10 Min Rover 800 Wiper-light Stalk Upgrade

Phase one is done! I've installed the stalks and everything works fine.
I had no success removing the stalk assemblies using the "paring knife" method so pulled
the steering wheel. That made my error obvious, I had been slipping it in the wrong spot :pinch:
Once I had that figured out the job was a breeze.
Next up...Wiring in the wiper control unit, but that's for another day.

I did the wiring mods today. Thanks to cjmilsnuns instructions it was straightforward although working under the dash was very awkward and not a lot of fun.
The result? Everything works with no smoke which is always positive. The programmed wash-wipe works very well, however the interval wipe is about 4 seconds on all settings, so no change there.
Checking old (2006-7) posts on .org reveals that at that time a solution hadn't been found.
Has anyone found a way to get the interval wipe to work in the meantime?

Hi Rich
, flushed with sucess on my aircon retrofit I'm about to do this ( already fitted the new stalks)

How long did the re-wiring take ?

It probably took me about 3 hours. Mainly as it's there's not much room to work.
The wiper motor wiring is a breeze, the column wiring is quite awkward as there isn't a lot of
extra wire to work with, the connections on the MFU on the back of the fusebox are bloody awkward. It would help to be very skinny with excellent close up vision. (neither of these apply to me!) I extended the wires from the MFU about 300mm
so that I could locate the Wiper Control Unit is an accessible location. It's currently attached to the electrical panel lid with double sided tape.
Note my comment above that the interval wipe hasn't changed. You basically have 3 settings that are all 4 seconds.
Apparently no-one has come up with a truly variable wipe mod yet, so all this electrical project really gets you is the programmed wash/wipe (Screen wash and 4 wipes with one pull of the switch)
On the positive side cjmillsnun's instructions are correct and comprehensive. Just make sure you understand each instruction before proceeding. I found it helpful to do the job item by item and not skip around. As I didn't have all the correct coloured wires to extend the circuits I picked the closest I could and made notes of what was attached to what.
I have marked up a set of the instructions which will go in the car's file so the next owner won't be blind-sided.

I've just done the wiper/light stalks upgrade today and am very pleased.

Took about 20 minutes as I struggled to get the old wiper stalk out - it's now in 3 bits...oops. Prices have gone up a little as the cheapest I could get the stalks for was £20. Well worth it though. :yesnod:

thanks for a great mod-I used the Freelander option .
The job is done quite quickly with the steering wheel in site if you notice carefully how to release the stalks .
There is a small notch in the middle of the 2 screws which can be released with a small flat blade screwdriver.
This is how I got the original stalks out- just a bit of persuasion in the middle of the 2 locating screws.

Incidentally there is an unused socket on the right hand stalk where you cam locate the unused plugg

thanks

Mike

I did mine last weekend despite my local Rover specialist telling me unequivocally that they wouldn't fit.....



Going to go back later today, get my refund for the replacement stalks, that was the wager, and sell them my old ones too....

Done this ! 10 minute job and all fine now !

Thanks guys

Hi a useful upgrade for not much cost I had difficulty inserting a blade of any kind, and found at a section of credit card with a shaped short end ( like a miniature chisel ) did the trick in the end& saves cutting your fingers off with a Stanley knife😟
With all these things , particularly with the fear of snapping something crucial, the first one took 40 minutes & the second one took 10