Overenthusiastic wipers....

[Dodge85]

This morning the car has developed another annoying little electrical fault. I have an early Cupra, with rain sensing wipers. This morning I noticed that after turning the wipers off it would continue to wipe 2 or 3 more times before stopping. Didn’t really think much of it at the time…

On the way home from work, it stopped raining, switched the wipers off, they kept going and going... Fiddled with the stalk, but wouldn’t stop. In the end pulled over, switched the ignition off and back on, and they carried on! 5 mins, and lots of screen wash later they finally stopped of there own accord.

When it started raining later (again) instead of turning the wipers on fully, I just manually did it one wipe at a time. Even then it was doing 3 or 4 wipes for each push.

Any ideas? I’m guessing it’s an iffy connection, or some water has got in somewhere?

Cheers

 

[sheffboy]

I never knew that early cupras had rain sensors

Not much help to you i know. Lol

 

[Dodge85]

yeah, i think it was only the first year or so they had leather, rain sensors, and auto dip mirror as standard?

 

[Dodge85]

anyone?

really don't want to take it to a garage not having a clue, thats like writing them a blank cheque!

i figure its either, the rain sensor itself, maybe a bit of moisture got in there? the stalk controls is iffy, or the relay is knackerd?

anyone know how i could test to narrow it down?

cheers

 

[Fl@pper]

only think of off the top of my head is the parking bit but thats inside the motor itself

 

[Stan 24v]

Could do with a wiring diagram really for some invest.

 

[Stan 24v]

Vag-com will probably pick it up too.

 

[Smart22186]

I doubt its the relay. if a relay were to go then the wipers would either work or not work.. it would not hold a charge to power the wipers thus meaning it is receiving a charge when its not meant to be, so you need to track what activates/ sending that charge?? is it the stalk or the sensor?? my bets are with the sensor in dam times like winter lost of sensors start to go wrong. look how many faults are listed on the front page at the moment. if i were you I'd try and keep you car in your garage if you've got one, and sit this out till the summer.. at least then you can do your own work on the car without the fear of rain (OK OK so yes it rains lots in UK summer as well)

 

[Dodge85]

Finally fixed this today, thought i may aswell update this as i have seen a couple of others had this problem, and my fix could save you a few quid.

The car went into VW the other day for some other work, and asked them to take a quick look at this. They said it was 100% the rain sensor, which was £235 + fitting! new their diagnosis was utter bollocks as Vag-com didn't pick any faults up, and when i sat back in the car the mirror hadn't even been moved! (Loaders VW garage in dorchester, never going back there)

Today i wipped the lower dash cover off to take a look at the relay. just a handful of hex screws, and a few poppers to get it off. pulled the relay out, and noticed it had something rattling about inside. when i took the cover off i found a small piece of metal loose inside, after much searching i realized it had come from one the arms on the relay. removed the arm, slapped a dob of solder on in place of the metal square, put the relay back in to test. finally, after months of swearing and shouting, my wipers turn off .

hopefully some day this will help someone else, before they get ripped of by a garage. (i think a replacement relay alone is £30 or so)