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Pages: 1

Rain Sensing Wipers

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Posted by: 05'LSRN

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!!!

Posted by: aaronearles

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.

Posted by: Husker Z

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.

Posted by: aaronearles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Husker Z

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.

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...

Posted by: 04SCTLS

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.

Posted by: gcwimmer

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.

Posted by: SoonerLS

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?).

Posted by: Husker Z

Quote:

Originally Posted by 04SCTLS

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.

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.

Posted by: EmpireSix

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronearles

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...

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.

Posted by: NYC LS8

Add another to the "not a fan" club. Can't stand mine.

Posted by: aaronearles

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.

Posted by: camthman

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYC LS8

Add another to the "not a fan" club. Can't stand mine.

and another....

Posted by: macboy

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronearles

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...

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!

Posted by: xarruda89x

I got a 2000 LS sensor whipes, never had a problem, works just like i want it to.

Posted by: tagliato22

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.

Posted by: SoonerLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by macboy

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!

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.

Posted by: Husker Z

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?

Posted by: Husker Z

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerLS

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.

Posted by: aaronearles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Husker Z

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?

Maybe that's why yours dont work?

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

Posted by: Brillokc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Husker Z

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.

Posted by: Husker Z

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronearles

Maybe that's why yours dont work?

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

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.

Posted by: LS4me

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.

Posted by: Husker Z

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brillokc

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.

Where you at in KC?

Posted by: SoonerLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Husker Z

I was only talking about the 2nd Gen LSes; they don't have the wiper park heater button.

Posted by: Brillokc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Husker Z

Where you at in KC?

I live in Lees Summit, but work in Downtown KC.

Posted by: 05'LSRN

Thanks for all the responses folks! Sounds like too much of a pain and possibly not worth the effort. I have 05'LS, and haven't noticed the ice melt off my mirror when I turn on rear defrost. How can I have that checked, it doesn't seem like it works.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Some more reading from the LLSOC board

http://forums.llsoc.com/index.php?showtopic=13830&hl=

Posted by: AndrewCoja

Also, are the wipers supposed to go once when you turn on the car when it is in auto position? It's a little annoying, but I've grown to live with it. It doesn't happen on my mom's lexus, so it seemed odd. Is it calibrating it or something? Or are my wipers broken.

Posted by: tbaylinc

No they automatically do it to remind you that they are on i think. One thing is annoying and that is, if you do have it on auto, you open the door to turn the car on, while you brush it off, but you forget the auto function is on, and theres snow on the windshield they push the snow off the window, right onto the inside of you door. you learn to turn it off when you park in the winter time.

Posted by: AndrewCoja

Why do you open the door to turn the car on.

Posted by: ToddG

I had rain sensing wipers on my 03 LS, and the wife's Lexus IS250 has them now. I liked the system on my 03 LS, but I'll admit the performance was erratic. The Lexus has it working right, though.... its what the LS shoulda been.

Quote:

Originally Posted by macboy

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!

I had a similar argument with a service bozo at an Infiniti dealer a few years ago. He insisted that our G20 didn't have heated mirrors. I proposed a little wager on the issue: I proposed to have him research it, and that I would pay double the service costs if I was wrong. On the other hand, I would pay nothing if he was wrong. Predictably, he wimped out and didn't take the bet.

Posted by: MMAFIGHTER121

i have 2000 LS and mine work fine. not as great in the snow but i like them. saves me from having to fiddle with the speed when i'm changing speed. but mine also has the option to either be in auto mode, off, or i can choose the speed... don't have to disconnect anything to turn off the rain sensing option. just set it to off.

Posted by: MMAFIGHTER121

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbaylinc

No they automatically do it to remind you that they are on i think. One thing is annoying and that is, if you do have it on auto, you open the door to turn the car on, while you brush it off, but you forget the auto function is on, and theres snow on the windshield they push the snow off the window, right onto the inside of you door. you learn to turn it off when you park in the winter time.

YEA! that bothers me lol. i do that constantly. and get so pissed at myself everytime.

Posted by: SoonerLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMAFIGHTER121

i have 2000 LS and mine work fine.
...
but mine also has the option to either be in auto mode, off, or i can choose the speed... don't have to disconnect anything to turn off the rain sensing option. just set it to off.

2nd Gen auto-wipers don't work like that. You either get the rain-sensing operator or the interval/intermittent setting. You can't have both while the rain sensor is active.

Posted by: SoonerLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewCoja

Why do you open the door to turn the car on.

Normally, I do that when the car is covered in ice or snow. I open the door and start the car without getting in the car so it can warm up while I'm clearing it.

Posted by: MMAFIGHTER121

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerLS

2nd Gen auto-wipers don't work like that. You either get the rain-sensing operator or the interval/intermittent setting. You can't have both while the rain sensor is active.

HA! score one for Gen 1 LS! Finally!
(only 9000000 more til we even up)

Posted by: AndrewCoja

Wait what? I'm pretty sure I am able to have intermittant without it changing the speed on me.

Posted by: 04SCTLS

Seems like different years have different features.
My 04 had fast, slow, and 3 rain settings with no intermittent.
None of the rain settings were sensitive enough for my liking.
I read in the manual that they were more sensitive at night so I put a piece of dark tint film over the sensor which made a noticeable improvement.
After I pulled the plug on the sensor the wipers reverted to regular intermittent operation probably as a failsafe by design and I was happier with that.
I figure I could probably put in a toggle switch and have both rain sensitive and regular intermittent but didn't bother.
In that link I posted above they talk about an aftermarket system that sells for 349.00 and evidently works well so those that want the rain sensitivity badly enough can go with that.

Posted by: Zach

Mine work flawless on my 02 LS. And during the summer in FL it rains everyday.