Started her up this morning and the wipers were on full pelt, attempted to turn them off, they were off but still running!

Moved wiper stalk up, down, back and forth, they were not going off!!

Removed key from ignition, wiper continued at excess speed.

Rang Skoda to say I was going to disconnect battery unless they said otherwise, which they did.

Drove to garage with wipers working frantically.

They ran diagnostic check which showed everything working normally.

After a scary potential bill was averted it was suggested that popping the fuse was the only way I could get to work and do what I needed to do. Popped fuse, set off to work and it started lashing down in the middle of a 3 lane ring road! Hazards on, handbrake on, get out of car, move seat back, put torch on phone, replace fuse. Rain stops and repeat the last step in reverse x3. 

Help, does anyone know what might be causing this?

Have tried to A) Locate relay which I now think I have spotted under steering column. B)Remove wiper arms to look for wiper motor, they seem to be welded on so this was unsuccessful. C) Locate something resembling a control unit.

Do you have rain-sensing wipers? (Not even sure if its an option on this model).

The only other thing I can think is that the stalk thinks it's on due to a dodgy stalk?

 

See the VCDS members map as well as they might be able to help you out if you're local?

 

 

 

no rain sensing wipers unfortunately just bog standard manual wipers.

wired a switch in to give a temporary fix for now.

wiper arms are stuck tight and I've applied half a can of wd, hoping they

pop off tomorrow.

I think I'm starting in the obvious place but I'm no mechanic so if the 

wiper motor seems like the wrong place to start, please someone say so

and save me removing wiper arms and 2 plastic covers. Thanks

Hi Mich,

Have you taken a look in the VCDS/Diagnostics section, I found a guy in Dewsbury who I visited with the car, he checked over my Roomster (had had HID headlight kits fitted, had heard they might throw up warning lights or messages), he did me a printout of the results (via email), as no faults found he didn't charge me anything.

Don't know if he's still available, name is Aadil.   Calls himself Aadil the deal sealer.

 

Sounds like you need this diagnosed via the port under the column or dash, and maybe then an auto electrician too.   I wouldn't be bothering stripping stuff towards the wiper motor at all just yet.  Sounds like a switchgear/wiring fault.  Never experienced what you are getting, been driving since 1970.

 

BTW, does your wiper stalk have variable-interval intermittent adjusted via a small rocker switch mounted atop the stalk?

Which year and trim-level Roomster is it? I see it's a Scout, don't know if there are/were differing trim options within the Roomster Scouts?

Have you done a search for this fault in the Mk2 Fabias section, as the Roomster front half is essentially all Fabia Mk2?

 

Best of luck

Richard

Edited 16 December, 20178 yr by RichardatWakefield
Accuracy.

Hi Mich, 

Searched under "wipers staying on", up popped an Icelandic owner of Mk2 Fabia, all sorts of electrical weird stuff happening, one of the technical experts on here, Ken O'Neill, suggests it may be CANBUS stuff, which is something electrical that I don't understand. But wipers sticking on was one.

 

Others suggested looking in the rubber gaiters that bridge wires and screenwash pipes across into doors  and hatchback, as wires in there can and do break, the doors most often opened, (and thus may be first to fail), are the hatchback, and driver's door; I've had the hatchback set fail, tailgate latch stopped working.  No idea why that might affect your front wipers, but if wires have broken, or the insulation has broken, I found a very well-made German replacement wiring kit, which my local garageman found was easy to fit.

 

And on the Icelandic thread, people were saying find a good auto-electrician....

 

BTW, I emailed the Icelandic chap for an update, as his last post was autumn 2016.

HTH

Richard

Hi Mich, heard back from Eirikurr in Iceland, and yes, after 18 hours of searching, his dealership found one wire in the hatch to body gaiter, whose insulation was broken, and as the electrics are via this CANBUS device, all sorts of false messages and stuff happens throughout the car.

 

So my suggestion is to get looking in the corrugated gaiter between top LH corner of your hatch and the body.

 

If there are one or more broken/breaking wires in there, the repair kit is from a German company, SenCom,  is called Kabelbaum Reparatursatz Skoda Roomster (5J) Heckklappe.

Ordered mine online, part number SKU 888913, and in May it was 58.67 Euros, or £49.51, and they didn't charge me the c 10 Euros postage & packing.

If it is this, there's a picture of it on the website, my local garage chap found fitting easier once he'd temporarily removed the LH gas strut, and propped the hatch up with a length of timber.

I suspect he then cut away the old gaiter to reveal the bundle of wires plus screenwash pipe, he then spliced the new set in one wire at a time, the new one comes with crimp connectors at both ends of every wire, plus a wiring colours diagram, and the new piece of screenwash hose has push-fit connectors at both ends. The entire new bundle is encased in a new gaiter, so the newly-made joints get fed back into the pillar/hatch, and the new gaiter is then attached, the gas-strut re-fitted, job done!  Not sure if he had to disconnect the battery whilst fitting the repair kit, but all is good once more!

HTH

Richard

Thank you for the replies bspman and RichardatWakefield.

 

I did what I said I would and removed wiper motor for closer inspection, motor was mucky so it had a good clean, lube and a tighten up and to my amazement the wipers are working as they should be. It may be temporary, I don't know but I will definitely direct someone with infinitely more knowledge and know how than me to the wiring if I experience any more problems. There is definitely something going on as the screen wash bottle is taking loads of liquid (not leaking out) and the wiper jets are only reaching the bottom 4 inches of the windscreen.

 

If any of this makes sense to anyone or you feel like I've pointed out something which is obvious to you and not me, please say so.

 

Michel

Hi Michel,

What year was the car built?  Does it have headlight washers, if so, these might well share the same washer fluid reservoir, and if these automatically wash each time you switch the headlights on, there goes more fluid.

I believe the screenwash jets are called fan jets, I know they're not adjustable (used to be able to realign jets using a safety pin!!!), and yes, mine only reach about 6" up the screen, guess that's just how they are, does mean you often have to do a second wash-wipe action to clear......

HTH

Richard

PS still worth a look inside the hatch-to-body gaiter, my chap soldered in temp replacement piece for the broken hatch latch wire, and insulation taped his solder joints and also the other wires whose insulation had broken, pending receipt and fitting of the repair kit.  It all worked well.  And has done since fitting the repair kit.  If you look through the Roomster 1 and 2 topic headings, mystery wiper errors pop up a lot, and all seem to be down to broken wiring in this gaiter.  And is often on earlier, so older,  Roomsters; 2006, 07, 08, 09 years.

I had this problem a year ago with my Octavia Mk II. The wipers went from not working at all to going full speed even with the keys out of the ignition. Solution was to replace the wiper motor.