Windscreen Wiper Problems

[left98204]

I have had an intermittant (no pun intended) problem with my wipers.

Recently, when I have put the wipers on either by twiddling the rocker switch on the lever, or pushing it down for one sweep of the screen, the wipers have kept going for 6 or 7 sweeps and then just stopped dead, often in the middle of the screen. Nothing I can do will get them to move again other than turning the ignition off and restarting, they then return to their rest position. I have also noticed that often, when they work, they will rest, not right down at the bottom of the screen, but maybe 1 or 2 inches up, on the upwards sweep. I have auto/rain sensor wipers.

Has anybody else had this? I am out of warranty now, so don't want to take it to the dealers who I have had a number of run-ins with anyway. I am hoping it is a simple electrical connection, can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Thanks

 

[Andrew D]

I haven't encountered this problem on a Z4 before, but I had it on my Astravan when working on site (although I didn't have to re-start to get them moving again). The wipers would never park in the correct place, but they had taken quite a hammering (they don't like wiping viscous mud off the screen once the wash has run out). I think they were just so worn the resistance to the motors was messing everything up.

My limited knowledge of wiper systems suggests it's either a problem with the park position sensor (i.e. not registering the position each time resulting in more sweeps, and getting the park position wrong) or the logic circuit that controls the intermittent operation (hence locking and not moving unless the circuit is reset by a restart).

Do they work normally on constant (i.e. non-intermittent) operation? Have the blades been changed regularly?


To hijack the thread slightly; I too have a wiper annoyance. They make an incredibly annoying spring vibrating/wining noise on the upstroke! It's not the blades as they were swapped about 12 weeks ago. Any ideas? I've been resisting putting WD40 on the springs so far as it'd undoubtedly end up all over the windscreen/bodywork/interior/etc. !

 

[ZedFour]

I have had an intermittant (no pun intended) problem with my wipers.

Recently, when I have put the wipers on either by twiddling the rocker switch on the lever, or pushing it down for one sweep of the screen, the wipers have kept going for 6 or 7 sweeps and then just stopped dead, often in the middle of the screen. Nothing I can do will get them to move again other than turning the ignition off and restarting, they then return to their rest position. I have also noticed that often, when they work, they will rest, not right down at the bottom of the screen, but maybe 1 or 2 inches up, on the upwards sweep. I have auto/rain sensor wipers.

Has anybody else had this? I am out of warranty now, so don't want to take it to the dealers who I have had a number of run-ins with anyway. I am hoping it is a simple electrical connection, can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Thanks

Hi left98204 - I have exactly the same issue as you described above..i.e. wipers intermittently stopping, sometimes in the middle of the screen. I also have to turn off the ignition and restart before they will work again. Did you ever get to the root cause? Have a healthy scepticism about bringing to the main "stealer" so I would prefer to solve this myself if possible? Another problem is I have lovely Irish weather to contend with, making this a scary problem on a wet road behind a truck!
Thanks in advance if you can shed some light for me.

 

[left98204]

You think you have problems being in Ireland without Windscreen Wipers. Try being in Wales :thumbsdown:

Seems like BMW build this fault into the cars they know will be in the wettest parts of the world :x

I cannot shed any further light on this problem as yet, but have the car going in for an MOT next week, so I'm sure this will be picked up and I will get to the root of the cause. No doubt, my wallet will be working overtime aswell.

I will post as soon as I have any news on what they say the cause is.