I've been having a strange problem with my wife's 2012 Honda fit and wanted to see if anyone could provide some insight.

With the wipers off when I put the air on, the windshield wipers will move typically a few inches and occasionally all the way up to the most vertical position. They will stay there until I reset them by putting on the wipers. It only happens when the air is on (whether it's on 1-4, it's all the same amount of movement). It happens if the AC is on or not, Whether the car is cranked or just on the battery. It started happening occasionally, but now it's pretty consistent.

I have a Honda fit 2nd gen as well so you testing out things are pretty easy. I've switched the wiper motor and the same thing happens in her car, but my car with her wiper motor is fine so that's ruled out. The battery is a few months old and works fine. I went to AutoZone and had them check the alternator which passed.

I posted a video on youtube to show it in action:
https://youtu.be/zsPkxmvxIbI

I'm actually not sure what else to check. Any ideas?

 

Live in the north? Might share a ground between the AC and wipers. May be worth the effort tracking down where those two ground on the car, bet you a few bucks they're the same. You'll need the service manual to start looking.

 

Yes, I have definitely been considering looking for various grounds and seeing how the connection is. Thanks for the advice.

My wife brought up the left turn signal is going off sporadically now as well! I witnessed it today. I decided it was worth switching out her and my alternators just to make sure and since it wouldn't take too long. It was not the alternator. But there is an old Karr or similar alarm system installed from the dealership, so I think I'll rip that out and maybe check the connections of the wires it has been spliced into first before looking at the grounds as I don't have a service manual yet.

 

There's a sticky on this forum with the link to a Google drive copy of it. 2200 pages, covers everything.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-generation-ge-08-13/97534-factory-shop-manuals.html

 

I took out that cheap ugly Karr or similar alarm and the issue persisted for another 1/2 a day, but since then for about a week or so no problems and the car is back to normal. I'm not sure why it didn't immediately stop the problem instead of taking half a day but either way very relieved and will always check for those stupid little things in future cars. Hopefully this is resolved.