1997 Toyota Camry Wiper Blades Do Not Return to Home Position

[soccerref]

When I turn off the wiper blades on my 1997 Toyota Camry they do not return to the home or lowest position. They stop at whatever spot they happen to be. The wipers work OK on both slow speed and fast speed. Also the intermittent function is no longer working. In this position the wiper blades operate cintinually in the slow speed. What could be the causing this problem? Could it be the wiper switch on the steering column, the wiper motor, or some other component such as a fuse or relay?

[yotatechie04]

I would start with checking the relay. If the relay is in good condition, then you could start looking at the switch as a cause to the problem.

[pafcwoody]

Dear soccerref

I have the exact same problem as you. 97 Camry, intermittent and auto-return neither working.
I see this was a while back and you maybe moved on, but if not how did you fix this? Does anybody else have experience of this problem?

Cheers

Woody

[CF#5]

I had this problem with my '86 Camry. The problem started one day when it was snowing and I was too lazy to remove all the snow from the car before I started driving, and since it was wet and heavy snow, it put stress on the wipers. I heard a click and then the wipers stopped working completely. The fuse was replaced and then the wipers worked properly again at the lo and hi settings, but they would stop at any position when being shut off, and the cycle wouldn't finish when pulling the control arm forward to cycle through once. In the intermittent position, they'd finish the cycle, shut off (identifiable by a click that is much louder on generation 1 Camrys than on generation 3 or 4) for a fraction of a second, and start up again. It seemed ALMOST like the wipers behaved exactly the same whether in the lo or intermittent positions, but they were slightly different. There was a very real, although very short, pause between each cycle on the intermittent position.

So listen for a very soft click at the end of each cycle (and then another click almost immediately after to indicate the beginning of the next cycle) when using the intermittent position.

In my case, replacing the entire wiper motor solved the problem, and was relatively cheap. I paid $30 for the part and I would have installed it myself except I don't have the proper tools, so I was charged for a half hour labor. I don't know if the '97 has a wiper motor that's so easy to replace, but on the '86 it was extremely simple.

[farmerrick]

The problem is the point set under the plastic cover on wiper motor. The points trigger as the motor rotates. This tells the location of the wiper arms to a small circuit board under the points which controls the delay and wiper speeds. When these points fail the wipers will no longer go to the park position because there is no signal. The proper fix is to replace the motor, but if your mechanical you can pull the cover off the motor and try to repair it. On mine the point arm fell out. I made a new one from some steel banding and glued it in with a small amount of 2 part epoxy(be sure to sand the paint off the steel banding) I.m not sure how long it will last, but mine is going on a year now. Its simple enough to get at if you want to give it a try. outherwise a new motor is around $70.00.

[Brian R.]

I don't know how helpful your fix is to the OP. The thread is 7 years old. But thanks anyway...

[Bryan S.]

Still helpful in 2021, thanks