1989 Corolla PLEASE HELP!

[teenalhall]

I bought an 89 Corolla yesterday and the wipers don't work. I know it is in the wires somewhere. The stereo was stolen before I bought it and since then they haven't worked. I'm a single mom who is a do-it-herselfer and can't afford to take it somewhere to be fixed. Can't pass inspection without this being fixed somehow. Any sugestions?????

[wrightz28]

You checked the fuse?

[teenalhall]

All fuses have been replaced.

[wrightz28]

kay, so the radio was stolen, I'm assuming it was a rip and go operation (not very pretty). Are there any wires hangin now (black imparticular)? Only thing I can see the 2 items having in common is a shared ground.

My second and better guess would be given the location of wiper stalk, it was hit severely when the radio was ripped out

[teenalhall]

There are lots of wires hanging. I know which ones are the stereo and the hazards but other that that I don't know what goes to what. The whole dash panel cover is missing along with a lighter plug and gee I don't know. I don't think the car is as bad as I am making it sound but hey what do you expect for $300. I think if I went to the local pick n' pull junk yard I could figure out what most of the wires go to. I don't see any single black wires though. I do know that it will spray wiper fluid, just don't expect to be able to wipe it off, unless you do it by hand. Thanks so much for trying to help me out here!

[wrightz28]

No problem. And a kudos on the though for hitting the scrapyard to get a glimpse of what it should look like, good think'n

I tried looking for a wiring diagram without much luck. What I can say is the the wiper and turn signal stalks actually all combine into one assembly in the steering column. So I would think if it a groudning issue in the dash, there would be some sort of issue in the lighting system aswell

Being that it was rapidly approaching zero last night, wasn't about to snoop around

Your best bet might just be going down to the yard and taking a good look at a unvandalized one. Also, if you have a cabureted motor, I would look around for one that has a good looking distributer, they are getting harder and harder to come by and die out completely unexpected.

[teenalhall]

Thanks for the info. I went to the scrap yard today and got a replacement dash panal. (YES, it was COLD!) Found out what all the wire went to also! I'm not sure about the distibutor thing though. Will have to have someone go with me for that. But so far spent $15 on the car to fix it up and it's looking so much better. Figure I will spend about another $20 and I will have a damn good car! I think I might have someone who can look at the wipers for me, hopefully they can figure it out better than I can. If not guess I better stock up on RainX.

[wrightz28]

Sorry couldn't walk you through it. Don't forget to post the outcome.