longback11

Hi all, I'm new to the group here and have a question regarding the wipers on my wife's 2003 MDX...

Symptoms; washer fluid will not shoot out and wipers will not work unless on the very highest speed.

Troubleshooting; There IS fluid, it is not frozen, and the nozzles don't appear to be clogged. I don't believe the fuse is blown (wipers work on high speed)

I did take it into the dealer right when the problem started (for other issues) and had them look it over (thinking it may be a fuse, pump, et...). The dealer proceeded to troubleshoot the issue for 2 hours chasing down the electrical path...and informed me that it was something to do with the rain sensor capability and that the rain sensing "stuff" needed to be replaced (sorry for the ignorance, not really sure how the rain sensor is integrated with everything). It seems to me that I should still be able to manually squirt fluid and turn on the wipers even if the rain sensing functionality doesn't work? In the end the dealer said that with parts and labor I would be over $700, obviously I didn't take that great offer....

I now need to register the car (safety inspection) and can no longer "make due" but I do feel really leery about the explanation of the problem and the solution offered by the dealer service center. Before i go to another shop, has anyone heard of or had this problem? If so, what was the fix? If not, are there some other ideas to what the cause could be and possible solutions? (it should be noted, I don't care about the rain sensing feature, I just want to be able to squirt the fluid and use the wipers) Thanks for all the help and input in advanced.

Regards,
Anti-rain sensor guy