Windscreen Wipers Not Working

[Lin]

Hi, I hope someone out there can help me as it's not raining at the moment but.....

 

My windscreen wipers have just stopped working both on automatic and manual operation. I've checked the fuse in the box mounted under the bonnet and that seems OK.

 

I can move the wipers by hand across the windscreen but have to push them quite forcibly (probably not a very good thing to do though).

 

Has anyone had this problem or has anyone got any ideas what might be wrong?

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Lin

[BigJohnD]

Hi, Lin,

 

It's tricky to diagnose remotely - the wipers are quite complex with all the electronics and sensors controlling the motor.

 

I take it they don't work at all - they don't complete a few sweeps with the washer? In which case, it could be a component failure, e.g the switch/stalk or motor, or some connection's come loose.

 

If it's an intermittant fault, it could take ages to trace. (I did never did fix the rear wiper on our supposedly reliable F**d F*c*s despite changing the motor, relay (a real pig of a job) and boot door contacts, but it worked the day we sold it!)

 

If it's a control system failure, sometimes re-starting the after an hour or so can effectively re-boot the electronics, and probably not leave an error message in the car's log.

 

Forcing the wiper arms across the screen is not a good idea as you could damge the linkage or the drive train in the motor.

 

If the car's less than three years old (55 plate or newer), I'd say it'll be fixed under warranty. If it's 05 or older, a decent autoelectrican may be a better bet.

[Lin]

Hi, Lin,

 

It's tricky to diagnose remotely - the wipers are quite complex with all the electronics and sensors controlling the motor.

 

I take it they don't work at all - they don't complete a few sweeps with the washer? In which case, it could be a component failure, e.g the switch/stalk or motor, or some connection's come loose.

 

If it's an intermittant fault, it could take ages to trace. (I did never did fix the rear wiper on our supposedly reliable F**d F*c*s despite changing the motor, relay (a real pig of a job) and boot door contacts, but it worked the day we sold it!)

 

If it's a control system failure, sometimes re-starting the after an hour or so can effectively re-boot the electronics, and probably not leave an error message in the car's log.

 

Forcing the wiper arms across the screen is not a good idea as you could damge the linkage or the drive train in the motor.

 

If the car's less than three years old (55 plate or newer), I'd say it'll be fixed under warranty. If it's 05 or older, a decent autoelectrican may be a better bet.

[Lin]

Hi Big John,

Still getting to grips with posting on this site! Thanks for your reply. No, they don't work at all. It happened after my Dad washed the car (although this may be a coincidence). He lifted the wipers up to clean the windscreen and the next time we tried to use them they wouldn't work at all. The car has been restarted and driven several times since then but the front wipers are completely dead (rear works OK though). Looks like a trip to the garage. I'm not sure about the warranty, this is my Dad's car (55 plate but he says the warranty has expired??).

Thanks again, Lin