Rear wiper issue

[boomboy64]

Hi There...

My '98 Caravan's rear wiper has started cycling on its own at random intervals in the last few days. It works great otherwise, and the cycling test on the switch panel (two outer buttons, etc.) seems to cycle through everything OK. As I said above, it is completely random. Could it be a wonky panel, motor, or something weirder? Oh yeah, it has been about -15C here lately. Water ingress which has frozen in the motor?

Thanks in advance to everyone...

Boomboy64

[gas28man]

It's been my experience that when the wipers start cycling on their own (the front ones will do it too) this is an indicator that your battery is on its last legs. Think of the wipers cycling as a cry for help from your body control module that it's not getting enough juice to run everything it needs to run. The fact that you said temps have gotten real cold would seem to support this diagnosis, since the battery load is higher in the cold weather.

You can get a free load-test of your battery at many auto parts stores. As you're north of the border, you'd probably know better than I would which ones do this. I'll bet it comes up weak.

If not, then perhaps a simple reset of the body control module is called for. You just disconnect the battery for about 5 minutes to do this. But then, if you pull it and take it in for a load-test, you'll have already accomplish this.

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

Rick