986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - Adding variable intermittent wipers on an early box, the easy way

oldskool73 · 02-23-2016, 04:57 PM

My 97 came without the variable intermittent wiper dial, and I wanted to add similar functionality without too much work or cost.

I came across a few mentions on other forums about using a VW relay, seems to be a thing in Volvo, Mercedes etc circles. I couldn't find any mention of this process on here so thought I'd add it.

There seems to be a number of different similar relays around, with similar numbers, some of which may or may not work. Googling will get you some discussion and alternatives, however the one I got and works for me is VW part #357 955 531, with '99' printed on the top...

There are quite a few all over eBay from $10+, I got mine from a guy in Germany.

Installation is just removing the old wiper relay, which is in position #16 in the relay box under the dash above the fuse box (it's the single blue one to the right of the double convertible top relay on the second row from bottom), and inserting the new smaller VW one. It was a bit of a pain to remove the old one, but with a lot of yanking and swearing it finally just slides straight out.

With the new relay in place, the intermittent function works in this way...

1) Flick the wiper stalk to intermittent once, then quickly off again.
2) Wait as long as you want the wiper delay to be.
3) Flick the wiper stalk to intermittent again and leave it there. The wipers will remember the delay and continue to run at the speed you set.

To change the speed just repeat the process. Simple!

02-23-2016, 04:57 PM	#1
oldskool73 Registered User Join Date: May 2015 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 335	Adding variable intermittent wipers on an early box, the easy way My 97 came without the variable intermittent wiper dial, and I wanted to add similar functionality without too much work or cost. I came across a few mentions on other forums about using a VW relay, seems to be a thing in Volvo, Mercedes etc circles. I couldn't find any mention of this process on here so thought I'd add it. There seems to be a number of different similar relays around, with similar numbers, some of which may or may not work. Googling will get you some discussion and alternatives, however the one I got and works for me is VW part #357 955 531, with '99' printed on the top... There are quite a few all over eBay from $10+, I got mine from a guy in Germany. Installation is just removing the old wiper relay, which is in position #16 in the relay box under the dash above the fuse box (it's the single blue one to the right of the double convertible top relay on the second row from bottom), and inserting the new smaller VW one. It was a bit of a pain to remove the old one, but with a lot of yanking and swearing it finally just slides straight out. With the new relay in place, the intermittent function works in this way... 1) Flick the wiper stalk to intermittent once, then quickly off again. 2) Wait as long as you want the wiper delay to be. 3) Flick the wiper stalk to intermittent again and leave it there. The wipers will remember the delay and continue to run at the speed you set. To change the speed just repeat the process. Simple!