First post and new Skoda owner so please be gentle.

I have recently bought a 99 Octavia 1.9 TDi SLX, the wipers are mental!

On any setting, whether it is intermittent, on full or when they come on with the windscreen washers - they just have a mind of their own. They sometimes stop after a few swipes halfway up the windscreen, sometimes i think they are never going to stop and other times (very rarely) they work perfectly.

I have bought a Haynes manual for the car so was going to try to look at the F24 FUSE (20A) to see if that solves the issues but i didn’t know if it was a common problem that someone could shed some light on?

Might be totally wrong but water leaking into the rear wiper motor could be the the cause try unplugging it and see.

Might be totally wrong but water leaking into the rear wiper motor could be the the cause try unplugging it and see.

I think that the SLX is pre-facelift and so may not have a rear wiper.

Probably a problem with the wiper relay itself.

I think that the SLX is pre-facelift and so may not have a rear wiper.

Probably a problem with the wiper relay itself.

I too have a 1999 Octavia SLX tdi which is an estate. Currently I have removed the the rear wiper awaiting a new one but the front wipers from time to time behave erratically, for example press the arm down for single wipe and it does several. I understand that I need to clean the contacts in relay 377 which is located on the relay panel under the dash behind where the diagnostic plug is. It is a large relay approx 50 x 50 x 20 mm, special contact cleaning strip is required as the contact are very delicate with a very narrow gap when open. I hope that this helps.

I too have a 1999 Octavia SLX tdi which is an estate. Currently I have removed the the rear wiper awaiting a new one but the front wipers from time to time behave erratically, for example press the arm down for single wipe and it does several. I understand that I need to clean the contacts in relay 377 which is located on the relay panel under the dash behind where the diagnostic plug is. It is a large relay approx 50 x 50 x 20 mm, special contact cleaning strip is required as the contact are very delicate with a very narrow gap when open. I hope that this helps.

Thanks for this - i will look into cleaning the contacts and report back.

I took out the relay and cleaned the contacts, there is a slight improvement but I think it will need replacing as the fault is still happening albeit not as frequently. I have bought one (2nd hand) on eBay for a few £££’s so I will see if that remedies the problem if not I will take to Skoda and attempt a brand new part. Once the part arrives I will re post.

FYI this article was quite helpful in actually getting access to the relays

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/149325-my-wipers-have-a-mind-of-their-own/