Wipers And Washers
Windshield Wiper
The single wiper system is driven via a short linkage, by an electric motor installed in (external on later models) a moulded plastic weatherproof housing off 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 jet assembly comprises two conventional nozzles plus four nozzles of silicone rubber 'duckbill' design. If the system is initially operated at low ambient temperatures, the 'duckbill' nozzles permit any frozen residual washer fluid to be ejected under pump pressure. The washer jet feed tube supplied assembled to the wiper arm, fits at its lower end onto a central connector on the plenum 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 the vehicle in a cavity formed by the front bumper, 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 continuously 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 headlamps. 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 seconds. To conserve washer fluid, headlamp powerwash will only function on every sixth operation of the windshield wash switch When the 'WASHER FLUID LOW' message is illuminated, the windshield washer will continue to operate 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 some markets, provides automatic wiper operation when rain is detected on the windshield. The system detects differing levels 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 droplets. The sensor elements consist of two groups of light emitting diodes which alternately project infra-red light onto the windshield and a photo-diode that receives resulting reflections from the glass. All of the infra-red light is reflected back from a moisture-free windshield, resulting in a contact 5 V output signal from the sensor and no wiper activation. Rain falling on the light sensing area of the windshield results in refraction and diffusion of a proportion of the projected light with a corresponding imbalance of light received by the photo-diode. 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 interpreted as normal wiper operation requests.
The rain sensor unit is installed on the inside of the windshield within the rear view mirror stem cover. The unit is secured to the glass by a special adhesive that facilitates service removal. When installing a rain sensor unit, it must be positioned in the clear circle within the obscuration band.
The rain sensor control module is a non-serviceable unit installed in the engine bay cool box and connected to the rain sensor unit and the body processor module.
The column mounted wiper control stalk switch on vehicles with rain sensing installed, has an AUTO position (this replaces the first intermittent setting on non rain-sensing wiper controls), five intermittent settings, and normal, high speed and flick wipe positions.+