rear wiper messing up

[fczabala]

hey all,

my rear wiper is causing havoc when I turn it on.

wiper moves slowly stuttering and music/radio also stutters when I turn on the rear wiper at the stalk

wiper moves fast when I turn on the rear defrost

I tried turning the wiper on at the stalk with the hardtop not plugged in and the music/radio does NOT stutter

rear wiper moves a little when I either unlock the jeep or when I start the engine

any help diagnosing this is greatly appreciated

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[Heimkehr]

Possibly this is a sign of a failing battery; they can cause odd and seemingly unrelated electrical issues when approaching the end of their practical service life.

Otherwise, perhaps the stalk is faulty, or there's a sort of noise, so to speak, somewhere in the vehicle's electrical system that is exacerbated when certain functions occur, like turning the wiper motor on.

 

[fczabala]

it's a 23 with the tow/aux switches package and almost 15k miles, are these batteries known to crap out this early?

also, I ordered with soft top only so last winter I installed the hard top wiring kit but everything worked flawlessly then so not sure why this year it started acting out

 

[Flip]

are these batteries known to crap out this early?

From what I've read, yes!

 

[Heimkehr]

it's a 23 with the tow/aux switches package and almost 15k miles, are these batteries known to crap out this early?

also, I ordered with soft top only so last winter I installed the hard top wiring kit but everything worked flawlessly then so not sure why this year it started acting out

Unless the battery is defective, I'd reasonably expect no less than a 3 year service life before worrying about them, or observing electrical gremlins that can be walked back to a now-tired battery. My personal performance standard for any 12V battery has long been five years. Only recently, and only because of documented issues reported by fellow Wrangler owners, have I adjusted this standard downward, and only for the Jeep's battery.

Since the wiring for the rear wiper, etc. was DIY (via your hard top installation), you might consider tracing all of the related wiring -- and anything else that you touched -- to ensure no pinched wires, faulty connectors and so on.

 

[GtX]

Inspect your wiring job. Maybe some leakage current making it's way into the wrong accessories.

 

[fczabala]

everything worked fine last winter but I guess I'll bite, I'll trace the wiring for the hardtop even thou it was pretty much plug/play didn't have to solder or splice connections or anything so we'll see....

although I did recently installed some construction vehicle lights using the aux switches wiring inside the passenger footwell so i'll check what removing that does, maybe the ground I used for those is creating a short somehow?

thanks everyone, I'll update once I find some time to check all this

 

[The Last Cowboy]

You did have to replace that stalk though. You might pull it, clean the contacts then put a little dab of silicone grease on them before you put the stalk back on.

And yeah, the OEM batteries are crap and often fail early.

 

[DryHeat]

Would also “strongly” suggest using high quality, appropriate gauge connectors that use heat shrink / adhesive lined insulators and a high quality crimping tool to make your connections. Auto store / hardware store crimp connectors and tools are yesterdays news and often lead to more trouble and frustration than they are worth. Other choice would be soldered splices using a good quality solder gun (Weller D-550 or better) using resin core solder with double layer heat shrink adhesive lined tubing over each splice. Solid, well protected splices are essential for the environment we generally operate our Jeeps in! Hope this helps!

 

[fczabala]

turns out the ground of the hardtop wiring kit was cut somehow, spliced and hooked it up and it's back to normal, thanks everyone for the suggestions!

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