Windscreen Wipers Stopped Working!

Barryt0

A2OC Donor
Morning all,

I had a call from the wife yesterday to say the windscreen wipers on the A2 have 'stopped working'. It was particiularly icy and so I suspected she had tried to wipe the screen before ensuring the blade was free to move, but she assures me that she scrapped the screen and freed the blade before starting up. Hmmm; maybe, maybe not!

Anyway, I'm now faced with tracing the problem which, as I see it, must either be the wiper motor, relay or the stalk (I've already checked the fuse which is fine). The screen washer jets still work ok. I'm not sure I checked the single sweep 'down' function (I'm now at work and the A2 is at home). I'll check this tonight. Moving the stalk 'up' results in nothing at all; no click from a relay and no sound from the motor.

So, my questions are:

1) Where is the wiper relay, and how can I check if it's working or not.
2) How can I test the stalk to see if it's working correctly or not.
3) Have I missed any other possible causes?

Looks like I'll be outside, crawling around the car fault finding most of the weekend!

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Ok, quick update.

I've just been home and tried the wiper stalk in all positions, and get nothing.

Washers and DIS still work fine. I'm starting to think it's more likely to be the relay or motor itself...
 
I bet its the relay, mine went a few years back. Its really easy to change and i've seen a few going on ebay.....still, check with audi first to see how much they are new.
 
in addition to the excellent advice above, I'd check that the wiper arm linkage moves freely....

my wiper motor failed after the linkage seized secondary to water ingress around the main spindle despite the rubber grommet in the scuttle panel which should prevent this.

P
 
I have all the parts that you may need - relay, motor and stalk. let me know what you need and we can sort something out. If you want the lot, i can do it all fofr £40 posted or £10 + post :)
 
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Hi all,

The good news is that it was just a poor earting issue. Before I stripped anything down I held a spanner against the wiper motor and the engine block (with ignition on but without the engine running, just in case I dropped the spanner!) and hey presto; they started working. SOOOO glad I didn't go through the hassle of removing the (perfectly good) motor. I drilled a 4mm hole in an innocuous part of the motor casting and used a self tapping screw to fix a new earth cable from it to the nearest earthing point (on the engine block). It's slightly unconventional but does the job and got the car back on the road within an hour of starting the investigation.

I do suspect that a lot of people would automatically assume the motor had failed and replace it. This would also have cured the problem as a good earth would have be re-established in the process, but with a lot of unnecessary time and effort as well as expense.

Thanks for all the advice; A2OC saved me a lot of grief!
 
My wipers stopped last night during a 60 mile drive in torrential rain on an unlit M6. Not the best of circumstances. So I limped home and many thanks to the great info above I fixed my wipers today (not raining).
 

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Many thanks to all who've offered advice on here. My windscreen wipers stopped a few days ago and an additional earth strap has fixed mine too...
Russ
 
An old thread but after my wiper motor stopped last night and then searching on here my earth strap is also kaput, Im going to do the same as the above fix when it gets light. Again, great forum and saved me a lot of hassle and money..............................cheers guys. :D
 
thanks spike if i only got those photos earlier lol

when the weather is better i will definitely reroute to this configuration :)

thanks spike

cammy
 
Evening all

My wife rung me from work this morning to say that the wiper has stopped working and when you live in Wales that's a big issue :). It managed to limp back to the park position and then stayed there.

I've just been out to have a look at it and the wiper is just pulsing on the spot but not moving anywhere.

I'm assuming that it's not the fuse as there is still power going to it. Does this sound like a relay problem or could it be the bad earth issue.

I'm not very good with electrics so any help would be greatly received.
 
It could be a bad earth.

To verify this run a piece of wire from some metalwork on the engine and touch this against the wiper body and see if this starts it working again.

If so, clean the earth on the wiper motor or run a permanent earth wire to it.

Steve B
 
It could be a bad earth.

To verify this run a piece of wire from some metalwork on the engine and touch this against the wiper body and see if this starts it working again.

If so, clean the earth on the wiper motor or run a permanent earth wire to it.

Steve B

Thanks Steve I'll give it a go.

My jobs for this weekend are really mounting up now :)

Going to be

-change gearbox oil
-change dogbone mount (using polo 9n)
-fit the new Powerdiscs and ceramic pads and
-fix wiper

Looks like its going to be A2 Saturday again.
 
Cheers all, wife came home with the wipers not working and in 30 minutes i had diagnosed and fixed the wipers with your advice and help. Awesome :)
 
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