Wiper switch kills engine

[Dodgerdallas]

Ok heres probably a new one-when I turn on the wipers the engine wants to die,turn it off immediately and the motor remains running,also when the switch was out and I activated it I got a good jolt as if I had grabbed the spark plug wire...bad ground??

[Gold Rush]

Bad ground was the first thing I thought of.  Quick check with a multi-meter will confirm one way or the other...   Did you disconnect the wiper motor to see what happens?  Might shed some light on the situation.

[John_Kunkel]

Rather than a bad ground, I would think a high current draw (short circuit) in the wiper circuit is killing the ignition feed. Kinda like the recent "radio goes off in Reverse" thread.

[green69rt]

Rather than a bad ground, I would think a high current draw (short circuit) in the wiper circuit is killing the ignition feed. Kinda like the recent "radio goes off in Reverse" thread.

Agree, it sounds more light an unwanted ground in the wiper circuit.

[b5blue]

What:
Car
coil
ignition
otherwise crap plug wires and 1/2 dead battery? Voltage at the coil? Ya gotta give more to go on if ya really want help.

[Dodgerdallas]

Found the problem, the previous owner had the ignition wire hooked to the positive on the wiper motor so when it was activated the engine would want to die for lack of juice, found another power source and now everything's peachy, thanks for the responses,(the patient ones anyway).

[Nacho-RT74]

I just opened this and thought on that exactly as soon i really paid attention( sorry, was lazy to read it before ). Somebody could say to the last owner ignition must be feeded from blue wire on engine harness and located the blue wire arriving to wiper motor... wrong! The blue circuit on wiper is to reverse the wiper motor up to the parking position and keeps hot while wiper is off. As soon you turn on wiper, the blue wire power is cut.