Intermittant wiper 2x2 box needs to be bolted down

JayRamb · April 22, 2011, 01:52:34 AM

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

shaggimo · April 22, 2011, 09:27:47 AM

Awesome info!! Thanks!!

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.

IowaEagle · April 22, 2011, 11:44:41 AM

Mine is just tucked up behind stuff. But, it does have the factory ground wire that is hooked up.

JayRamb · April 22, 2011, 01:57:54 PM

Quote from: shaggimo on April 22, 2011, 09:27:47 AM
Awesome info!! Thanks!! 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.

shaggimo · April 22, 2011, 02:25:27 PM

Nice, didn't realize that, lol.

IowaEagle · April 22, 2011, 03:50:02 PM

I didn't even think about accessing them thru that opening. That's worth an egg or two.

AMCKen · 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.

JayRamb · April 23, 2011, 11:38:27 AM

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.

AMCKen · April 26, 2011, 01:07:16 AM

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.

demonicdragon · 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.

i did have a ground wire soldered on the back of the switch but it broke off and im no good at soldering

JayRamb · April 27, 2011, 02:43:45 AM

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.

demonicdragon · April 27, 2011, 11:23:13 AM

The holes in th box dont go all the way through. Im assuming theres a bracket

Whuntmore · April 27, 2011, 01:13:58 PM

I grounded my switch, and that worked just as well.

El Matador · April 27, 2011, 01:29:22 PM

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.

demonicdragon · 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?

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Intermittant wiper 2x2 box needs to be bolted down