chris956 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Strange problem and wondered if the assembled knowledgeable masses have come across said problem before. Its doing my head in .... I have the press button R400 dash and the windscreen wiper button is illuminated dimly like all the others. One press ( button now illuminates fully ) and what should be intermittent is slow back and forth... One more press which should be slow is exactly that but without so many relay clicks from under the dash.... One more press and we get fast back and forth.... Heres where it gets interesting !!! One more press which should be Off actually de illuminates the button ( as if to tell me they are switched off ) but the wipers still go back and forth at the slow speed. Go back to point one and repeat !!! Only way to stop the wipers are to kill the ignition BUT when the ignition is switched back on ... you guessed it ... back and forth they go. I had a whole weekend of this which was fun. I then pulled the fuse and left it out until my visit back to CC crawley. The car must have known where it was as once the fuse was replaced it worked fine and the workshop guy now thinks I have imagined the whole episode. Fast forward to today where I think , you know what... I`ll just make sure .... back and forth , back and forth...... Ahhhhhhhh I have removed the fuse once again and replaced it thinking maybe the PCB needs resetting ( and was reset due to being out for ages prior to the visit to CC ) but as soon as it put it back in , off they go again ! So ... fuse is out. Wipers are inoperable. Any ideas ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Not familiar with these modern new fangled dashboards - would it be feasible to substitute one of the other switches to rule out the wiper switch being defective? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted April 24, 2014 Member Share Posted April 24, 2014 Have you got the wiring diagram? I have "R400 main chassis harness (standard dash)". Send me a BlatMail if you want a copy. But I can't tell where the wiper module is on that or on your car. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hughes Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Will probably be the "park switch" on the motor its self. A new switch (Mini / Land Rover) is about £10-15 on eBay. Sometimes a zip tie around the switch and motor pulls it down so it works again. Probably scuttle off to replace the park switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative manningpaul Posted April 24, 2014 Area Representative Share Posted April 24, 2014 I have had exactly the same problem with the old rocker switch for the wipers. Thought I would be clever and strip the switch down, clean up the contacts as per the Hazard switch etc. and put it all back together. Worked fine the next time I had to use them but now back to not switching off, switches between the two speeds fine but not off! Have ordered a new switch from Redline which I aim to fit tomorrow before the 'Fish and Chip' run as it looks like I might need them. Hadn't thought that it might be the Park switch on the Motor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Quoting John Hughes: Will probably be the "park switch" on the motor its self. A new switch (Mini / Land Rover) is about £10-15 on eBay. Sometimes a zip tie around the switch and motor pulls it down so it works again. Probably scuttle off to replace the park switch. Thanks for all replies. I did remove all connection from the rear of the switch itself but made no difference. Not familiar with a park switch but have plenty of zip ties so if you could elaborate that would be great .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6speedmanual Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Go Aero! 😬 Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 Zip ties in hand waiting ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hughes Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Difficult to describe in words but the park switch is fitted on the top side of the gearbox on the end of the wiper motor and is where the wires connect into the motor assembly. When the motor is running but should be off try pushing pulling and jiggling the park switch, this may stop the motor. If it does then a zip tie pulling the switch down may work. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 Quoting John Hughes: Difficult to describe in words but the park switch is fitted on the top side of the gearbox on the end of the wiper motor and is where the wires connect into the motor assembly. When the motor is running but should be off try pushing pulling and jiggling the park switch, this may stop the motor. If it does then a zip tie pulling the switch down may work. Good luck Thank you ..... Off to turn myself upside down and investigate .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 Nope ... I think I found the connection you are talking about and it is solid. New weird behavior encountered when the switch is on intermittent but the fuse is pulled out - I can still hear the relay clicking as if the wipers are moving intermittently as they should be ( but they are stationary ) presumably the fuse I`m pulling which is 10amp and the very bottom one is just for the wiper motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evotell Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 You must have fuzzy logic wipers, they have interpreted that its always raining in the UK 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazerBrain Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 NB: I'm not familiar with the R400's dash, so some of this is theoretical! Hopefully someone else can help fill in the gaps. The relay click you can hear is likely to be the trigger for a single sweep. Once a single sweep is triggered the motor runs (if the motor fuse is in) until it gets to the park position (which is sensed by the park switch.) This sounds normal behaviour to me. If the gap between clicks in the intermittent mode is too frequent, this is a problem with the intermittent wipe circuitry and is unlikely to be a problem with the motor/park switch/mechanical bits. I would suggest, if possible, trying to isolate the electronic control circuitry from the motor/park switch/mechanical bits to determine where the fault is. If you can determine the connector for the park switch, then it would be great to disconnect it and check whether the switch is open or closed currently (assuming the wipers are parked.) Then power up the wipers and pull out the motor fuse when they are midway across the screen. Re-check the park switch continuity. With the motor fuse out, what can you hear from the relay for the different settings which you expect? Is there any documentation for the intermittent feature - is there any way to change the intermittent time at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 26, 2014 Author Share Posted April 26, 2014 Thanks again .... the relay click is coming from the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) up behind the dash in the middle. I have disconnected this which shuts everything off. And then back and forth once reconnected. I`m getting to the point now where the car will be thrown back to CC to sort as its still under warranty seeing as a quick fix has been ruled out. Thanks all for your wisdom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ. Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 Just out of interest, does the PCB control all the dash functions or are there separate units for functions like wipers, indicators and lights? Sorry, I can't help my car has the old dash. Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted April 26, 2014 Author Share Posted April 26, 2014 Quoting DJ.: Just out of interest, does the PCB control all the dash functions or are there separate units for functions like wipers, indicators and lights? Sorry, I can't help my car has the old dash. Duncan I imagine it will do the lot. More strange behavior this morning : Put fuse back in - turn on ignition - wipers do one sweep and reset to off position. Go out for a drive and try wipers . They now work fine in all positions Get back into the garage 5 minutes later and try them again with engine off. Back to not switching off again. Turn on engine . No difference Fuse is now back out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ. Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 I think Caterham will just have to swap the whole PCB. A few years ago I heard the BMW 7 series indicator flasher was integrated into the instrument circuit board, so if it failed the whole unit had to be replaced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris956 Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 To finish off the thread once and for all I finally had the problem sorted today after a visit to CC Dartford. They installed a new windscreen wiper motor and hey presto, all back to how they should be....... Got there in the end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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