Bit strange this one! Noticed today that 3-4 times the wipers double swiped rather than waiting and the dash lights dimmed at the same time!

I think the lights may be related to the dimming dial thing, as sometimes when scrolling the wheel they dim for a split second... but are these related to the wipers? Seems a bit strange

I did just fit some LED number plate bulbs, but surely that wouldn't be causing this weirdness? Its been a while since i used the int wipers especially with the headlights on

tbh i think it may be coincidence that its happend just as you fitted those bulbs the only thing i know about them is it can set of your computors as the voltage is so low. Try disconecting your battery?

I take it the 6-8 leds in each will still use slightly less power than the standard bulbs? The one of mine was pretty much black when i took it out!

I did notice when swapping the battery recently that when reconnecting, the wipers twitched! Had a mate with me and he said he'd never seen a car do that before... strange doubt that did any damage though as they still work fine

Maybe the extra charge from the new battery is making them work double time

yh the led's use way less power its about a fraction of what a normal bulb uses aparently, does all the wiring look fine in terms of the wiper motors and evrything?

The only common components to wipers and lighting circuits is the X contact relay and system electrical control unit. The X contact relay receives it's on command, from the ignition switch. The other possibility is the wiper motor park position switch is noisy.

Or given the recent quirks, your car may be possessed I wouldn't call her Christine if I were you.

yh your car could be posesed or alive.... wouldnt you flinh if someone connected a battery to you? :p

haha you may be right. tbh last few days i've kept flicking up auto trader :( so many clonks, rattles and weirdness is starting to wear me down

well depends how much u love it lol!

One LED takes 20 milliamp or 0.02 amp. A 5 watt filament lamp takes 416 milliamps or 0.416 amps (at 12 volts) which is over 200 times more!

Just wondering, as everything electrical goes through the system electrical control unit, which also calculates resistance of circuits for faults, and bulb failure warnings, if fitting LED lights anywhere is a good idea. The system electrical control unit, is basically a mass of voltage regulators, and having a reduced load on any circuit may not be a good idea.

I don't know for sure if LED lights will cause problems, but anything is possible with these modern too smart for their own good cars we have today.

LED's do mess with the internals of a car because they have such a low resistance 1 the computor doesent think they are there and 2 more curent can pass through (a bulb acts like a resistor however the lower the resistance the more that passes through a circit) Cars with LED tailtights and sidelights have had to have the ecu and electrics reworked to overcome the problem, if you comper the thickness of wires you can blatently see the difference. I dont recomend that people use LED bulbs on newer cars as alot can wrong.

Maybe you're right only fitted them to stop it drying the bits of cack stuck to my boot lid lol maybe i should stop being so vain

I do love the car, but the rattles, clonks, creaks, weird electrical things, poor rubbery suspension bits destroy the enjoyment the driving gives

Got a lovely mechanical rattle now from the nearside, I can't decide whether its from the engine bay or in the cabin but its unrelated to the engine/transmission as it does in/out of gear with clutch in/out and with the engine off too lol

The car has done 96k and is a 53 plate so its to be expected I guess

i used to know a place that did car refurb...... you could take your car in and they would uprgarde and uprate evrything and fix all the bits and bobs and make it like new, i know theres lots of places like that for clasics but wonder if there is anything like that around still for any car

Okay I noticed today while defrosting the car that both the wipers were double swiping occasionally, and also the red light on the inside of the door when its open flickered on and off when it double swiped... what the hell!

Anyone have ideas?

Okay I noticed today while defrosting the car that both the wipers were double swiping occasionally, and also the red light on the inside of the door when its open flickered on and off when it double swiped... what the hell!

Anyone have ideas?

Sounds like a bad earth, or voltage control module playing up. There is nothing common in the electrics shared by wipers and interior lights other than the voltage control thingy.

Cheers moggy... there any common places I can check myself? Or is it best to let someone who knows what they're doing have a look

Cheers moggy... there any common places I can check myself? Or is it best to let someone who knows what they're doing have a look

It's one of those faults that sounds a bit weird mate. Flickering lights while using wipers etc sometimes indicates one of two things.

1: Excessive current being drawn by wiper motor (although they tend to pop a fuse rather than draw excess current)

2: Wiper circuit using alternate earth path through bulb circuit due to bad earth somewhere.

Looking at the Skoda Electrical Diagrams, there doesn't appear to be anything common to either circuit, other than the voltage control module. A full VCDS scan would be preferable to see if any codes are stored, rather than ripping things to bits.

Did this start after fitting the new battery? If it did, disconnect the battery for 10 minutes, then reconnect, making sure the terminals are good and tight.

I remember seeing the lights flickering a couple of times back at the start of December, but after jiggling the brightness dial by the steering wheel it seemed to go away.

Never noticed the wipers before until the battery was replaced. Will try disconnecting it and reconnecting it first. I do remember when the new battery was connected, the wipers twitched. Is that normal? or could it of fried something :(

Its going for a service on friday, so may ask them to check it over to see if they can find anything :( more money

Edited 4 January, 201016 yr by Confused_Cheese

I admire your patience. I know just how annoying some cars can be these days. Hopefully it will be something simple and CHEAP

Well, over the snowy period I had no flickering of lights... but then I never used the wipers. Definitely wiper related as today in heavy rain they flickered about 6-7 times :(

There any specific earth points I can check?

When it double swipes its 50/50 as to whether the lights dim :( something really isn't happy

Wondering if it could be related to me adjusting the rake on the steering column... i know i did it for the first time in december when these issues started. Lose earth/wire in the steering column maybe? :(