Driving along today and the front wipers stopped working on all settings. My first thought was to check the fuse, but when I turned the ignition on again they started working, until again they eventually stopped working. Last time I tried them I pressed the one pass (pressing down), and when I released it the wipers stopped mid-way across the screen. I pressed it down again and held it and the wipers moved again and returned to the start position. Rear wipers worked fine.

 

Any ideas where the problem is likely to be?

 

A possibility is the wiper stalk, but that probably doesn't explain why they stop working until the ignition is turned off and on again.

 

Fuses 15 and 41 checked and both intact (though if either were blown I'd expect them to stop altogether).

 

Many thanks.

Edited 10 February, 20188 yr by anewman

An intermittent feed? 

 

In other words not a constant supply of voltage to the wiper motor? 

If I start the car now they'll work fine, then in a short time just stop working. Turn the ignition off and on again and same again.

Some Fabias have a switch on the bonnet lock which prevents the wipers operating when the bonnet is open. Worth checking that as they can become dodgy.

Just thinking, I think the bonnet switch might only be fitted to cars with a factory alarm.

My wipers have always worked fine with the bonnet open.

Just now, anewman said:

My wipers have always worked fine with the bonnet open.

 

OK, that rules that out then.

Just checked and no fault codes logged in VCDS.  

Just to update. The wipers worked again for a while, then stopped working again to the point they stopped working every drive. I replaced the Body Control Unit in drivers foot well behind dash and had no issues since.

 

I simply searched ebay for the part number, sorted price low to high and went for the best combination of decent seller rating and newest BCU (manufacture date printed on unit). I think it came from a VW Polo but all electrics work without issues. Added bonus is I now have 1 touch indicators so they flash 3 times without having to hold the stalk.

Do you still have the old BCU @anewman?

 

Reason I ask is that this came up recently, and someone solved their problem the same way; but I also found it quite straightforward to remove the (dual) relay that does the wipers - on a spare unit I had, and obtained some spares of the relay.

 

The guy in the thread threatened to send me his old BCU to mend, as a test that it was just a relay replacement required, but never did.  It would be a great test to start with a unit that was giving trouble with wipers, swap out the relay for  a new one, then retest.  Happy to pay return postage, do all the testing on my car, and so forth. 

Edited 29 April, 20197 yr by Wino