moment! I finally figured out what each and every wire and component did.
The functions that already worked are simple, power from the fusebox goes into the wiper motor and comes back out to the switch, and then grounds somewhere when the switch is activated. The motor also gets grounded if the sensor in the motor is active (if the wiper blades aren't down).
The relay comes in when you want an intermittent or temporary (in the case of wash/wipe) signals. The little extra box where the blue wire comes from completes the end of the circuit by transistors working on a timing-based circuit. That activates the relay which activates the wipers also. But when the relay is off, the wipers are still powered until the sensor breaks the circuit otherwise they wouldn't return down.
There's no relay for the same reason there isn't a rear one on these 2002-2003 cars. The disgusting Renault stalks do all of that within the stalk.
With that in mind, I then had to figure out how to organise this. Where the relay would be was one issue, but first of all I needed power to go to the relay, preferably from the actual wiper fuse in the fusebox. But that's really not easy to access, then splice, as it's all behind the dash. Then I realised, the power to the relay is split at the fusebox to the wiper motor power. So of course, I could just intersect that in the engine bay. I had to join the orange wire which connects the relay to the wiper sensor, so that's two wires in the engine bay. The other three were interior wires. One ground wire, which can go on any black wire, the relay trigger wire (that blue one) and the brown wire, which depending on the relay position, either sends the power to the wipers until they are down, or triggers them.
So I just had to feed two wires into the engine bay. Luckily, the wire I buy is coupled into two wires, so that keeps it neat. I'll tidy it up later when the dash is removed, but for now it's fine.
I trailed them over to the left side and out through the door grommet. While I was there, I got side-tracked. I found the sunroof drain pipe! So I pulled that out through the grommet too.
I found a small hole in the splashguard, which I made bigger and fed the pipe through (it was a pain). I then sealed it up with my new sealant, and gave it a test. And look at that, water!
Back to the wipers. I successfully soldered everything in and blanked off the redundant wires. I decided that the relay could sit in the steering coloum shroud.
And... it worked! Finally! I now have intermittent wipers, and they wipe when I wash the screen. And, there's a nice relay tick sound now which is cool. So now I have the fully functional Terrano wiper stalk. Which has all of the standard features that the K11 has, plus variable intermittent front wipers, and the ability to set the rear wiper to both intermittent and on fully (some only go intermittent, not full). This has really made me happy, I had totally gotten used to not having those functions and now I feel spoiled.
I took a look at those number plate bulb clips, they've changed quite a bit. I had to scrape some of the stuff off of the clips as it was starting to cover up the holes. They look pretty good! Paint didn't arrive today so they'll have to wait.
And, of course, I added some paint to the sunroof drain.
Later on, I decided to also re-route the final sunroof drain. It's pretty important that I do this now as I've sealed the sills with the underseal paint. So there's nowhere for water to leak out from. On the other side I got away with using a much smaller hole for the pipe (so less sealant), and this time drilled two holes and fed a cable tie through the guard to hold the pipe back. Looks much much better.
Not satisfied with the other side, I did the same.
And now for the ultimate test, of all four of the drainage holes!:
And there it is. That's definitely extended the lifetime of this car. With the sills in such good condition as it is, and now they aren't getting filled with water every time it rains a lot or I wash my car. I highly highly recommend you do the same if you have a sunroof. And consider buying a sunroof car with this in mind! It's totally worth it with all that extra light from above, and the ability to open it up!
