If you have a intermittent wiper set up on your AMC and you did a plug and play. Then you hook it up and you get only one speed, and no intermittent wiper motor access. Many on here have thought, bad ground, then if that didn't work, it must be a bad intermittent box or wiper switch. Well we have all been overlooking a bigger thing. You MUST have the black intermittent box bolted to a steel frame. Remember the switch is to be grounded, but not enough. The Black Box needs a ground as well. I just about had given up and was going to throw the black box. So I drilled two holes to bolt on the black box to the metal frame in the dash...tightened it up, and everything works. Remember the black box needs to be bolted down for a ground too. Don't throw it behind the dash. It needs to be grounded as well as the switch wiper. Mine works like brand new. Before, I only had one high speed. I figured this out be looking in the scrap yard and looking at 4 black boxes from Matadors, Ambassadors, Eagles, Kammbacks. It was an amazement. Try it. You won't be disappointed. Jayson
Awesome info!! Thanks!! :o Any pics of what you did? I'm having that exact problem with the sx4, I must have over looked the bracket or something when I put it back together (had the intermittent wipers factory)...Crap..Now I have to take that trim panel back off without breaking it, lol.
Mine is just tucked up behind stuff. But, it does have the factory ground wire that is hooked up.
Quote from: shaggimo on April 22, 2011, 09:27:47 AM
Awesome info!! Thanks!! :o Any pics of what you did? I'm having that exact problem with the sx4, I must have over looked the bracket or something when I put it back together (had the intermittent wipers factory)...Crap..Now I have to take that trim panel back off without breaking it, lol.
No don't have to take off the panel.
Just take off the two screws that hold the 4x4 shifter from 2 wheel drive to 4 wheel drive. pop that out. Take off the hoses and your hand will fit through the hole to do the job. Pictures will follow in a day or two. I may take pics of how my 84 Eagle is set up.
;D Nice, didn't realize that, lol.
I didn't even think about accessing them thru that opening. That's worth an egg or two.
I've installed several of those setups and have never screwed down the box. The ground wire between the switch and the dash has always been sufficient. Being as the box housing is plastic, it's non-conducting anyway. You MAY have got very lucky and screwed in far enough to hit the correct spot on the circuit board to make a ground, but I kinda doubt it. ;)
Quote from: AMCKen on April 23, 2011, 02:07:20 AM
I've installed several of those setups and have never screwed down the box. The ground wire between the switch and the dash has always been sufficient. Being as the box housing is plastic, it's non-conducting anyway. You MAY have got very lucky and screwed in far enough to hit the correct spot on the circuit board to make a ground, but I kinda doubt it. ;)
Every box I have taken out of cars/AMC's have been screwed down. Plus, there are metal posts in the black boxes. Several of the intermittent boxes I have taken out have NO ground wire to the switch itself. I have installed two black boxes that I thought did not work. They work now. I am glad I didn't scrap them.
The ones I've found had no metal mounting point on the box, just the ground wire at the switch. They were screwed down only to keep them from rattling around behind the dash. The switch ground wire has been in 2 different styles. One is attached directly to the switch and the other is just a ring at the end of the wire and that ring gets pinched between the dash and the switch when the switch is poked through the dash. Maybe this second type is what yours had and it's gone missing. :)
well since were on the subject. i took a look at my black box and since im having problems with mine i thought id upload a pic to show you. (http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae186/demoniceagle666/blackbox.jpg)
i did have a ground wire soldered on the back of the switch but it broke off and im no good at soldering
Quote from: demonicdragon on April 26, 2011, 08:20:04 PM
well since were on the subject. i took a look at my black box and since im having problems with mine i thought id upload a pic to show you. [IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae186/demoniceagle666/blackbox.jpg[/IMG}
i did have a ground wire soldered on the back of the switch but it broke off and im no good at soldering
I didn't use the ground wire. I bolted the black box using only one screw to the metal frame of the dash.
The holes in th box dont go all the way through. Im assuming theres a bracket
I grounded my switch, and that worked just as well.
When I did my installation a few months back I did screw the box down, but that was just to emulate every factory installation I had seen. The screws just go into the plastic casing of the box, so I don't know if they have any grounding significance (although it did cross my mind briefly).
The dash already had the two holes for it, by the way. No bracket required.
Yeah i saw a spot where i could screw it down and i did but i still only have one speed... i must need to ground the switch?
Quote from: demonicdragon on April 27, 2011, 02:32:29 PM
Yeah i saw a spot where i could screw it down and i did but i still only have one speed... i must need to ground the switch?
Did you happen to use the ground wire from the wiper switch? It could be that you have a bad box too.
I had the same issue as you're having Demonicdragon.
I grounded the switch, and that didn't work, so I had a spare 'box' and with the grounding of the actual metal body on the switch, it fixed it for me.
Sometimes it can be either/or both.
If you get tired of that, you might opt for just getting a non-intermitted switch, and take the box out altogether. Two good speeds is better then one! ;D
yeah. ill have to try and solder again or maybe i can use a small screw and screw it to the switch. ill try that and if that doesnt work i must got a bad box
I made a small hole in the switch body, put a screw in, and used that as a ground.
(http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu84/whuntmore/Whuntmore%20Eagle/switch34.jpg)
I changed out my switch, and the box. Then after I grounded it, it worked.
But I have a back up non-intermitted switch. If this newer box fails, I'm taking the thing completely out, and then just going totally non-intermitted. This kind of headache ain't worth it.
I dunno, one of the things I can't stand about my car (malibu) is the two speed wipers, drives me up the wall when I constantly have to switcth the wipers on and off for drizzle. Once I find one, I'll be converting over to an eagle/ford type switch and box. It would be be far more work and money to use the factory gm set up, lol, go figure haha.
Well no luck after screwing the ground at the switch. One speed sucks. Ill have to try a new box
Quote from: shaggimo on April 28, 2011, 08:28:59 AM
I dunno, one of the things I can't stand about my car (malibu) is the two speed wipers, drives me up the wall when I constantly have to switcth the wipers on and off for drizzle. Once I find one, I'll be converting over to an eagle/ford type switch and box. It would be be far more work and money to use the factory gm set up, lol, go figure haha.
Yup, it is a pain, and you're right - I don't like NOT having intermitted wipers either... But when I was stuck with wipers not working at all (or barely) over having two speeds, the plain old two speed was looking mighty good.
My intermitted wipers work now.
Just a thought, Since AMC borrowed stuff from other companies, is that switch and box available from a different make, but the same box and switch? Is it possible to get one new?
Idk. I havent found any new ones on the auction site..ill look at jcwhitney
Quote from: Whuntmore on April 28, 2011, 04:39:50 PM
Just a thought, Since AMC borrowed stuff from other companies, is that switch and box available from a different make, but the same box and switch? Is it possible to get one new?
Someone here mentioned that the same unit is used in '80s Ford trucks.
Yes, Fords used the same switch and box. One of the two you can still get new, the switch, I think, but the other you cannot. At least to our knowledge.
howdy all,
so I tried an intermittent wiper installation today, grounded the switch itself and even pulled apart the delay box (the holes that attach box to frame are all plastic btw so there is no ground there)
and looked for a way to ground it on the little circuit board itself but...
no luck
all i get is one speed at switch turned most clockwise. so back to original 2 speed and i'll try again with a different box and switch in the future. (or not)