Headlight Wipers - Whats the Problem!?

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:22 am

I have a 320i, 1986, Europe model. The two headlight wipers are not working. When I bought the car, the wires were disconnected. I connected them, tried the wipers, and nothing happend, except that a whole lot of water was squirted through the nozzles onto the headlights. I read on a different site that I should open up the wiper system and clean out the system. I did this, but same thing. Any ideas?

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:04 am

It could be your relay, (small black box shape thing) attached to your washer bottle . A way to test if your relay is no good is to directly wire your wiper motors to the battery, if they work then its your relay that sh@gged.

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:30 am

9 times out of 10, it's the motors themselves that fail.

If you are patient, you can strip them down, clean and rebuild them, but it's a fiddly old job. I've done this a couple of times, and touch wood, they still work.

The hardest part about rebuilding them, is setting up the park position switch contacts (and in the drivers side motor, the contacts that control the washer jets).

There's an article here, but it skims over a lot of the detail.

http://www.totalbmwmag.co.uk/HandsOn/TechAug01.PDF

Ian.

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:22 am

I submitted a guide on this to the zone a while back, Steve told me it would be hosted a while back, but no sign yet! It's probably been deleted or something

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:40 am

I've stripped the motors down twice, but nothing...... I havent tried the battery test, so I'll try that today. How much would a new relay cost?
Thanks.

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:39 am

The new relay part number 61311367391 is about Ãƒ”šÃ‚£60 to Ãƒ”šÃ‚£70 quid

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:13 pm

Dude, i got my relay for a Tenner from -

Alan Cowland Spares
Finedon Sidings Trading Estate,
Station Road,
Finedon,
Northants
NN95NY

Tel- Kettering 01536 723587/ 722438

I had the same problem, i phoned Alan up and he told me about the battery test, i sent him a check and he posted me the relay. Jobsagudden

It cost me Ãƒ”šÃ‚£10 +vat+p&p =Ãƒ”šÃ‚£12.93 total

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:13 pm

If you're quick there's one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... RK:MEBI:IT.

Cheers,

Iain T

Post Sun Mar 27, 2005 7:19 pm

When sorting out headlamp wipers, I always pull the plugs at the wipers themselves, and get each individual wiper working properly first, powered from a 12V power supply.
The brown lead is earth (negative), and of the two other wires, 12V+ to one will make the motor work all the time, and the other will make it work untill it reaches park.
When this is done, turn your attention to the relay.
Don't forget they only work about every fifth time you use the screen washers, with the lights on.

Post Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:30 am

I was the first to bid on the relay, but someone beat me to it, wasnt here to bid higher

The thing is... when the wipers are connected and I press the window wiper power wash switch (when you push the wiper stalk in, towards the steering column), my headlights piss water for about 30 to 45 seconds, and nothing else happens. Think it might still be the relay?

Post Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:34 am

jog5000 wrote:I was the first to bid on the relay, but someone beat me to it, wasnt here to bid higher The thing is... when the wipers are connected and I press the window wiper power wash switch (when you push the wiper stalk in, towards the steering column), my headlights piss water for about 30 to 45 seconds, and nothing else happens. Think it might still be the relay?

No, I still say it's the motors.

Ian.