Rain Sensing Wipers

[1990LS400]

Old post, I know -- but I'm trying to deal with the same issue of not being very happy with the way the rains sensor behaves on my vehicle. I find it too distracting and would much rather have standard intermittent wipers for which I can set my own preferred wiper speed.

I read on the ClubLexus forum that the method used to deactivate the rain sensor function and to provide intermittent wipers that was possible on the ES300 does not work on the later ES330 due to a design change. It looks like you are not the first to discover this.

According to www.toyodiy.com , the 2005 ES330 rain sensor part number is 89941-33010

What do you mean by "distracting"? Does it not work when it should?

My view is that the main "issue" with rain sensing wipers is that they don't always work when I think they should. For example, I think the rain sensor should cause the wipers to operating immediately when the engine is started when the vehicle has been sitting in the rain but it seems to always be necessary to do the first wipe manually with the stalk before the rain sensing function will take over. And sometimes (very rarely) dust in the air can cause the wipers to activate on a dry windshield. Still, I love the rain sensing feature and all the other automatic stuff.

[varuscelli]

Thanks, 1990LS400.

Thanks for confirming what I was suspecting about there perhaps being a design change in the ES330 that does not allow the same alterations as the ES300. I suspected this might be the case when I went through the steps as described in this post (and in a couple of other references I found on various forums) and got no results other than shutting off the rain sensor completely.

I'm assuming the rain sensor on my ES330 works as it was designed to work. What I find personally distracting is what I consider the semi-unpredictable way the wipers come on when the rain sensor is activated. My own sense of when the windshield should be wiped is not always in accordance with the way the sensor works. I much prefer a regular rhythm that I can set manually. Just personal preference.

Not related to Lexus, but I think I got a bit spoiled a few years back when I drove a VW Passat wagon. The wiper design on that vehicle was such that you could set the exact interval you wanted by hitting the wiper switch once and then hitting it one more time when the windshield needed it. That exact interval would be maintained until you changed it or switched over to one of the "canned" intervals (if I recall correctly). Loved that instant user programmable feature. ;-)

[varuscelli]

Oh, in case it helps anyone in any manner whatsoever, I did take a few pics while I was experimenting with the rain sensor on my ES330.

It is important to note that there is a plastic pin (not pictured -- sorry) at the bottom right of the rain sensor housing that must be pulled out before the housing can be pulled loose from the windshield mount. That pin looks like a sort of curved square "door" about 1/4 inch square on the bottom right of the housing, and it can be pulled all the way out (the pin itself is about an inch long) to allow the housing to be worked upward (toward the top of the vehicle) and off the windshield mount. I had to pull the base of the housing down a bit and then slide it upward toward the top of the car to release it.

Caution must be used if you are removing the sensor itself from its housing since there are a couple of clips near where the cable plugs in that must be properly depressed in order to pull the sensor out. Those are NOT the clips on the side of the sensor as shown in the kevinwang example, but two clips that are close to the cable plug-in (look near the top of the second pic, two clips left and right of the plug-in).

[1990LS400]

I'm assuming the rain sensor on my ES330 works as it was designed to work. What I find personally distracting is what I consider the semi-unpredictable way the wipers come on when the rain sensor is activated. My own sense of when the windshield should be wiped is not always in accordance with the way the sensor works. I much prefer a regular rhythm that I can set manually. Just personal preference.

The rain sensing wipers don't always wipe at the rate I think they should but it's close enough for me - maybe in part because I have used Rain-X water repellent on our windshields for many years - back from when just an ounce of the stuff cost a small fortune. It is usually necessary to treat my windshield about monthly since I park it outside on weekdays and my wife's windshield a couple of times per year since her car isn't driven much and almost always is in covered parking. I treat my side and back windows with Rain-X maybe twice a year. There are probably other good brands of water repellant but I haven't tried anything else.

Our next new cars will likely come with a water repellent windshield and at least front side windows - becoming fairly common on more expensive vehicles with the feature probably trickling down to most vehicles in the next few years.

[varuscelli]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Rain-X myself. Sometimes I don't even use the wipers after a fresh coat of Rain-X. The stuff is just that good.

[pj8708]

Hi Stacey and thank you for sharing all of you knowledge. This particular feature seems to be and off and on problem.

A search of our data base might be helpful in finding other members threads on the suject. Please give it a try.

Paul