wipers won't work???

65

Asked by corps9499 Feb 15, 2012 at 07:38 PM about the 1998 Chrysler Town & Country LXi LWB FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

1998 Chrysler Town & Country LXi

My windshield wipers won't work.  The turn signal works and the washer fluid works, but the wipers themselves won't move.  Replaced the switch - still won't work.  Any ideas?  Please help!

12 Answers

175

Wiper motors might need replacing. I have a Plymouth Horizon & the same problem, but I'm fairly sure it's the switch on mine.

6 people found this helpful.
65

Ended up taking it to the dealership - it was a wiring problem from the body control module to the switch.

6 people found this helpful.
350

On the 1996 Chrysler T&C, the BCM controls the front wipers for delay and speed. You can still push the end of the control stick and the wash and wipe function should work. Also, your rear wipers should still work. If this is all true to the condition of your car, then the problem is an open resistor in the BCM. Remove the BCM, take off the metal circuit board cover and expose the circuit board - just 4 star screws hold the cover in place. Resistor #409 is key to the front wiper control circuit. The value of the resistor is 1.240 K ohm, 1% tolerance, 1/4 watt. Use an axial lead resistor to replace the tiny chip type flat resistor that is on the board. After soldering the leads flat to the board, use a dot of ATV or hot glue gun glue to hold the new resistor firmly in place. The resistor 409 is marked on the circuit board. The fact that resistor #409 opens is a known problem. The replacement resistor costs about 4 cents.

35 people found this helpful.
210

Great post autokarma!! It worked for me. I put a 1200 ohm in series with a 39 ohm resistor since that's what I had available. See photo.

21 people found this helpful.
320

I have this same problem washer works but wipers won't come on when turned on and I know nothing about circuit boards,can't afford to take it to dealer as is I'm still making payments on vehicle from junky dealer,is there a way of wiring around the bcm thing jus to have wipers,everything else works.

32 people found this helpful.
40

why dose mChrysler grand voyagers window and window wipers work when the keys off but not work when it's on

3 people found this helpful.
110

Mechanic showed me the RESET under the hood. Black casing.. 3 or 4th button. Started to work again.

11 people found this helpful.
60

Anyone know which resister goes bad on BCM on a 1999 Caravan? There aren't any marked with the number 409

6 people found this helpful.

I just changed #R409, it works too (1997 chrysler town and country 3.8L), thank you for information

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