I think the rain sensing wipers arent working on my car. They dont come on during rain. Wipers only work if I put it down to medium, cant get any wiper action below a few ticks. The actual switch sounds like its starting to crack in the first few positions as well. Any way to test the switch or the fuse/relay? I really love this car and want to keep it in top shape. Are wiper issues common? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

How do you activate the rain sensing mode?

 

So if set to auto they wont do anything even in rain. The wheel to increase speed of wipers doesn't change anything on any settings. But if i pull the lever down two ticks i get medium speed and 3 ticks will move them fast

 

Hello,

What's the mileage on the car?

It won't hurt to remove the switch and take it apart, which there is not much to it, at least in my 2000 ES300. In your case, the switch only sends commands to the Wiper Relay, so it is nothing more than a set of contacts and a potentiometer for a Mist function.

If the switch is functioning as intended and there is no defects, only other part that can result in such symptoms in the Wiper Relay, here is a Parts Diagram showing its location. I am not sure if there is a way to test it unless you build a special rig, but considering how many parts are in that system, it can only be either the switch or the Relay, both shouldn't be that tough to find at the junkyard.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Its got 172k miles on it. The mist function works and the medium and fast speeds can activate by moving the lever. Sometimes we get light rain over here and I'd like the low setting to work

 

Whoops, that's my blunder, by Mist function I meant the adjuster **** for the first (lowest) setting. Sorry for the confusion.

 

I'm pretty sure the potentiometer isnt working at all. Maybe it just needs to be cleaned with some electronic cleaner?

 

Only one way to find out...