Adding variable intermittent wipers on an early box, the easy way

[cribfiller]

+++ on this relay, switched mine this weekend, marvelous.

[dghii]

Picked up a the relay at a local pick N pull. They rang it up at almost $13 and for some reason, I was expecting it to be less, especially given that I just spent an hour in the hot FL sun looking at stuff!

Well, my face must have shown my disappointment. The lady at the counter said..."that sounds high!" tossed the relay into my tool bag and wished me an nice day.

Came home and did a 1 minute install. I made sure it worked (it did) and now will wait for some rain!

BTW, part came of a 99 Jetta. Relays are on left leg side of drivers side under dash.

[Swhitcomb]

Found one at a junkyard yesterday. Worked perfectly. Thank you! Couldn't be happier. One of the things I hated the most on my Boxster.

[particlewave]

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[ray_pilot]

I may be coming late to this thread, but I need a better explanation. Obviously I can get that VW relay and swap out the existing one. I understand that. But where does that knob (on the left side of the radio) come into play. i just have a blank spot there. And I've never tried, so how can you put the wiper in 'intermittant mode" if that doesn't exist? Thanks.

[thatguychad]

Originally Posted by ray_pilot

I may be coming late to this thread, but I need a better explanation. Obviously I can get that VW relay and swap out the existing one. I understand that. But where does that knob (on the left side of the radio) come into play. i just have a blank spot there. And I've never tried, so how can you put the wiper in 'intermittant mode" if that doesn't exist? Thanks.

The VW relay is superior in every way but aesthetics, since it's basically infinitely variable. To set the time between wipes, you put it in intermittent for one cycle, go back to off, wait your desired time, then flip it back to intermittent. It keeps that delay until the ignition is turned off.

I have the knob and am so much happier with the VW relay.

[oldskool73]

@ray_pilot : I also have a blank spot there, hence no VARIABLE intermittent wiper functions, hence this upgrade.

You do however already have a FIXED time intermittent mode, it's just up on the wiper stalk instead of down (or down instead of up, can't remember unless I'm in the car ) But the wait time is fixed... wipe>wait 2 seconds>wipe>wait 2 seconds etc...

This mod does what the dial does without needing to fit the dial, and arguably better as some users have pointed out.

[grc0456]

Having just taken the 986 on a long drive down the east coast - the first day in rainy conditions - I can tell you the variable wiper relay came in very handy. Unlike a rotating switch or knob where you're sort of guessing how long the delay will be or tinkering by turning the knob, with this hack you control exactly the timing of the wiper swipe. Pull stalk down one click and immediately back up to the off position - then just wait your desired interval and pull down again.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jakeru]

It seems like I've been using my variable intermittent wiper feature all the time over here in rainy Seattle, recently! (Looking forward to seeing what the sun looks like again one of these days.)

(Just wanted to give a shout out to grc0456 for generously sending an extra one of these relays he had my way!! Thanks again!)

[Stroked & Blown]

Good find. Ordered a relay. Thanks for posting!

[KevinH1990]

[QUOTE=This mod does what the dial does without needing to fit the dial, and arguably better as some users have pointed out.[/QUOTE]

I added the intermittent wipers using the dial that I obtained free from a wreck. The major advantage of the dial to me is that I know longer need to look at the black plastic piece covering the hole where the dial is located. It made the car feel like an entry-level economy model.

[1096369fred]

Just did this on my '98 base.... Works like a charm!

[M4tus]

Put relay 99 is grat update, works perfect on my Boxster S 2003 do not need my turnning knob any more.
But what to do with it? Remove and put there something else?

Any good idea?

[Boxstard]

Originally Posted by M4tus

Put relay 99 is grat update, works perfect on my Boxster S 2003 do not need my turnning knob any more.
But what to do with it? Remove and put there something else?

Any good idea?

I added a 3-way toggle switch there to manually turn on the radiator fans, low and high speeds.

[KevinH1990]

I bought a 2005 Mercedes C230 to drive when I need to carry more people or luggage than the Boxster can handle. I also like a more substantial car in the rain or snow.

The car came equipped with rain sensing wipers. The feature works well.

I think rain-sensing wipers can be retrofitted on the 986. I may look into that modification. It is a terrible burden to change the length of time between wiper passes.

[Zibodo]

I understand the VW relay mod, but I would like the aesthetics of adding the potentiometer knob. Does anyone know of an existing thread that describe how to add that to a base 98 without the option?

[rick3000]

The only way to get the dial to work is with a 996 relay. Unless you just wanted a dummy dial that wasn't connected to anything. I have instructions on my website for adding intermittent wipers with the dial, I may have also posted them on this forum when I originally wrote it.

[CliffA]

i bought the '99' relay to have intermittent wipers on my '04 base Boxster....i found several relays located under the dash near the driver's left leg....which of these relays does the '99' relay replace?

thanks...
cliff

[grc0456]

Originally Posted by CliffA

i bought the '99' relay to have intermittent wipers on my '04 base Boxster....i found several relays located under the dash near the driver's left leg....which of these relays does the '99' relay replace?

thanks...
cliff

From the OP above:

"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."

[CliffA]

Originally Posted by grc0456

From the OP above:

"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."

perfect....thanks....

cliff