Hello folks,

Due to the recent inclement weather a previously undiscovered fault has revealed itself with the windscreen wipers.

Selecting up for one sweep works fine.
First position down for intermittent works, erm, intermittently if you get what I mean. The variable adjustment doesn't appear to make any difference and the intermittent timing seems to do as it pleases.
Second position down for normal constant wiping does nothing.
Third position down for high speed constant wiping appears to be working fine.

The rear wipe is also rather hit & miss.

I am assuming this is all down to dirty or worn contacts within the stalk switch gear but thought I'd come on here and see if this rich source of information has any views.

Is the stalk something that can be taken apart and cleaned/repaired or have they proven to be constructed in a similar fashion to a nail bomb with parts springing out in all directions on opening the thing up?

Thanks for any help.

Smiler.

P.S. The headlamp wash/wipe is working fine, albeit in need of new blades.

The intermittent adjust slidery thingy often needs a good squirt of switch cleaner as it is usually left in the same position for years and fills up with crud. Never had a problem with the actual switch but again, switch cleaner may well be all that's needed. There's 3 individual switches in it and it uses one or a combination of them to tell the BeCM what you want the wipers to do. The switches all switch a ground signal so switch 1 made puts a ground on the white/green wire which should give a flick wipe, switch 2 puts a ground on the red/light green wire and enables intermittent wipe, while a ground from switch 3 on the blue/light green wire enables fast wipe. What doesn't make sense is that for normal wipe you need to have switch 2 and 3 making contact and putting a ground out on two of the wires. As they both work individually then logic says they should work together. It sounds like neither are making when the stalk is in the mid position but you'll only know that once you take it apart.
Simple enough to take it out as it unplugs once the surround is off. I'll admit I've not had one apart (only the intermittent slider) so can't tell you if it's a nail bomb waiting to be detonated but I'd only take it apart on a large white cloth so you stand a chance of finding all the bits if that happens. Relays 1 and 8 are also involved in the front wipers so it might be worth checking those. They should both be 5 pin (green) relays.

The rear wipe is controlled by another switch in the stalk (putting a ground on the Orange/Black wire) and should give two wipes when you switch it on, followed by a single wipe every few seconds. If it's hit and miss, it may be that there is another switch only making contact sometimes.

Like Gilbertd says, a good spraying with contact cleaner through every orifice, followed by a blow out with some air might well do the trick without surgery. If you decide to go into it and it does spring apart into many pieces, there are used units starting at £8 delivered on the bay at the moment.

Cheers folks, I shall try a spray of contact cleaner first. If that fails I shall unplug it and start shorting the loom connections to check the vehicle is working correctly before opening the stalk up.

Thanks.

Worth keeping a suitably sized transparent / translucent plastic box about the place to work in when "nail bomb potential" items have to be disassembled. I started out with the big ice cream tubs but now tend to overkill with one of the bigger, but not the biggest, ones from the bargain place. Probably something like 30" x 18" x 18". Bought to hold certain stuff thats easy to empty out when needed for other duties so it gets used. One day I shall make a dooby to hold a small vice securely. Gotta find a good enough ball joint pivoting type vice at the right price point first tho'.

Agree with the switch cleaner usually fixes it opinion.

Clive