Electrical Gremlins - Wipers, Rear Monitor, Battery Guage

[mickey53usa]

Good evening!
Like some of you I just returned for a long holiday weekend - 1K miles and things were perfect until about 200 miles from home.
Windshield Wipers - On intermitent setting - operated perfectly for more than 800 miles (OK about 600 was rain). Suddenly they stopped on the outside edge of the windshield. Turned the switch to the "low" setting and they work fine - got us home. At one point, turned the switch to "off" and the wipers kept going. Turned the switch to "low" then to "off" and they stopped, however did not "park."
Arrived home, unloaded, then took the motorhome to get fuel and to dump the tanks - wipers ran the same as described.
Got fuel (well you know what the bill was like), dumped the tanks, got in, started the engine, let it idle for a couple minutes while I recorded the pertinent information. Looked down and the "check engine" light was on. Shut it down - walked around it, nothing unusual, started the engine, no light, but also no backup monitor. Then I noticed the battery gauge pulsing to the discharge side, and I heard a distinct click - like a relay. I started for the storage yard, and the rear monitor came on. Battery gauge continued to pulse to discharge, with the click, then return to normal. This continued all the way to storage - about 10 minutes. During the trip I turned on the wipers, and the rear monitor went out -
In storage, I continued to see the pulse of the battery gauge to discharge and a click like a relay-
So, saw some stuff in the Workhorse forum about wet connectors, thought that I would chaeck that, and replace the wiper switch. Don't know about the rest - any other similar problems?

[mickey53usa]

Good evening!
Like some of you I just returned for a long holiday weekend - 1K miles and things were perfect until about 200 miles from home.
Windshield Wipers - On intermitent setting - operated perfectly for more than 800 miles (OK about 600 was rain). Suddenly they stopped on the outside edge of the windshield. Turned the switch to the "low" setting and they work fine - got us home. At one point, turned the switch to "off" and the wipers kept going. Turned the switch to "low" then to "off" and they stopped, however did not "park."
Arrived home, unloaded, then took the motorhome to get fuel and to dump the tanks - wipers ran the same as described.
Got fuel (well you know what the bill was like), dumped the tanks, got in, started the engine, let it idle for a couple minutes while I recorded the pertinent information. Looked down and the "check engine" light was on. Shut it down - walked around it, nothing unusual, started the engine, no light, but also no backup monitor. Then I noticed the battery gauge pulsing to the discharge side, and I heard a distinct click - like a relay. I started for the storage yard, and the rear monitor came on. Battery gauge continued to pulse to discharge, with the click, then return to normal. This continued all the way to storage - about 10 minutes. During the trip I turned on the wipers, and the rear monitor went out -
In storage, I continued to see the pulse of the battery gauge to discharge and a click like a relay-
So, saw some stuff in the Workhorse forum about wet connectors, thought that I would chaeck that, and replace the wiper switch. Don't know about the rest - any other similar problems?

[Captain Bud]

My first thought would be a ground problem. When I look at where my ground wires are stacked up that they are piggy backed on one another is a p--s poor way of making terminations. So before yo go crazy, check out your ground bus....

[mickey53usa]

This problem is definitely moisture related. After sitting for two days and drying out, I took it to Feightliner - Everything works fine -They are going to try and duplicate the problem with lots of water.

[mickey53usa]

UPDATE - Well according to Freightliner dealer, all they found was a loose connection on the wiper motor. Unable to duplicate other problems. They did open a "case report" with Freightliner that is supposed to be accessible by any other Freightliner dealer should the problem occur again.
It's going out this weekend, and rain is predicted where I am headed - Will see what happens.

[Hikerdogs]

Although our Adventurer isn't a diesel we've had similar problems with the monitor in the rain. Sometimes it came on when you steped on the brake or use the turn signal, and other times it refused to come on at all.

It turned out that water was getting into the socket for the trailer wiring harness. Sometimes it would allow current to flow through one set of wires and other times through a completely different set of wires. I replaced the plug earlier this summer and made sure it was sealed on the back and the door shut tightly. So far so good. We've been through a couple pretty good rains and everything works properly.

[mickey53usa]

They're baack!
Same problems - below is info that I gave to Freightliner repair shop this AM.
1) Intermittent function of windshield wipers does not work. Wipers will move to outside edge and stop. Will function in "low"� or "high"� settings. When turned off, will not "park"� in center of windshield. Will stop wherever they are.
2) After about 10 minutes of operation, Battery Meter goes from Charge to Discharge then back to Charge. Distinct clicking sound heard like a relay or breaker tripping. Continues for about 10 minutes. Found that this occurs with A/C on Maximum setting and fan setting on high. Further investigation indicates that a 30 Amp breaker in the "under dash"� fuse box (A on attached picture) gets extremely hot and can be felt going "on"� and "off"� with the pulse of the Battery Meter. A relay (B on attached picture) also can be felt going "on"� and "off"� with the pulse of the Battery Meter. Removed the fuse. Pulsing of Battery Meter stopped, as did the fan, which provides A/C air out the dash vents and the Rear Monitor.
Fuse Box Photo

[mickey53usa]

UPDATE:
Windshield wiper problem is the motor - another one is on the way - Part and replacement covered by Good Sam CSP.
Electrical problem was traced to a vacuum hose missing off the Vacuum Motor. This caused the Vacuum Motor to overheat and trip the breaker - $210 to find and repair the problem. Good Sam CSP will not cover this as it involved a hose, and they will not cover anything to do with hoses -

["007"]

Thanks for the update Michael, notice your year of coach 1999, you have a Diesel in front of coach If you have you maybe getting water thru the top crack of hood opening. The gas Workhorse has had their share of problems with this. The water gets into the plug of wiper motor and confuses the operation of wipers. The weather strip costs $15 and has taken care of all the problems I had with water. It may keep the interior of your fire wall dry also.