Wipers and Washers - Wipers and Washers
Description and Operation
Windshield Wiper
The single wiper system is driven via a sh ort linkage, by an electric motor installed in (external on later models) a moulded
plastic weatherproof housing o ff the plenum wet area. The motor and housing are secured to the BIW bulkhead by three
bolts at the top and three screws (two on later models) with locking clips at the bottom. The complete assembly is handed
for left or right hand drive installation.
The windshield wiper is operated via the RH control column stalk switch. Operating modes are normal, high speed, flick wipe
and six settings of intermittent operation with delays ranging from 2 to 20 seconds.
Windshield Washer
The windshield washer is of wiper arm mounted running jet configuration. The je t assembly comprises two conventional
nozzles plus four nozzles of silicone rubbe r 'duckbill' design. If the system is initially operated at low ambient temperatures ,
the 'duckbill' nozzles permit an y frozen residual washer fluid to be ejected un der pump pressure. The washer jet feed tube
supplied assembled to the wiper ar m, fits at its lower end onto a central connector on the pl enum cover. Washer fluid is
conveyed by a rubber tube, from the washer pump to the jet assembly via a manifold on the underside of the plenum cover.
The windshield washer pump is installed on the rear face of the washer fluid reservoir. The 6.3 liter washer reservoir is
installed on the RH side of th e vehicle in a cavity formed by the front bu mper, the front wheel arch liner and the brake
cooling duct.
The windshield washer is operated by pressing the button at the end of the wiper control stalk switch. Pressing and
releasing the button operates the washer for 1 to 1.4 seconds and the wiper completes three sweeps. An optional drip wipe
function adds a further sweep of the wiper after a 4 second delay, to clear residual fluid from the windshield. If the button is
held depressed, the washer and wiper will operate continuous ly for up to 20 seconds. When the button is released, the
wiper will again complete three further sweeps.
Headlamp Powerwash
The headlamp powerwash system incorporates a chromed twin nozzle assembly mounted on the chromed bumper blade
immediately in front of each pair of he adlamps. Each nozzle assembly is connected via snap fittings to a powerwash pump
mounted adjacent to the windshield wash pump on the rear face of the washer fluid reservoir.The powerwash system
operates in conjunction with the windshield washers when the ignition switch is in position II and the headlamp switch is in
the dip or main beam position. When powerwash is initially activated, a wash cycle commences, consisting of two 400 ms
pulses separated by a three second delay. If powerwash is still selected on completion of this cycle, it will continue to
operate at the same frequency for a maximum period of 20 se conds. To conserve washer fluid, headlamp powerwash will
only function on every sixth operation of the windshie ld wash switch.When the 'WASHER FLUID LOW' message is
illuminated, the windshield washer will continue to operat e for a limited period but the headlamp powerwash will not
function until the fluid level is restored.
Rain Sensing System
The rain sensing system installed form so me markets, provides automatic wiper operation when rain is detected on the
windshield. The system detects differing le vels of rainfall and varies wiper operation ranging from intermittent to maximum
continuous, to suit prevailing requirements.
The system which is brought into operation by selecting AUTO on the wiper control switch bezel, does not preclude normal
manual control of wiper operation.
The system consists of a rain sensor, an electronic control module and a dedicated wiper control switch.
The rain sensor is an optical transducer that is sensitive to changes in infra-red light penetration of the windshield created
by the refractive effects of water drople ts. The sensor elements consist of two groups of light emitting diodes which
alternately project infra-red light onto th e windshield and a photo-diode that receiv es resulting reflections from the glass. A ll
of the infra-red light is reflected back from a moisture-free windshield, resulting in a contact 5V output signal from the
sensor and no wiper activation. Rain falling on the light sensing area of the wi ndshield results in refraction and diffusion of a
proportion of the projected light with a corresponding imbalance of light received by the photodiode. This results in pulsed
outputs from the sensor, the frequency and duration of which are directly proportional to the number and size of water
droplets respectively. These pulses together with wiper switch position signals are received by the sensor control module
and processed to mimic column switch gear operation. In this recognisable form, signals are input to the body processor
module (BPM) where they are interprete d as normal wiper operation requests.
