My wipers have a mind of their own

[andy-fisher]

Does anyone know where the relay is for the front wipers? My wipers have a mind of their own and I think its a sticking relay. If I push the lever for a single wipe then they go for as long as they feel like going for and "park" anywhere they like to. Once the inside of my car has warmed up a little, the problem stops.

Edit to say that I have checked the other threads which seem to keep talking about the rear wiper causing the problem but I don't have a rear wiper.

Edited 16 January, 2010 by andy-fisher

[sparky93]

i had this text since 2004, dont know who wrote it as www has also long gone. hope it helps.

Problem:

Windscreen wiper fault on a Skoda Octavia. May also apply to VW Golfs and other similar cars.

Symptoms:

Window wipers wouldn't stop readily once started. Occasionally would stop in the middle of the window. Most common that the windscreen wipers just kept going for a minute or so.

Fault found:

Relay contact covered in sticky gunge. Could explain why the symptoms were worse when the car was cold - stickyness more at lower temperatures? Something like that anyway.

Solution:

Clean sticky gunge off (obviously) very carefully (even more obviously).

Skoda Octavia windscreen wiper relay fix

Remove the trim around the speedometer. On the top surface of this trim, there are two screws behind coverings. Remove the screws, pull forward and detach from dashboard. The cloth that covers the extending steering column is attached to this bit, but just pulls off easily.

Red circles indicate screw positions.

Remove screws from dash, noting the three screws in the footwell and especially the ‘hidden screw behind the trim of the headlight switch. Green circles show screw positions of fuse board. Remove these too.

To remove headlight switch, detach fuse panel (screws highlighted in green) and push hand through hole. With the headlight switch in the off position, push in and turn to the right, this will release the catches and release the switch body. Pull out and detach wires from the back. On the headlight unit level-dial, feel around the back and unclip the switch, push through, detach the wires. Pull trim out, noting the four plastic catches. You may need to make a tool to release the one above the circular hole, I used a cut-to-shape ring-pull from a tin of peaches. Very high tech. This releases the trim and reveals the ‘hidden screw. Undo it.

The dash should now pull out. Don’t pull too far forward, the diagnostics port will still be attached. Don’t put too much strain on these wires, support the dash in some way to prevent excess strain (I couldn’t be bothered to work out how to take the diagnostic port out, sorry).

Look to the right hand side of the relay board, the big relay is the wiper control unit. Gently pull it out.

Remove the black plastic casing, and look for any dirt on the relay contacts.

Here you can see the filth on the contacts. They feel sticky when the contacts are pushed with a finger. Ooh, that sounds rude. But it's not.

Clean the contacts. I used a small piece of card that I had stripped from a laminated card box. This gave a thin but relatively rough surface with which to remove the gunge from the relay contacts.

Here are the contacts after being cleaned. Much better, eh? The sticky feeling has gone too.

Now all you have to do is put everything back together again, which is easy as it's just the reversal of disassembly.

Test it, it should be much better. Should be - I can't guarantee anything. Worked for me though.

[andy-fisher]

Thanks, just what I was after.

[fordfan]

You can get to it by removing the cover around the pedals and reaching up behind the lower dash. It's the largest relay there and may be black or brown. I think that they are less than £30 new.

It could also be a motor problem, as the parking switch becomes faulty.

[andy-fisher]

I think I will check the relay first, I think it is that as the problem stops when the car interior warms up.

[guzzigeezer]

Just had this fault with my TDi SLX. After much faffing about I have diagnosed the fault to be:-

The control relay marked 377 (under the diagnostic connector shelf) has two electro-magnet change over relays. The contacts of these get dirty and pitted due to arcing when the wipers are working. The problem gets worse if the wiper motor linkages or pivots are stiff due to more current being drawn through the contact.

Easy fix take plastic cover off relay module and clean contacts. Use contact cleaner strips or lighter fluid on a peice of stiff card. DO NOT USE ANYTHING LIKE WD40 OR OIL BASED SPRAY. ONLY USE CONTACT CLEANER, BRAKE PARTS CLEANER OR SIMILAR.

Voila! sorted. £40 saved on new unit.

By the way the relays are accesed by removing the two small torx screws under the diagnostic connector shelf and pulling the small panel above the pedals slightly down and rearwards.

Edited 11 February, 2010 by guzzigeezer

[sgm690]

Thanks for the post, removed the relay sprayed with switch cleaning lubricant rubbed with a piece of card and fantastic the wipers worked perfectly.

Cheers

SGM690

Used Servisol, Super 10 Spray

Just had this fault with my TDi SLX. After much faffing about I have diagnosed the fault to be:-

The control relay marked 377 (under the diagnostic connector shelf) has two electro-magnet change over relays. The contacts of these get dirty and pitted due to arcing when the wipers are working. The problem gets worse if the wiper motor linkages or pivots are stiff due to more current being drawn through the contact.

Easy fix take plastic cover off relay module and clean contacts. Use contact cleaner strips or lighter fluid on a peice of stiff card. DO NOT USE ANYTHING LIKE WD40 OR OIL BASED SPRAY. ONLY USE CONTACT CLEANER, BRAKE PARTS CLEANER OR SIMILAR.

Voila! sorted. £40 saved on new unit.

By the way the relays are accesed by removing the two small torx screws under the diagnostic connector shelf and pulling the small panel above the pedals slightly down and rearwards.

[Rob1971]

Thanks for the post, removed the relay sprayed with switch cleaning lubricant rubbed with a piece of card and fantastic the wipers worked perfectly.

Cheers

SGM690

Used Servisol, Super 10 Spray

Hi. I had the same problem last winter. The windscreen wash pipe in the boot had split and the boot had filled with water. Once the interior of the car got warm, it also became damp because of the water that had leaked before the pipe was repaired!! I had to remove as much of the screenwash as possible and then drive around with the heater on full and the windows slightly open to allow the moisture to exit the car. After a few days the wipers behaved!

[OCTYGO]

Just had this fault with my TDi SLX. After much faffing about I have diagnosed the fault to be:-

The control relay marked 377 (under the diagnostic connector shelf) has two electro-magnet change over relays. The contacts of these get dirty and pitted due to arcing when the wipers are working. The problem gets worse if the wiper motor linkages or pivots are stiff due to more current being drawn through the contact.

Easy fix take plastic cover off relay module and clean contacts. Use contact cleaner strips or lighter fluid on a peice of stiff card. DO NOT USE ANYTHING LIKE WD40 OR OIL BASED SPRAY. ONLY USE CONTACT CLEANER, BRAKE PARTS CLEANER OR SIMILAR.

Voila! sorted. £40 saved on new unit.

By the way the relays are accesed by removing the two small torx screws under the diagnostic connector shelf and pulling the small panel above the pedals slightly down and rearwards.

[OCTYGO]

JUST HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM WITH MY WIPERS; SO I DID AS GUZZIGEEZER, REMOVED THE RELAY A GAVE THE CONTACTS A GOOD OLD CLEAN, I USED ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL, A VANITY MIRROR & A TORCH WERE HANDY SAVES YOUR NECK!

JOB DONE, GOOD POST GUZZIGEEZER

[John_Rambo]

Had the same problem, except my relay was missing a small piece on the inner magnetic flap. Ordered another from ebay for 10 quid, sorted.

Thanks for the money saving topic!

[craggy]

I have a 2002 Skoda Octavia and this evening the front windscreen wipers won't switch off. All other wiper functions (fast, slow and intermittent) work as they should. I've switched the ignition off several times and taken the fuse out and put it back in. But they just won't switch off.

Does anyone know if the above fix will work for this problem?

If not, has anyone got any other ideas?

Cheers

[ExAudiSi]

Try disconnecting the rear wiper motor. It is probably full of water and will be stopping the front wipers from switching off.

[craggy]

Try disconnecting the rear wiper motor. It is probably full of water and will be stopping the front wipers from switching off.

Many thanks for that suggestion, ExAudiSi.

How do I disconnect it? Sorry for my ignorance of mechanical things. And why would that effect the front wipers?

[ExAudiSi]

You will need to remove the trim from the inside of the tailgate and disconnect the wiring from the rear wiper motor.

The electrical systems on modern cars are not as simple as they used to be and the symptoms may not always be at the same end of the vehicle as the cause.

I assume that the wipers are on a CAN network and so the water that has probably got into the electrics in the rear wiper motor will be sending a spurious signal back to the controller and causing the front wipers to come on. It is a pretty common occurrence on the Octavia and there are usually a couple of threads on it running at the same time....

[craggy]

You will need to remove the trim from the inside of the tailgate and disconnect the wiring from the rear wiper motor.

The electrical systems on modern cars are not as simple as they used to be and the symptoms may not always be at the same end of the vehicle as the cause.

I assume that the wipers are on a CAN network and so the water that has probably got into the electrics in the rear wiper motor will be sending a spurious signal back to the controller and causing the front wipers to come on. It is a pretty common occurrence on the Octavia and there are usually a couple of threads on it running at the same time....

Thanks again, ExAudiSi.

I will follow your advice and report back - it may be a few days as my wife is going away with the car for a couple of days early Saturday am. For now, we'll just take the fuse out when it isn't raining.

[Skoda-on-veg]

Hello guzzigeezer,

just followed your excellent instructions, took out the wiper relay and removed brown casing but found two inaccessible sealed black units (see photo) which I'm guessing are the change over relays. From your instructions it sounds like your relay had a different setup but, before giving up and buying a replacement, I thought I'd check with you to see if I'm missing something obvious.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

J

Just had this fault with my TDi SLX. After much faffing about I have diagnosed the fault to be:-

The control relay marked 377 (under the diagnostic connector shelf) has two electro-magnet change over relays. The contacts of these get dirty and pitted due to arcing when the wipers are working. The problem gets worse if the wiper motor linkages or pivots are stiff due to more current being drawn through the contact.

Easy fix take plastic cover off relay module and clean contacts. Use contact cleaner strips or lighter fluid on a peice of stiff card. DO NOT USE ANYTHING LIKE WD40 OR OIL BASED SPRAY. ONLY USE CONTACT CLEANER, BRAKE PARTS CLEANER OR SIMILAR.

Voila! sorted. £40 saved on new unit.

By the way the relays are accesed by removing the two small torx screws under the diagnostic connector shelf and pulling the small panel above the pedals slightly down and rearwards.

[JohnSand]

Hi

Had the same problem, that front wipers wouldn't stop when switched to off position. Sometimes runnig for 20 sec. and later up to 20 minutes !.

Removed the Wiper Control Unit 377 and dismantled the plastic cover. I could see that one of the relay contacts was burned and that part of the contact surface was missing.

Used sandpaper to clean the burned contact, just to do a quickfix. See photo. Anyway I need a new Wiper Control module

N.B. You access the relay by removing the two small torx screws under the diagnostic connector shelf and pulling the small panel above the pedals slightly down and rearwards, as explained above.

http://briskoda.net/forums/gallery/image/1297-dsc00775jpg/

Hope this can help others

KR John

Edited 15 February, 2012 by JohnSand

[zoltan]

hello.

okay i got the same problem plus my rear wiper always on aswell and the headlight washer cleaning my headlights every five seconds.

i replaced the relay but unfortunetly no change.any suggestion?

cheers

[ExAudiSi]

Unplug your rear wiper motor and see if the fronts go back to normal. If they do your rear wiper is leaking screen wash inside and needs either stripping and cleaning out or replacing.

[dubster70]

Hello guzzigeezer,

just followed your excellent instructions, took out the wiper relay and removed brown casing but found two inaccessible sealed black units (see photo) which I'm guessing are the change over relays. From your instructions it sounds like your relay had a different setup but, before giving up and buying a replacement, I thought I'd check with you to see if I'm missing something obvious.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

J

You will find that your relay module is the later one and not fixable.

[dubster70]

Having had this problem for 18 months now and thinking it was fixed by having a new relay and front wiper motor it went away until the rear motor was replaced then the problem started again.Time to visit the main dealer and get it put on the diagnostics to cut a long story short the new motor was knackered (none genuine crap)and the wiper stalk was also faulty so a genuine new motor and stalk + fitting =£380 and it has also fixed the central locking on the rear passenger door which packed in at the same time as the wipers 18 months ago.

[demonufo]

I assume that the wipers are on a CAN network and so the water that has probably got into the electrics in the rear wiper motor will be sending a spurious signal back to the controller and causing the front wipers to come on. It is a pretty common occurrence on the Octavia and there are usually a couple of threads on it running at the same time....

No CANbus system on a MkI Octy, and what's more, it would be impossible for that to happen on a CANbus system.

[zoltan]

Hi.

Just got a new rear wiper motor fitted.my problem sorted

Thank you exaudisi.

[simak]

Hello,

 

I had a similar issue with the wipers as explained in the topic and I found that I had a problem with cold solder in the wipers module. Please take a look on the topic below and you will see how can I fixed it:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/289341-wipers-octavia-i-they-dont-switch-off-and-have-their-own-behavior/