Wipers not working

[Fred Hindle]

Can anyone help please.
The wipers on my 924S have all but stopped working on normal speed and are getting intermittant on fast speed. If the wipers do actually work then they will continue to work (turning them off and on as needs be) until such time as I switch off the ignition. Even an immediate restart on the engine loses the wipers.
I have swapped the wiper stalk and the motor onto my 944 and they function fine. Vice versa from the 944 to the 924S and the original problems are still there. What is puzzling me is that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't so the wiring is difficult to pin down as to where the fault is. Am I looking at a mini rewiring job (DIY)?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Cheers,

 

[Guest]

i would suspect the relay ) part number 477 955 531a

 

[Guest]

I had/have a problem with my wipers (924S) also. However it's slightly different from the one you describe in that they developed a mind of their own and would turn on without any human intervention. I pulled the relay and now have to live without autopark and intermittent wiping, Just like the 1960s!

 

[Fred Hindle]

Darran,
Thanks for the posting. I'll try the relay, I think I've got one in the shed from a 924 I had for spares a few years ago. Having the part number will be a great help as the bits I removed were just thrown into boxes. If I cant find it I'll pinch the one from the 944. If that cures the problem I'll be contacting you to buy one.
Cheers,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Mike,
Its all or nothing with mine. Porker9xx (darran) has suggested the relay is the problem.
(Guess what I'm doing tomorrow).
Cheers,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Darran,
Just swapped the relays and still no joy. From what I can see on the wiring diagrams is that the relay is for the intermittant wipers rather than the normal / fast wipers.
I'm beginning to suspect a broken wire that occasionally makes contact and allows the wipers to work.
Looks as if I'm routing new wires in tomorrow.
Cheers,

 

[Guest]

It may also be worth looking at the column stalk to see if the contact there are OK. When I put my problem to Hartech they said that this is a possible coause. When I asked them to change it they said they would rather not because the replacement part was no longer made in Europe but in Brazil (or somewhere like that) and that experience showed them that this was not as good as the original and so a lot of money and wasted effort.

 

[Fred Hindle]

Hello Mike,
Column switch swapped over with my 944. 924S one worked fine when used on 944 but still no joy using the 994 column switch and the 944 motor.
More head scratching and brews to think it over later today when I get it in the garage and start playing with the wiring.
Cheers,

 

[Guest]

oh dear does sound like your going to have to check the wiring , cant see it being the motor to blame and if the wiper stalks are working fine in the 944 then that rules them out ,, interested to see whats actually causing ,it ,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Went fishing yesterday and it's a bit on the cold side for playing with the wiring today but I will either be posting the solution or asking for more suggestions in the near future.
(this is a time when colour blindness is a real pain in the butt!)
Cheers,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Fixed.
Had to replace the wiring so it was either trace the wires in the loom or take the easy way out. Found the normal and fast wiper speed connections on the multi-plug on the wiper. Removed the battery, glovebox, steering wheel, the two shrouds aroud the steering column, undid the wiper and indicator stalks.
Drilled a hole from the battery compartment into the cockpit, hole is just behind where the glovebox sits. Fitted rubber grommet and fed two wires into the cockpit and to the wiper stalk wires. Soldered onto the two wires that I had identified at the wiper motor. Soldered the other ends to the wires on the wiper motor multi-plug. I now have two speed wipers, intermittant wipers and wash/wipe all working - luxury. Can't wait now for some rain but I don't think I'll ave to wait long.
Cheers

 

[Fred Hindle]

Hello Nathan,
My understanding of the wipers is.
The relay on the intermittent is like a time delay - it starts the wipers going and then the normal switch off and park allows them to make one full sweep. After a short while the relay starts them off again. So changing the wiper motor shouldn't have altered anything. Can you hear the relay clicking or not?
Cheers,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Hello Nathan,
Wiper stalk is a good place to start. It you have a circuit tester then check the wiring coming from the wiper stalk. From memory if you look at the connection on the wiper motor (clear plastic block with about five wires into it), the normal speed and fast speed wires are the top and bottom connections (I think one is green/black and the other is green/yellow). these will correspond with the wires at the stalk so you can always check at the motor end to see if there is power going to the motor. If yes at stalk and no at motor then the wiring is the problem.
Cheers,

 

[Fred Hindle]

Hello Nathan,
Glad to hear all is working again. Sounds as if it wasn't too big a job in the end. It certainly is good to have everything working as it should. I was driving around for months with the wipers only working on fast speed, they seem positively sluggish now when on normal speed.
Cheers

 

[pae]

ORIGINAL: nathan260475

Hi Fred

For anyone out there contemplating doing the same thing, steering wheel nut size is 24mm (on a 924S at any rate).

Cheers

Nathan

So I was right, glad I didn't send you out for the wrong socket !

Phil

 

[PaulHere]

ORIGINAL: nathan260475

Hello all

On the subject of 924S wipers....
I posted a mail on the forum I while back complaining of very noisy windscreen wipers. No-one had any ideas so I just replaced the wiper motor and now I have lovely quiet wipers (great!)

Thanks

Nathan

Hmmm, my wipers are very noisy, they judder over the screen unless it's raining quite hard, maybe I should inspect or replace the motor as well.

How much is one of those?

 

[Fred Hindle]

Paul,
How long have had the wiper blades on the car, also what quality are they? I have found in the past (on any car) that cheap wiper blades are too hard, they squeak, judder, jump and squeal like stuck pigs. If they have been on the car for over a year then replace them (Bosch or Champion are excellent blades).
Try cleaning the windscreen. My favourite way is fine wire wool and methylated spirits (you can use petrol). Thoroughly clean the entire windscreen, afterwards polish with damp newspaper. Then when clean treat with RainX or similar.

 

[PaulHere]

Hi Fred

I've had the car since late 2000 and during that time have cleaned the screen and changed the blades several times.
I will try better blades and the cleaning methods you suggest.
I did think that maybe it was a worn out motor sending the wipers juddering across the screen.

 

[Fred Hindle]

Paul,
If the cleaning etc doesn't work try Simon at Porsch-Apart for a motor. At least they are easy to replace. Three 10mm bolts and a 10mm nut if I remember correctly.
Cheers,