Archived Electrical / Wiper and Headlamp problem

[Henry]

I started this post in the 2nd gen forum, but moved it here because I'm going nuts trying to figure out the source of my electrical headache. In short, wipers only worked high for three days. Today the lower settings functioned again. Not the turn signal / wiper switch. Right headlamp not working and it's not the bulb. Could these be related? A ground issue perhaps. I'm pretty much a lug head and not the best at troubleshooting electrical issues. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!:{

 

[KKohagen]

To me it sounds more like it could be a grounding issue and/or the multi-switch on the steering stalk.
Check all of the grounds of the truck. The one I would start with is in the engine bay. Start on the driver side right against the fender and the firewall, there is a small gauge wire coming from underneath the cowling. This wire I believe is the main ground wire for the wiper motors. I can say that this was one of the grounds on my truck that had a little bit of corrosion.
I also happen to have the one of the grounding wires / relays of the exhaust brake on my truck attached to this ground point. I occasionally had some wiper failures and the exhaust brake would stop working at the same time. I rewired the power lines and separated the circuits for the two systems. The brake and wipers would work for a while and then stop at the most inopportune times. Finally was able to take the cowling off and realized that the grounding wire I am mentioning came from the wiper motor. No ground no electricity flowing, AHA!. Cleaned the connectors and added another ground wire from one of the batteries to that same ground near the driver's firewall. I have not had any issues since. Not even any sputters of not working.

I would check this ground first, then move on to many of the other ones before replacing the multi-function switch. The switch may still be the cause of it all because of the turn-signals acting up also. Hope this helps give you somedirection as to what may be the problem.

 

[Henry]

Thanks

I will check that. I was suspecting a ground issue, but didn't really know where to start. I apologize for posting in this forum. I didn't realize it was only for "disabled" trucks. Thanks again for the suggestion!!!!!!