Whiper problems.

Hi all, and hello, special hello to the older part of the people around here. It's been a while, quite a while, since I was here last but I'm in a completely different situation now and only half or even less than half of the time at home and very busy taking care of my girlfriend. I have a problem though and I thought why not ask to the cats whiskers people, so here it is, when I put my whipers on it takes 20 or even more seconds before the whipers move, however when it is on intermittent position I can hear the relay click at the rate the whipers should work, so the electrics seem ok. It might also help if I manually push the lever down and keep it down so that the whipers do the singlewhipe but forced continuously, then it is possible after 5 to 10 seconds that they start working normally, this problem especially when it is cold, adn as that period is again ahead of us ........... Tnx in advance.

Looks like you might need to put a multimeter on the wiper motor connections just to confirm its getting power and has a good earth. The you can clean out/swap the motor. I've never had to do anything with my wipers though, so don't really know much about them.

Sounds like a tired motor, or the contacts in the steering column switch, and welcome back! you were a regular when I first joined lz.

Thanks for the reply and I think I'll try some more WD40 in the steering colum

Thanks for the reply and I think I'll try some more WD40 in the steering column contacts as I did some years back, it seemed to have helped at that time so who knows it does it again ??
Tnx again and will cul.

Mine does exactly the same thing. (06 TD4). I've found that if I start the wipers on the fastest speed and then slowly change down to intermitent then its ok. I can hear the relay clicking just as you can. Would be interested to hear how you get on before I start taking things apart.

FL 1 TD4 intermittent 04 reg also as the same problem, I am thinking of changing the relay ? mine can sometimes take a minute or more to kick in,

Contact cleaner would be far more preferable to WD40.

Hi all, thanks for the responses and I use in fact "Berner KS 400" contact cleaner, I said WD40 as that is more commonly known. It looks as more and more
people have the same problem but none ever mentioned it, seems to be the same as when I for the first time mentioned that spinning down noise (after the EGR
was bypassed) and none ever heard that until I drew attention on it and after that more and more people had the same problem. It was solved by blocking the
vacuum tube that the EGR valve connects to the vacuum system of the car. Anyway, I've sprayed a good shot of that Berner stuff on the steering column contacts
and will see how it works out, will also try to put wipers straight on the high speed position and when it works go down to slower speed/intermittent. My experience
so far is that I have to keep it manually on the fast single sweep position and when it goes back to the rest position when I release the lever innthe middle of the sweep
then it works normally, when the wiper stops at the place I release the lever it means the normal operation won't work yet. It is, in my opinion a little temperature
related I guess as when very cold it takes ages (not 1 minute so far as Arctic2 says but that can be temperature related, seen the name of the member ??)

If its stopping in the wrong place as well, I don't think it can be the steering column switch. That is handled inside the wiper motor.

That's right, I think to remember that I've read something, many moons ago,that it can be a problem with the stop position of the wiper on the wipermotor. Guess that if I'd like to have it work
allright I'll have to go to the garage and have the motor replaced. My "beast"'s birthday or the day I laid hands on it for the first time, was january 6 back in 2001 so I don't know whether I'll leave it as it is and hope it passes our MOT for a couple of years more. As a matter of fact I just happened to have received my "invitation" for the next MOT this very morning..... Planning of going on monday morning and when ok I'll have peace of mind till jan 6th 2017.

Hi all, heard this week that the problem is probably caused by a burned contact in the wipermotor, there are apparently 3 sliding contacts in it and most likely the first one is burned,
that is why, as IanTeign does, you first go to the higher speed(s) you "bypass" the burned-in first startcontact and so afterwards also the intermittent works.
As for the MOT, I got a red card because the dustcover over the front right suspension "thing" (at the end of the lower triangle arm, it used to be pressed out and in but not is rivetted)
was teared and I had to have it replaced, but now all ok again and at ease till january 9th 2017 (not 6th), anyway all ok again and take care.
Some further investigation reveals that it is in fact the ball joint cover which was damaged and needed to be replaced, as the rivets were unable to be drilled in and removed with a chisel I had to buy a whole now triangle arm but all ok again now. (when I had an oilleak in the gearbox about 5 years ago they must have heated these rivets with a blowtorch so now it all needed replacement. (the ball joint costs Euro 35 but the triangle arm is Euro 147)



A very merry Christmas en happy NewYear in good health and fortune to you all and your families for the coming year. Ciao

Interesting write up no the wiper motor.

Our WOF (MOT) is every 6 months here - it sure comes around quick!