Rear wiper stops working

[sez]

A couple of weeks ago, when I started the engine the internal reading lights remained on (both front and rear). I also then noticed the rear wiper wouldn't work. I turned off engine and restarted. Same thing. Drove the car. Also noticed the internal reading lights were still on 5-10 mins after locking the car, so had to flick the front switch from the Auto to Off position. Rear reading lights went off at the same time. Did another couple of trips that day and the same, fourth trip of the day, the lights go off when the car was started and the rear wiper is working again. No idea why! Has been fine until Friday last week when I started the car to leave the supermarket, lights stayed on again and rear wiper has stopped working.

Just wondered if anyone has had a similar problem. As car is still under warranty I will contact local dealer about it. Even better, if problem is still persisting then I will pop to dealer to hopefully show them!

Sarah

[Robbo Cop]

Hi Sarah,

There have been a fair few reports like yours and mostly they point to faulty or underpowered battery's. It's a good place to start at least.

Best of luck,

Rob

[sez]

Thanks for the reply Rob. It was all back to normal yesterday morning!

Does anyone know if a possible battery fault would be a warranty issue? Car is about two years old now and I purchased it about 4.5 months ago.

Sarah

[Camberley_Chris]

The Superb (and probably other models) has some fairly sophisticated power saving circuitry and will switch things off to conserve power for essentials. Whether it is the battery (best guess) or the power usage computer is something that needs to be checked out otherwise it may let you down when least convenient.

[sez]

Thanks Chris.

[ILOVEMYSUPERB]

Got my battery changes in Dec under warranty at 21mo old. No quibbles, battery included in 3yr cover

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

[sez]

Got my battery changes in Dec under warranty at 21mo old. No quibbles, battery included in 3yr cover

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

Thanks! Tried ringing local Skoda dealer but said servicing depot closed at 5pm despite their website saying 6pm. Will try ringing them tomorrow or pop in after taking little one to Nursery school.

[ILOVEMYSUPERB]

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/index.php?/topic/299762-Battery-drain

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

[sez]

Local Skoda dealer ran diagnostics test this afternoon. Nothing came up. He said they did a reset too. Said if problem reoccurs to get back in touch as they would then need car for a day to look into it some more.

[wokwon]

I'm gonna guess and say rear-door (boot) switch intermittent fault.

[sez]

Well it took a little while, but the problem has now re-occurred on three more occasions. Not a big surprise to me! Car needs to go in for a service soon, so I will ask them to investigate this as the same time.

[sez]

Doh!!! Even though I feel like a right muppet, I will post a follow up on here. Skoda couldn't find anything when car was serviced. After that, when it happened again, I noticed a car symbol appear on the MFD. I didn't remember seeing that on previous occasions. Anyway it turns out the boot wasn't shut properly on my estate, so that was the problem!

[silver1011]

That makes sense!

 

When the boot was open/unlatched it breaks the electrical contacts that power the rear wiper.

 

I'm surprised you missed the 'door open' warning on the dash, unless the boot was inbetween open and closed which meant the warning was as intermittent as the interior lights!

 

[sez]

Yes I was surprised when I first saw it that I hadn't managed to notice it on any previous occasions. Particularly as I seem look at the dash regularly! It isn't easy to miss! Maybe I was previously so focused on the lights staying and the wiper not working that I missed what was quite possibly right in front of me!!

[JakeBlade]

It is easily done. When the boot is open you pretty much just see a car in the display, whereas the side doors are easier to spot, as in the pic above. I've certainly done it a couple of times.