I bought a wiper delay switch and went to hook it all up. There is a plug that I can't tell where it goes to. Is there a relay or something that it plugs into? The "mist", "hi", and "low" work just fine but the "delay" part won't work.

Jeff,
I too, am waiting for a reply. I bought a new motor from one of those auto outlets 2 years ago & mine does the same thing. I tried putting that plug back onto the motor & blew a fuse so I just left it alone. I have everything but the delay function also. ??? Jon

Are you talking about an extra plug on the back of the motor? Their is an extra plug on mine which came stock with delay wipers. I was told that it was for making the wipers work several times after you hit the washer.

Do you have a delay wiper motor? Or is it a standard wiper motor? If you are trying to install a delay wiper switch with a regular wiper motor the delay won't work. What color are the wires on the plug? I'll bet they're green and brown.

Here are the wiper schematics for a 78 El Camino.

Wipers with delay (http://elcaminocentral.com/users/elcamino/schematics/78_wiper_delay_schem.jpg)

Wipers without delay (http://elcaminocentral.com/users/elcamino/schematics/78_wiper_schem.jpg)

I do not have a delay wiper motor. There must be a pigtail off of the motor because the one from the switch is not long enough to reach to the motor. Can anybody confirm this?

I do not have a delay wiper motor.
There is your answer.

There isn't any place on your existing motor to connect the delay wiring to. If you want to use the delay, you have to install a wiper motor that is equipped for it. If you look at both sets of schematics you'll see that the pulse wiper timer is incorporated in the wiper motor. There are two different motors. One wiper motor has the pulse wiper timer and the other doesn't (that's what you have). You can't just install a delay switch and expect to get the delay feature without changing the motor as well.

Thanks, Ernie. I need to replace the thing anyway because the washer pump is broken. It'll give me an excuse to spend some more money!! Appreciate the help - I would've spent alot of time trying to get it to work.

I just installed a delay-type wiper motor (third connector coming off of the motor) but grabbed a harness from a Caprice. I've sorted out the wire harness, but I have a switch problem.

According to my literature, there should be three pigtails coming off the switch running down to a connector (C117). The other four wires from the switch are ganged into 1 connector (C116). My problem is that the switch I bought on eBay only has the dark green pigtail coming off the back of the switch. I suspect there was another pair of brass contacts soldered to the back of thw switch with wires leading to a connector (C117) but I'm betting the were ripped off when the switch was pulled. Do you have a photo or a diagram showing the physical connections on the back of the delay switch? I can fabricate the necessary contacts for the pigtails, but I need to know which set of contacts goes to what.

By the way, I am using a 1978 Chevrolet Electrical Troubleshooting Manual for my information.

Thanks,

Duane

Yep, I was right. I bought another wiper delay switch on eBay and there are three wires running from the back of the switch. One lead goes to accessory power and the other two connect to the delay connections on the motor. Now everything works except the delay. I'm going to throw an ohmmeter across the delay pot in the switch and if that is good I will check to see if I am getting the delay pulse up to the motor. If that checks out, I will have to assume that the motor delay timer is shot. That probably means it will be easier to pull a whole motor than to try to replace the timer.

I installed a column from an '84 Grand Prix, that way the switch would be on the turn signal stalk. It has the five wires coming from it just like in the schematic that 87elcamino posted. I bought 2 wiper motors from the junk yard, both off g-bodys (A monte and a cutlass) I cut the wiring harness from each to use. I have them wired just like the schematic shows, except both motors I bought don't use the green wire, they are in the harness, but do not actually plug into anything. I'm also using the same power wire to the switch and the motor. NOTHING works! I tried both motors and they both do the same thing, when ever the switch is moved to mist, delay, or low, the wiper motor just turns one way about a 1/30 of a turn and then back the other way a 1/30 of a turn, almost like they are "parking". Any ideas? I'm thinking that the power wire isn't carrying enough amps to run the switch and the motor, so that's what I'm going to try first...