I just bought a 92 civic vx yesterday and I am pretty excited about it. I have been driving a conversion van the last three years as my daily driver so hopefully this will increase my mpg by about 300% or more.
So far the only problem I have noticed with the car is that the windshield wipers will turn on at seemingly random times, wipe for about 30 seconds and then go off again. I live in SoCal so I imagine I can just take the fuse out for 350 days of the year but I would rather just fix it correctly. Has anyone had a similar problem and/or know how to correct it?
Having it wipe for 30 seconds and stop sounds like it may be a malfunction in the switch. I have never owned a Honda, but on every car I've ever owned (with the exception of my 81 AMC Spirit) would wipe for 30 seconds after the washer button was pressed. I would imagine if the switch was wearing out, and you hit a bump and that switch makes contact for a split second it would start the 30 second wipe for the wash cycle.
It does sound like the wiper stalk is failing. Luckily it's a cheap part to replace and easy to replace in the car too.
You can get one from your local junkyard or from Ebay.
Then you can follow my instructions HERE to install it.
Those instructions are for installing intermittent wipers in a VX but if you're just replacing the wiper stalk you can scroll down and do just the step for replacing the stalk itself.
I figured out that just tapping the switch can turn the wipers on and I have to twist it fairly hard toward the off position to get them to turn off again, so it is definitely something in the switch/stalk. The instructions on how to replace it look very simple so thank you, I think you have solved my problem.