Electrical doozy

[Avodka14]

Hi everyone,

Got an interesting electrical issue going on and can not find a similar problem on this forum or the interwebs.

I have a 2001 4Runner Limited. The problem started with a broken rear wiper arm but, still on the truck (father in law drove it through a car wash). Hit the switch at the steering column to turn on the rear wiper and two things happen:

-blows fuse for front wipers rendering them useless
-rear wiper does not work

AND->attempt to roll down the rear window resulting in the front windshield wipers turning on and stay on until the rear window is rolled back up

I removed the rear wiper motor and wiper. Now, the front wiper fuse does not blow when attempting to turn on the rear wiper. But, the front wipers still turn on and stay on until the rear window is up. The wiper motor was locked up when i took it out. Interestingly, the rear window rolls down by using the key in the rear hatch and the front wipers are not activated.

Just want to defer to some electrical gurus and/or see if someone else has had this happen. Kind of baffling to me.

Thanks in advance

 

[ECSFpyro]

This sounds like something straight out of Roadkill. My guess is there's a wire somewhere that's either grounding out or improperly connecting to something it shouldn't be. I'd start by removing each of the affected switches and checking for any damaged wires

 

[Avodka14]

HA! Got it. Should start with the rear window switch at the console I presume?

Thank you!

 

[supline]

If the problem doesn't happen with the key in the switch at the rear door, then it looks like the problem is with the switches in the cab.

 

[kgriff]

I had a similar problem with my 96. Check the wiring inside the boot between the body of the vehicle and the rear hatch. I had three broken wires.
If you find that to be the problem, just make sure you don't solder new wire at the same spot. Cut the broken wires back a bit so you can have good wire and not a solder joint at the stress point.