How To - Replace Intermittent Wiper Relay on Ph1's

[silestanix]

After googling for much of Yesterday (18th March) and not being able to find much in the way of pictures and instructions, I've decided to do a How To whilst I sorted the problem myself for those of you with Ph1's who might be unfortunate enough to suffer a failed Intermittent relay.

Symptoms are No working Intermittent wipe, and no wipe when windscreen washers are operated; also, wipers will not park properly in normal + Fast wipe or single wipe.

I was quite lucky, in that tonight I took mine out and stuck my XRd's one in and put my relay in my XRd, both worked fine, and then I swapped them back and both now work fine... :|

As I took pictures and I can't sleep I thought I;d do this for ya's...

Tools you'll need are:

- Coin to open fuse box panel under steering when

- Long (length) Flat-head head screw driver - thinner _ wider the head, the better to assist getting the relay out

- A good torch, a head-torch if you have one.

- Patience...lol


I'll begin by saying this is a very fiddly task and to some degree a blind one as you can't see much of what you are doing. Also, the angles you will have to be at to remove this ****ing relay are those of a contortionist lol.

1) Remove the fuse box cover with a coin, and you'll be presented with this:




2) See the little red tab? Pull it Gently outwards and you'll feel it stop after a few millimetres




3) Gently slide the fusebox towards the passenger side (in the direction of the arrows). To push it sideways Left put your fingers where I have marked the edge of the Fusebox in red and push...whilst pushing it left (it will only move around 6-7mm)...




4)...start to pull the Fusebox outwards...Again to not Force it, be Gentle else you'll end up with more problems i.e a wire coming loose or something. It will not move freely, you just want to free it a little so it doesn't snap back Right back into position.




5) Once the fusebox is out of it's position, pull it gently outwards...until you begin to see a relay in the position in the image below. It could differ in colour but the relay in both my 1993 XRd and 1995 XTdt was the same colour, basically the same relay as on the rear wiper, a blue one with I.C chip inside it.





6) Now, shine your torch onto what you can see of the relay so you can get a better look at it's position, and where the bottom meets the relay socket...that gap is where you will need to put the Flat-Head screwdriver to Gently help lever the Relay out of place. (IF you can see the relay at this point, PLEASE Remember which way it is facing, i.e. with writing towards you, or any distinguishing features. As I said earlier, taking out and replacing the Relay is near enough Blind, so if you remember which way the Relay sits + Label direction + pins face as you remove it, the better...Especially the Pins)








7) Pull the fusebox out as much as you can without straining the wires too much, and then get your Flat-Head screwdriver and jimmy it underneath the relay between It and It's socket. If you have a fabric type panel above your accelerator pedal, move it to the side and get your hand up into the crevice where the Relay is and once you can feel the relay, use your other hand to move the screwdriver upwards whilst your hand/fingers push the relay upwards at the same time; twisting the screwdriver may help to lever the relay out as it will Not come out easily and you may even end up (as I did) popping the Relay cover...which makes things a lot harder.

8) Once the relay is out, it way go forwards in which case your fingers will catch it and you can get it out that way, or it may fall back as mine did and you will have to squeeze it through the gap between the Fusebox and wires.


9) Get new/replacement relay...do you remember which way it was facing when/as you removed it? Especially the Pins? If so, hold the Relay with your index finger and thumb with the side that You saw whilst removing the Relay facing you as below:



...and slowly thread your hand and relay up via the gap above the accelerator, twisting your hand Clockwise 90 degrees once the Relay is near it's socket...if you manage to contort yourself so you can look underneath, this is the view you will see...




10) Place relay into socket until you feel the contacts bedding in properly, and Gently but Firmly Push it back into place.

11) Admire your new scratches and bruises, and hopefully your now working wipers too...!

Hope this helps!

- H.

[Niall]

Moved to correct section

[silestanix]

Cheers Niall; hope this comes of use to someone somewhere lol.

[Mattcheese31]

interesting . . .thanks for this fella . . . .

[jonas306]

Nice one..