Those rarely have an "intermittent" setting.

 

Misery loves company part two:

http://integramod.tripod.com/products/wiper/wiper.html

 

It was 4 degrees at the time, or I would have done it myself. As it is, I've washed the B in single-digit temperatures before...it works fine, provided you've got a crowbar handy to pry the doors open afterwards.

Also: geeeeez, it's so weird to see my box stock. o_0 I forgot this picture even existed!

 

I live in a very wet climate, one where it's very helpful to have a rear wiper on my vehicle. It's a feature I have enjoyed on several vehicles, many of which were always-on but one that was always-intermittent (a Ford Focus I used for work). The "only-intermittent" rear wiper turned out to be the best solution because, as you drive down the freeway on snow for example, there's not enough spray hitting to deal with the annoyance of a wiper that is constantly on but there is enough snow flying up to completely block the rear window if you don't hit the wiper every thirty seconds or so. With the "only-intermittent" I could turn it on and, without being annoyed, always have a clear view out of the rear. That said I found it very annoying to have a “only-on” rear wiper on my otherwise well-thought-out xB gen2, a vehicle that tends to throw a fine-mist of water up on the rear window making it nearly impossible to see out of (unless you flip the rear wiper once every thirty seconds or so).

With that in mind I set out to fix this issue myself. I mean how hard could it be? I just needed something that would automatically flip the wiper switch on and off. It turned out to be a bit harder than that. I found some mention of swapping out the stalk with one that had intermittent wipers, but that was squashed by the cost as well as the requirement of swapping the motor, and running wires to add the needed intermittent bits. I found some folks mention interval timers and even had a fellow mention using one with some success on his Jeep, but I never found a clear step-by-step in any forum (for any vehicle).

So, without further ado, here's what I did to solve the problem on my xB. I imagine these steps would be easy to reproduce on any vehicle with an “only-on” rear wiper. Just remember, this will make it “only-intermittent” so you lose a little functionality. If you're like me though that's exactly what you want. I've had mine in a couple rainstorms now and couldn't be happier with it!

1.Purchase and put together a Velleman MK 111 interval timer kit (or build your own 555 timer circuit). I have found some spots where these are available pre-built so that's an option if you don't like soldering.


2.Find a good place to put the interval timer into the wiper circuit. I followed the wires from the motor and found a nice spot just to the left of the brown connector on the driver's side of the back hatch.


3.Wire everything together and adjust the two potentiometers to the desired interval (I went with a half-second pulse every 12 seconds and am very happy with the results).
To help with wiring on something other than the xB you'll need a volt-meter (or a good diagram of the circuit). You should find the following readings
when the vehicle is on, but the wiper is off:
1.) 12 v
2.) 12 v
3.) Ground

When the wiper is on it will change to:
1.) 12 v , purple on the xB (this is the “park” voltage that lets the wiper go back to park when you turn it off)
2.) ~100 mv, pink on the xB (this is the “switched” voltage)
3.) Ground, black and white on the xB.

- The 12v “park” wire is wired in-series to power the MK 111 (goes into +12v) as well as park the wiper (back out of the +12v on the MK 111 and on to the wiper motor).
- The 12v “switched” wire is used both as the ground for the MK 111 so the interval timer only comes on when switched (goes into GND on the MK 111) and powers the wiper motor when on (comes out of the “NO” or normally-open location on the MK111 and on to the wiper motor).
- The ground goes to the “COM” or common ground position on the MK 111 (any ground will do).

Here's a picture of the kit in place with the plug wired-in (ground to COM not wired yet):


Here's a shot with the ground wired in:


And fully installed:


4. protect the timer as you see fit to keep it from hitting anything and shorting out.

5. Enjoy your new intermittent rear wiper!

 

Here's a similar kit, only $18.

And another, just $10

 

Giznary, what happens when you activate the washer mode? Also, do you have a shot of the hatch that it pulled back farther so I can get an idea of where this brown connector is located?

 

Washer mode is the same (just squirts fluid, you have to manually flip the wiper and it is always intermittent, so you get one wipe every so many seconds).

Unfortunately I don't have a good shot from further back. I would take one but I had to trade the xB (bought a Tacoma for towing, great truck... still miss the xB), so I'll just describe it. If you take the hatch interior cover off it was stuck to the driver's side about 1/4 up the hatch.
I'm attaching the only photo I have that shows the glass of the hatch, maybe it will help!

 

I got a used 8465242120 switch from a 2004/5 RAV4. Plug and play. There are a few irregularities, but they are definitely outweighed by the advantages. The rear wiper on the box is a single speed. The RAV4 is a dual speed with a circuit to get intermittent.
Right now with front wiper, I have everything:mist, wash, hi, lo, and intermittent. The rear has one speed of course and it occurs on Hi position. Both wash positions work. I have ordered a MXA041 windshield wiper timer module. Here is the link: http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/MXA041/ . The speed pot has an on/off switch, so you don't have to turn wiper on at stalk and the adjust the speed pot.
For those who have never done anything like this, it is really easy. You don't even have to pull the steering wheel. Just remove three screws and pop off the clam shell. Unplug the single connector, push one tab and the switch pulls right out.
Finally received the MXA041 and installed it. Installed in space between steering column and utility tray under radio. You don't have to use the stalk at all to engage the intermittent wiper function. Washers work the same. Now I have intermittent wipe on front and back. Now, if it will just rain.

 

Alright I followed Giznary's guide pretty closely but I had a few things to add. I bought the Velleman MK 111 interval timer kit just like he shows from Amazon. Luckily, I work at an engineering company and was able to get a friend to help me do the soldering. The instructions are really clear and I could have tackled it myself but I figured I'd learn from a pro. After the timer was finished, I went to Radio Shack and bought a project box to hold the timer to add some protection. I had to modify the box slightly with a dremel tool to get the timer to fit inside and pass the wires through the side.





I popped the big trim panel off of the inside of the hatch. Its held on by those plastic clips that pop into corresponding holes. I was able to pop them all using just my hands but a trim panel removal tool would make the job go faster.



I found the place where Giznary said he spliced his timer in. Its a brown clip on the driver side of the rear hatch. Here's an overview shot so you can get your bearings of where its located.



Its just to the left of the big hole in the sheet metal. I decided that inside this hole was the perfect place to mount the timer. I clipped the purple and pink wiper wires just beside the brown clip and added quick disconnects so I could hook the wiring back up incase the timer didn't work.



I made extension wires that were long enough to go from where I wanted to mount the timer to where my quick disconnects were. I made sure that the connectorss matched male to female.





I used velcro to attach the timer to the inside of the hole.



Then I connected all of my wires. I made a really long ground wire and ran it over to the factory ground location for the wiper motor.



Then I crossed my fingers and fired up the car. I must say, I am really happy with the results. It works perfect. I set my timer to a .5 s pulse and a 12 second delay. When I was first testing it, it seemed that 12 seconds was too long. But after driving it for awhile, it seems that this setting will be perfect. On the timer, there are 2 pots, one for the pulse and one for the delay. On mine, the pulse pot was on the left and the delay pot was on the right. The dials on the pots go from the left most setting being the lowest setting and the right most setting being the highest setting. Here's a close up of how mine looks. Hopefully you can see them. There is an arrow on the dial indicating where it is pointing to. The pulse pot is set as low as it will go. The delay pot goes from 2.5s to 60s. i have it set at roughly 12s.



Many thanks to Giznary for the idea and his excellent DIY!

 

just remove it. Looks better without it anyway..

 

Why remove it ? The rear wiper is very important to some of us. I went so far as to convert my rear wiper arm to accept standard type blades now....

I did the wiper stalk mod, using one from a Vibe, so I have a rear stalk setting for Intermittent, but no power to the motor with that setting, but the full-on setting works fine.... Its great having the better intermittent up front too !!

 

Thanks Giznary & rjjone2! Works like charm. I used the VM136, the assembled model, with a 12 second pause.