intermittent wiper mysteries...

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:33 am

My wipers, when on single wipe or imtermittent wipe, would stop half way through a stroke, and would have to be cajoled (sp) into parking themselves in the correct position again. BUT... this would only happen for a period of time, then it would sort itself, but then it would then start doing it again...

Friday, when it was raining, I had them on intermittent... working fine.

THEN, while on intermittent, they would do 2 sweeps... then 3... then back to one, and so on. Great, I thought... rain sensors! But no, it got worse. Then they wouldn't stop at all! Had to turn the engine off to get them to stop... not good.

After filling up with petrol to go down to London (200 miles) I thought I'd pop the bonnet and check the relay. Popped the fuse box, and had no idea which one it was. I guessed it was the rather large black oblong one... Whoever had owned the car previous to me had carried spare fuses... but loose in the fuse box. One had got under this relay and was catching on the contacts. Removed it and everything was fine. Working perfectly now!

Until the return trip home... bowling along the A1, when all of a sudden, the wipers decide to wipe the screen without being asked... just once. Didn't happen again... until I got to the end of my road, then they did another single wipe. Cheers fellas, but don't need you to do that...

Strange goings on...

Any ideas on the phantom wiping?

Giles.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:59 am

on this site if you click articles then maintenance theres an article there about this and how to fix them
i've still gotta do mine

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:20 am

This doesn't sound like the same problem (as in the article) to me. Have you actually replaced the relay? May have done some damage when the contacts were being 'shorted'?

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:29 am

Yeah... not the same problem at all... I thought the first problem was, but it's remedied itself of that one... the track car has THAT problem though!

Will swap relays when I can get hold of one. Like I said, it's only done two 'phantom' wipes so far, and they only happened yesterday...

I don't drive the car very much as I work from home, so extended testing doesn't happen very often.

I take it that I've identified the correct relay for the wipers then...?

Giles.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:56 pm

The spare relay that I bought is a black rectangular one, quite large.....so it sounds like the correct one.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:16 pm

OK, the plot thickens... which problem is it I've got do you think...

My wipers work perfectly on continuous, and don't work when I don't want them to, but on intermittent they sweep to upright and stop, if you waitt for a few seconds they sweep across a bit more and stop, then wait and a few seconds later again they sweep a bit more, across and part way back again....

So, motor out and clean, or new relay?

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:43 pm

The commonest cause for perculiar intermittent wiper behaviour is the broken wire going into the motor. The wiring from the motor is very short and has to twist and turn a lot to connect to the loom. Over time it seems to break and cause problems with the intermittent function only.

When mine gave up i had issues trying to park the wipers. They would generally work whenever i pressed the single sweep but as soon as the stalk was released the wipers stopped on the screen and the actual intermittent was completely useless. Not even making a half sweep before stopping.

I tried the relay first even tho a few ppl suggested a faulty motor and it made no difference. If the relay is at fault it's most likely the wipers will not work at all.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:52 pm

So back to my phantom wipings... it happened again this morning... just a single wipe, un-asked for...

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:59 pm

I'm still guessing a broken wire on the motor.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:24 pm

Cool... will investigate when a) I get more time or b) it becomes annoying.

G.

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:14 pm

could it be anything to do with the 'wipe once function'?

you know the one that you get when you push down on the wiper stalk?

may be worth investigating!

btw-anyone got any idea as to why my rear wiper on the touring kicks in randomly?

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:25 pm

I noticed the wires to the wiper motor were quite short and actually wondered if I'd refitted the motor to the bracket correctly. I recon my problems are a combination of the broken wire and corroded metal disk. Sorted the disk so its time to change the wiring before fitting.

My symptoms are:

- Wash Wipe is OK until it comes to stop and then it stops where it wants

- Intermittent doesn't really work at all

- Single wipe stops as soon as I release the stalk

- Continuous is fine except that the right hand wiper does not end its
upward sweep in exactly the same place each time (only about 3cm difference) and occasionally the wiper disappears off the right side of the screen....especially at speed

.....it also doesn't park properly when it stops

Does the last symptom sound like it could be down to a worn linkage or tired motor rather than the other two 'culprits'?

Post Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:21 pm

I'm not going to be much help, but i've had the random wipe problem. Started when i was in wales: just the odd random wipe. Soon got worse, and quickly became irritating. On the journey home (to Norfolk, a long way), the wipers would go off every time I went round a bend, or accelerated quickly. By the time i got home and booked it in to the garage, the wipers wouldn't stop. I was told by the garage that they were 'wired up incorrectly'