My wipers have taken over !

I took my P38 out in the rain for the first time yesterday. I turned the front wipers on (down one click) and away they went as happy as anything. The rain stopped so I turned the wipers off, at this point I was naively believing that I still had some sort of control of them.

The wipers of course just carried on as if nothing had happened. I resorted to pulling over and turning the ignition off when the wipers were in the "park" position and they stopped. I have experimented since using different ways to turn the wipers on (intermittant, and switch position 1,2 &3) and it makes no difference, I found that sometimes they will stop a few sweeps after I turn them off, but they rarely park in the correct place.

When they don't stop using the switch, I have to resort to turning the ignition off, and exactly the same thing happens, except in this case sometimes they will stop a few sweeps after I turn them off, but if they do stop, they almost always park in the correct place.

In case it makes a difference, the rear wipers appear to behave exactly as they should.

Any ideas folks, is there some reset procedure I need to go through ?

Please Note: If anyone mentions the phrase "New BECM", I may resort to parking the P38 in the field next to my 1988 Classic TDi and go back to driving my 15 year old Ford Escort which never did any of these funny things

Sounds more like the wiper relay or switch problem to me.

redhand said:

Sounds more like the wiper relay or switch problem to me.

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Thanks for your suggestions. On the basis that the cheapest and easiest options would be the one's tried first ..... is the relay a #YWB10031 (green plastic 5 pin), or is there another one ?

BTW, where is this relay and is it easy to change?

IF it were a tractta or a disco I cud tell yer but I int got a clue when it comes to posh mottas..

Have you tried just using the wash/wipe button on the end of the stork, mine washes and wipes for a set wipes/time there must be a timer relay in circuit. This could also possibly be faulty.

Time to look in rave cd, electrical manual.

bwarb said:

BTW, where is this relay and is it easy to change?

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Under the bonnet>fusebox>yes, at a guess.

zzr1200 said:

Have you tried just using the wash/wipe button on the end of the stork, mine washes and wipes for a set wipes/time there must be a timer relay in circuit. This could also possibly be faulty.

Time to look in rave cd, electrical manual.

Click to expand...

I've tried switching both wiper relays (RL-1 and RL-8) and it made no difference.

Been through the RAVE cd and it looks like the park switch on the wiper motor has ceased to function.

When the wipers are turned off at the switch, the BECM waits to see if it can see the signal from the park switch before cutting the power. If it can't see the signal, it turns of the wipers randomly leaving them in odd places on the screen. Seems to fit the symptoms I have .....

I'm almost afraid to ask, any one know how much wiper motors are and roughly how much to get one fitted ?

Sounds like the park switch to me.

range rover p38 front wiper motor mechanism

End time:07-Sep-08 19:30:49 BST (4 days 7 hours)
Starting bid£1.99
Item number: 280262069493

Final installment ......

Picked up a complete wiper assembly from "rangeroverheaven" on eBay for £20 + £10 p+p. Had it fitted today by the local corner garage for £35 (1 hours labour, they've put their prices up!).

Problem is now completely solved, wipers turn on and off as requested, intermittant works great so job's done, finally !

Thanks for everyone who tried to help......

bwarb said:

Final installment ......

Picked up a complete wiper assembly from "rangeroverheaven" on eBay for £20 + £10 p+p. Had it fitted today by the local corner garage for £35 (1 hours labour, they've put their prices up!).

Problem is now completely solved, wipers turn on and off as requested, intermittant works great so job's done, finally !

Thanks for everyone who tried to help......

Click to expand...

Keep hold of the old motor cos the only thing wrong with it is the little plastic connector bit (park switch). If the motor that you have had fitted ever packs up you only need to fit a £10 switch to the old one to sort it out.