There’s nothing funny when your Honda Civic wipers stop working. Without windshield wipers your vision will be severely reduced in rain or sleet. This can cause a dangerous driving condition which should be fixed right away. You can use our How To DIY guide to troubleshoot your Honda Civic wipers and restore the operation of your wiper assembly.
Today I’ll be showing you how to fix your windshield wipers in a 1996 Honda Civic DX. If you own a Civic between the years of 1995-2000 the repair process is very similar. There are just a few steps to troubleshooting your Honda Civic wipers.
Step 1 – Check your Honda Civic Wipers fuse
To check the fuse for your Honda Civic wipers, you will need to locate the panel under your driver side dashboard. Remove this panel to expose the in car fuse panel.
Once you remove the panel you should see the fuse diagram on the back of it. If you don’t have the fuse diagram, check out the image below to see what fuse goes where.
The fuse in question is number 26, which is a 20 amp green fuse. The wire behind this fuse is GREEN with a BLACK stripe. Check this fuse to make sure that the windshield wiper motor is receiving the power needed to operate.
Step 2 – Check your Honda Civic Wipers switch
The combination switch is what controls your Honda Civic wipers. If your fuse checks out the next thing to do is to check the power wire at the wiper motor. I’ll be showing you how to do this later on in this How To DIY guide.
Your combination switch is located on the right side of your Honda Civic steering column. This switch controls the operation of your wiper motor, and replacing this unit is very easy to do with this guide here.
If you have tested the Honda Civic combination switch, you can move onto uncovering your Honda Civic wiper motor.
Don’t forget that the combination switch is also in stock online at Pro Street Online, your number 1 source for OEM replacement parts. We’ve also got the wiper motor replacement in case yours has gone bad. The next part of our guide deals with the wiper motor, which is located under your hood bonnet.
Testing your Wiper Motor
If you are certain your fuse is good and your combination switch is operating properly, you’ll need to test at the motor. To test here you will need to use an automotive multimeter to read DC voltage at the LOW and HIGH speeds of your Honda Civic Wipers.
You can choose to remove your hood completely for this step, as it’s significantly easier. It’s not required to remove the hood bonnet but it’s definitely simpler to do. Prop open your hood and locate the wiper assembly where it mounts to the motor.
Use a 14mm socket to remove these nuts that hold the wiper arms to your motor.
Gently pry up to wiggle the wiper arms loose from the motor.
Now with your Honda Civic Wipers removed, you can now turn your attention to the plastic clips that hold the plastic cover in place. These are fairly annoying especially if your Honda Civic has never had these removed.
To remove these plastic pins, simply pry up on the plastic cover. The cover should pop up, allowing you to remove the entire plastic pin.
Work your way across the top of your Honda Civic hood bonnet to remove all the plastic pins. Once these pins are all out, you can turn your attention to the lower pins.
Several of these plastic pins are pinned under the weather stripping of your Honda Civic. To uncover those plastic pins, pull on one end of the weather stripping and pull up gently to prevent ripping.
These plastic pins are a pain to remove, and must be done from under the firewall sheet metal. Use a needle nose to pinch the bottom closed and push up to remove. You may end up breaking a few of these plastic pins, especially if this is the first time your Civic hood bonnet has been removed.
Your Civic hood bonnet should now be loose and you can gently pry up to remove. This plastic cover is difficult to work out of your car, especially if your hood is still connected.
Once you have the plastics removed, you should clearly see your Honda Civic Wipers and the wiper motor.
The last part of our guide will be showing you how to test the wiring at the wiper motor to see if power is being delivered. To do this you’ll need to use a multimeter and check for alternating power signals at the wiper motor harness.
Have no idea what a multimeter is? Not to worry check out our guide here to read on how to use one.
When checking for power, always use the negative terminal of your battery. Never use the negative signal from your wiring harness, as that can cause damage to your electronics.
Now get back into the car and turn the wipers on using your combination switch. With the wipers set to the LOW speed, you should have an alternating power signal between PIN C and PIN E.
To test whether or not your Civic wiper motor has gone bad, send battery power to PIN D. Now ground PIN A to test the HIGH speed of your Honda Civic Wipers. Send ground to PIN B to check the LOW speed. If manually sending power and ground to these wires doesn’t get a reaction from your wiper motor, it’s time to replace it.
You now know how to test your Honda Civic Wipers. Have any questions about our guide? Leave us a comment below and let us know!
please note the picture of the plug with the ABCDE label is of the female side and should of been of the male or motor side. if you wire it up as pictured it will not work.
just envision the male plug looking at the male pins and label the same ABCDE and it will work.
thanks for correction and reading my Civic wiper guide Bruce!