Hi all, I have an Octavia 1 2002 and the wipers have all of a sudden decided to have a mind of their own. Firstly the rear wiper operated as soon as I accelerated, being normal on steady throttle or over-run, then the front wipers decided to operate continuously. All of this happened today for the first time. the car has done 123k miles, but everything else is fine. Any suggestions?

Puzzled...Merckenzie

By continuously do you mean they wouldn't stop no matter what you did with the stalk?

one known fault on the vw/skoda wipers is sometimes when you put your front wipers on, the rear wiper will decide to go off lol, i had the same thing on my mk4 golf and on my octavia, but not sure about your problem mate, certainly is odd.

Front wipers on all the time, back one comes on when you put the foot down on the gas!

It's a stab in the dark but have a look at the relay. A lot of wiper problems seem to stem from them. I don't know how complex the relay is in the Octavia but possible problems include burnt out contacts (overheated), poor connections (e.g. solder joints that have cracked) and broken springs (so the connector wobbles around). You might have to prise the relay open to check these.

may even be sticky relays that a good old tap can fix... (would suggest replacing them though if this is the case

Mine had the stalk problem, minor knock of it and either fron, rear, or both would start and not stop. As this is a known issue on VW group models that is still the likely cause, the pedal to metal starting is as likley to be the sudden increase in voltage, or the movement triggeringt he stalk to do its worst.

will hopefully be either the wiper relay/relays or the control unit, if you drop the dash panel out, below the steering wheel, you should see a brown box which has a plug fitting, if you unplug the box, split it apart, and smell the thing (no, im not wierd lol) if the control box smells like its got hot or you can actually see over heating has taken place, then thats most likely your problem, ive heard they can be prone to going wrong, not sure how much one is though :S.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys, I removed the big brown relay and re-inserted it, (didn't sniff it though) and I disconnected rear wiper at the motor which seems to have sorted the front wipers, (would you believe?) next project remove rear motor, clean earth contacts and refix. Looks like the tailgate glass has been replaced sometime coz there is glass in the panel!

Thanks again and a Happy New Year to all who responded.

I will update when I'm sorted.

Merckenzie

I had something similar ....

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/octavia-i/wiper-problem/95595/

problem just disappeared but it's back with a vengeance now! I read in one post the wiper relay is a small black one. I'll have to reseat all the relays one at a time. Look forward to your next update.