Hello all, this is my first post as well as my first soob. The car is a 97 Impreza "sport" wagon. Shortly after purchase my saga began with noticing that the rear wiper doesn't stop at it's correct position, it stops wherever the blade happens to be once you turn the switch off. While attempting to diagnose wht could be causing this I noticed that my upper or"third" brake light doesn't work at all either. I replaced all of the bulbs but still no luck. I have noticed that sometimes the "door open" light on the dash stays on even when the rear hatch is closed as well....could these all be related? I have a multimeter, but to be honest this being my first Subaru I haven't a clue where to begin. I have checked all of the fuses, and they are fine....Any ideas? Right now I have my rear hatch basically disassembled and all the visible wiring appears to be in good shape...do I need a mechanic or a priest? :-) Thanks in advance -Wayne

rear wiper doesn't stop at it's correct position, it stops wherever the blade happens to be once you turn the switch off.

 

I just bought a 1998 Outback Sport and I noticed mine does the exact same thing. I have not looked into it much. Maybe it is an oversight by Subaru and nothing is wrong afterall?

 

-Russell

rdp5008outback

Hello all, this is my first post as well as my first soob. The car is a 97 Impreza "sport" wagon. Shortly after purchase my saga began with noticing that the rear wiper doesn't stop at it's correct position, it stops wherever the blade happens to be once you turn the switch off. While attempting to diagnose wht could be causing this I noticed that my upper or"third" brake light doesn't work at all either. I replaced all of the bulbs but still no luck. I have noticed that sometimes the "door open" light on the dash stays on even when the rear hatch is closed as well....could these all be related? I have a multimeter, but to be honest this being my first Subaru I haven't a clue where to begin. I have checked all of the fuses, and they are fine....Any ideas? Right now I have my rear hatch basically disassembled and all the visible wiring appears to be in good shape...do I need a mechanic or a priest? :-) Thanks in advance -Wayne

 

Look at the hatch hinges where the wires going to the hatch pass. My guess is that some of those wires are broken. Look closely cause sometimes it's hard to tell cause the wires insulation hides part of the damage.

Sounds like a classic bad ground wire. It probably passes enough current to run some stuff, but not others, maybe your hinges and latch are the only ground connection. Can you snake another wire through the hinge and ground it? I've had to do that before.

Thank you all for the advice so far....now I have a place to start. I'll keep ya posted. -Wayne