Haunted wipers

[Silverage]

My front wipers have decided to turn themselves on at random. Just a single sweep each time whenever they feel like it. They can behave for several days and then like on tonight’s trip to and from the supermarket, they will do it three times within 10 minutes. The wiper stalk is in the off position and the weather was dry.

 

Trip to the dealer do we think?

[xman]

Check the windscreen is clean in the camera area. (I think that's what's responsible for rain sensing)

[daveo138]

I’ve never experienced  that particular issue, but I have one of my own 

 

When it’s raining and I turn off the ignition without switching off the wipers, I restart the engine when I want to drive off, and sometimes the wipers will carry on where they left off, sometimes they don’t. It doesn’t matter if the wiper stalk is set to intermittent or slow speed, they don’t restart. I’ve even tried driving off to see if they will spring into life, even in the heaviest downpour, nothing. 

[Silverage]

35 minutes ago, xman said:

Check the windscreen is clean in the camera area. (I think that's what's responsible for rain sensing)

 

But if I have the wiper stalk in the off position, it shouldn’t matter what the camera is picking up should it?

[xman]

5 minutes ago, Silverage said:

 

But if I have the wiper stalk in the off position, it shouldn’t matter what the camera is picking up should it?

 

According to the manual it seems that automatic wipers are controlled by the setting in the infotainment menu under car -> settings. If enabled they will work even if the stalk is in the off position.

[Superb170]

36 minutes ago, daveo138 said:

I’ve never experienced  that particular issue, but I have one of my own 

 

When it’s raining and I turn off the ignition without switching off the wipers, I restart the engine when I want to drive off, and sometimes the wipers will carry on where they left off, sometimes they don’t. It doesn’t matter if the wiper stalk is set to intermittent or slow speed, they don’t restart. I’ve even tried driving off to see if they will spring into life, even in the heaviest downpour, nothing. 

Same here.  If the wipers happen to stop in any position other than the park position, I always have to restart them manually, doesn’t matter how wet it is.  It never happened on my old Superb II just on this one.  Also, another quirky one, the sensors on the older model always detected when the car was in a car wash and would stop the intermittent wipe, something the newer model doesn’t do.  Not too concerned about it, just a quirky thing I noticed.

[Superb170]

57 minutes ago, xman said:

Check the windscreen is clean in the camera area. (I think that's what's responsible for rain sensing)

+1.  Even bugs on or near the sensor can cause that to happen

[toni8b]

1 hour ago, xman said:

 

According to the manual it seems that automatic wipers are controlled by the setting in the infotainment menu under car -> settings. If enabled they will work even if the stalk is in the off position.

That can be right..  in either case never happened to me.

[TerryMcK]

The automatic wiper function will only work when the stalk is set in INT position and the system detects rain. As other people have said the setting to enable/disable auto wipe is in the infotainment system. When set to off in infotainment placing the stalk in INT position makes the wipers function conventionally i.e. wiping intermittently with the delay controlled by the switch on the top of the stalk.

Also of note the infotainment settings (including the auto wipe function) are stored in the user profile so if you use a different key linked to a different drivers profile then you might get results you were not expecting.

 

[Penpusher]

10 hours ago, Superb170 said:

Same here.  If the wipers happen to stop in any position other than the park position, I always have to restart them manually, doesn’t matter how wet it is.  

Is that to prevent the wiper motor burning out if the blades are frozen to the screen?   It could also be in opposite conditions when it's hot and dry that the screen may be covered in dust and dirt after standing for some time and you wouldn't want the wipers to go over a dry screen and risk scratching the glass.

[Silverage]

2 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

The automatic wiper function will only work when the stalk is set in INT position and the system detects rain. As other people have said the setting to enable/disable auto wipe is in the infotainment system. When set to off in infotainment placing the stalk in INT position makes the wipers function conventionally i.e. wiping intermittently with the delay controlled by the switch on the top of the stalk.

Also of note the infotainment settings (including the auto wipe function) are stored in the user profile so if you use a different key linked to a different drivers profile then you might get results you were not expecting.

 

 

Yes, that’s what I thought. The stalk is definitely in the off position, but I also disabled the auto wipe in the infotainment as a belt and braces. It was fine for a few days and then yesterday they went off three times. Looks like I’ll have to try and convince the dealer something’s gone haywire. That should be fun.

[TerryMcK]

As you have it set in Off position it may be a mechanical fault with the spring detent which holds the stalk off from the 1X wipe or simply the switch contacts. Dealer visit to examine.

[Silverage]

Update of a sort on this.

 

I didn’t think it justified a special trip to the dealers so I thought I’d leave it until the next service. That’s due later this week so I’ve asked them to check it out. I mentioned it when I booked the service and someone called me back a couple of days later to (incorrectly) tell me that my car has auto wipers fitted that will run regardless of the stalk position even if the screen is bone dry. So my hopes aren’t high. 

 

It’s done it a couple more times on a short journey just today, so we’ll see what they can find on Thursday when it goes in. I guess if nothing else at least the fault will be logged as existing before the warranty expires in September.

[Silverage]

I asked them to look at this during the service, but no fault found of course.

 

I’ve been living with it but it’s getting no better so I’ve booked it in for this Friday. The dealer is still saying they have to see the fault for themselves. Today I have discovered by accident that if I set the wipers to INT that produces a single wipe instantly, even with the screen dry and clean. Autowiping is enabled in the settings, so INT should do no more than enable the rain detecting wipers. I imagine this is a manifestation of the same fault and is at least something I can show the dealer on demand.

[Silverage]

Just a quickie - can someone with autowipers (turned on in the infotainment) confirm what I have said above is correct, i.e. if, with the windscreen dry and clean, you move the wiper stalk to the INT position, nothing should happen. It should just go into standby waiting for rain.

[D402]

Mine always wipes at least once when you move the stalk to increase the level of wiping.

[Silverage]

Thanks for that. That’s what the service guy said.

 

I dropped it off this morning fully expecting it to behave perfectly and make me look like a raving idiot, but within a five minute test drive the wipers fired off by themselves three times. They are now diagnosing the fault whilst I blip round in their Fabia loaner (at 24p per mile plus £10 for insurance).

[JR RS]

20 hours ago, Silverage said:

Just a quickie - can someone with autowipers (turned on in the infotainment) confirm what I have said above is correct, i.e. if, with the windscreen dry and clean, you move the wiper stalk to the INT position, nothing should happen. It should just go into standby waiting for rain.

 

Mine does not wipe when I shift it from the Off position to Auto (INT).

If its raining, then it will wipe, using the appropriate speed, depending on the amount of rain.

 

If I want a definite wipe, I push down from Off position to 1x.

[Silverage]

That's what I expected. As it turned out, it (mis)performed correctly to show the fault by wiping with the stalk in the OFF position, so I didn't have to push this with the service guy.

 

That will be a useful check I suppose when they say they have fixed it.

[facet edge]

On 12/07/2019 at 11:32, Silverage said:

They are now diagnosing the fault whilst I blip round in their Fabia loaner (at 24p per mile plus £10 for insurance).

My service department give me a loan car for free, and I don't have to pay insurance either.

[Silverage]

Then you should treasure them. It cost me £22 for the loan car yesterday, which is a bit annoying especially as it still has to go back to have the faulty part replaced after yesterday’s diagnosis session. Oh, and it will take 2 weeks to get the part in because it’s on back order.

[Silverage]

When it finally arrived, the stalk was replaced while I waited (90 mins) and the wipers have behaved correctly since.

[AdrianG]

Hi Silverage.

Did replacing the stalk rectify the problem? 
it would appear my newly acquired 2yr old model does the same. 

[GarySN]

 

2 hours ago, AdrianG said:

Did replacing the stalk rectify the problem? 

 

On 06/08/2019 at 14:23, Silverage said:

When it finally arrived, the stalk was replaced while I waited (90 mins) and the wipers have behaved correctly since.

[AdrianG]

Hi Silverage.

Did replacing the stalk rectify the problem? 
it would appear my newly acquired 2yr old model does the same. 

Thank you for confirming.