Rain Sensing Wipers

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05'LSRN

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Hey ALl,
I think the rain sensing wipers would be cool on my LS. Unfortunatly they stopped putting them on the 05 LS. I was wondering if you guys think I could add that feature to my car. Is this something that needed to be factory installed, or is it something I could have added on myself? Thanks for input. Have a great day!!!
 
Not a lot of people actually like them from what I've seen on here. They are a great concept, but in reality they either go crazy or aren't sensitive enough. I love mine though.
 
I wouldn't reccommend spending the money on them. Mine suck. They never work right and never have. Waste of money I think. Now, whoever invented the heated windshield wipers should get a Nobel Prize, those things are awesome.
 
Husker Z said:
I wouldn't reccommend spending the money on them. Mine suck. They never work right and never have. Waste of money I think. Now, whoever invented the heated windshield wipers should get a Nobel Prize, those things are awesome.
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Haha, I have the opposite feeling, my heated wiper parks dont seem to do anything for ice on the blades or bottom of windshield. maybe I'm expecting too much of them, or maybe they dont work... :confused:
 
Hey Husker Z

My 04 LS has rain sensitive wipers.
I hated them as they weren't sensitive enough but much to my delight
I discovered that if you pull the plug on the windshield rain sensor behind the rear view mirror the wipers revert to regular intermittent operation.
I'm much happier now.
 
The rain sensitive wipers on my LS work great with the rain and snow the last two days; I have early build 2004. You can disconnect the rain sensitive feature and have speed sensitive wipes, and three speed full on.

The LS heated wiper park area on the windshield also works great, I have not had heated wipers.
 
I think there are aftermarket kits, but I don't know anything about them. Retrofitting the OEM system is going to be more of a PITA than it's worth (IMHO); IIRC, they're controlled by the FEM, which means you'll need an XCal to enable the functionality on the PCM. You'll also need the sensor itself and any related wiring harnesses. And, oh yeah, you'll need a windshield for an LS with the rain-sensing wipers ('04 was the last year for them).

Personally, I did not care for them on my '04; I don't miss them at all on my '06. I'm much happier with the "intermittent" wiper functionality that's not available with the 2nd Gen LS's rain-sensing system (unless you disable the rain-sensing, but then what would be the point?).
 
04SCTLS said:
Hey Husker Z

My 04 LS has rain sensitive wipers.
I hated them as they weren't sensitive enough but much to my delight
I discovered that if you pull the plug on the windshield rain sensor behind the rear view mirror the wipers revert to regular intermittent operation.
I'm much happier now.
Click to expand...

Mine actually has the regular intermittent mode along with "auto", so I just never use the "auto" setting. Mine is basically a joke, you won't be able to see a thing, then out of the blue, it'll go. They don't work at all.

And gcwimmer, when I mentioned the heated wipers, I meant the parking area, not the actual wipers, sorry for the confusion. Either way, mine seems to work awesome. We had ice all day long here in KC yesterday and never had a bit of trouble with them icing up.
 
aaronearles said:
Haha, I have the opposite feeling, my heated wiper parks dont seem to do anything for ice on the blades or bottom of windshield. maybe I'm expecting too much of them, or maybe they dont work... :confused:
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i agree, that one little heated wire running under the blade does very little to melt the ice that builds up. it would have made more sense IMO to allow the front defrost heater vents to extend low enough to the resting place of the wipers.
 
Do your (anybody) rear defrosters work well? I'm starting to wonder if mine work at all. I know there's a vent that runs across the back window, but ice just takes a long ride to melt off the back window for me.
 
aaronearles said:
Haha, I have the opposite feeling, my heated wiper parks dont seem to do anything for ice on the blades or bottom of windshield. maybe I'm expecting too much of them, or maybe they dont work... :confused:
Click to expand...

Yours may not work. This would not be a huge surprise. My heated mirrors didn't work until a few weeks ago when I had them fixed. I even had to convince the dealer that the car had heated mirrors in the first place. They tried to tell me it didn't! If you have a 00-02 then there is a button in the climate control center to activate the heated wiper park and mirrors, but it is automatic below a certain temperature (couple degrees above freezing). For an 03-06, the heated wiper park is automatic and there is no button. The heated mirrors on these are activated along with the rear defrost, and this is exclusively manual (although it turns off automatically after a few minutes).

I have never had ice build-up on my blades. This is a huge difference compared to my previous vehicles, where I would always need to use the washer in conjunction with the wiper in order to melt the ice and prevent streaks.

The rear defroster works fine for me. The vents do nothing. It is the wires in the glass that heat the glass to melt snow and frost. If you have a thick layer of ice, then yeah, it'll take a while. I use mine in the summer when it rains too. The extra heat helps evaporate the water giving you a clearer view. Try it!
 
i was very satisfied with how my rain sensitive wipers performed. once in a while, they would go a little crazy if there was just a little rain/moisture, but for the most part, they worked very well.
 
macboy said:
For an 03-06, the heated wiper park is automatic and there is no button. The heated mirrors on these are activated along with the rear defrost, and this is exclusively manual (although it turns off automatically after a few minutes).
...
The rear defroster works fine for me. The vents do nothing. It is the wires in the glass that heat the glass to melt snow and frost. If you have a thick layer of ice, then yeah, it'll take a while. I use mine in the summer when it rains too. The extra heat helps evaporate the water giving you a clearer view. Try it!
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I'm fairly certain that the heated wiper park is also tied into the rear defroster with the heated mirrors, although it will also work automagically based on temperature. The defrosters on my current and previous LSes also worked fine, even during the ice storms we've had during the last few winters.
 
I was just messing with mine at lunch and noticed that there is a wire coming out of my rearview mirror that isn't hooked up, anyone know what this is?
 
SoonerLS said:
I'm fairly certain that the heated wiper park is also tied into the rear defroster with the heated mirrors, although it will also work automagically based on temperature. The defrosters on my current and previous LSes also worked fine, even during the ice storms we've had during the last few winters.
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My wiper heater has a button to turn it on or off, but I've never touched it, it just goes on when it's below freezing. Works great.

I, however, did not know that the mirrors were heated and tied to the rear defrost.
 
Husker Z said:
I was just messing with mine at lunch and noticed that there is a wire coming out of my rearview mirror that isn't hooked up, anyone know what this is?
Click to expand...

Maybe that's why yours dont work? :D

I dunno, I assumed it was for the in mirror compass, the rain sensor, and auto dimming light sensor.
 
Husker Z said:
Mine actually has the regular intermittent mode along with "auto", so I just never use the "auto" setting. Mine is basically a joke, you won't be able to see a thing, then out of the blue, it'll go. They don't work at all.

And gcwimmer, when I mentioned the heated wipers, I meant the parking area, not the actual wipers, sorry for the confusion. Either way, mine seems to work awesome. We had ice all day long here in KC yesterday and never had a bit of trouble with them icing up.
Click to expand...

I'm the opposite with all the ice and snow here in KC my auto wipers worked great and my heated area didnt do much.
 
aaronearles said:
Maybe that's why yours dont work? :D

I dunno, I assumed it was for the in mirror compass, the rain sensor, and auto dimming light sensor.
Click to expand...

That is quite possible. My auto dimming mirror works and my compass works, but there is one plastic plug that isn't plugged in. Maybe I need to pull the cover off of the auto wiper sensor and make sure it's plugged in.

Well, I'll hold off on my yay or nay vote until I plug this thing in. :D
 
I really miss the auto-wipers on my '06. The function on my '00 works well. I am seriously looking into having this installed on the '06.

The wiper heat comes on below 40º.
 
Husker Z said:
My wiper heater has a button to turn it on or off, but I've never touched it, it just goes on when it's below freezing. Works great.

I, however, did not know that the mirrors were heated and tied to the rear defrost.
Click to expand...
I was only talking about the 2nd Gen LSes; they don't have the wiper park heater button.
 
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