Rear Wiper's Erratic Behaviour

[Caff]

Is this common? It's quite distracting as the wiper stops at various places in it's travel? It's done this ever since we had the car. Having had to sort the front wiper linkage out twice I'm up for attacking the rear wiper if it needs it!

 

Having read posts on rebuilding the front linkage we used a good quality wheel bearing grease but wonder if marine bearing grease wouldn't be better. Copper slip, mentioned on other posts dries out over a period of time and your are back to square one. Hence the second linkage strip down!

 

This is a brilliant forum. It's saved a fortune for us over the years. We seem to get all the common problems. Just got another one - the infamous wet passenger carpet! And I thought it was a reaction to the fear at my driving! :46:

 

Caff

[jkspoff]

Its the wires between the boot and the car loom that have worn and split, when opening and shutting the boot, they will need soldering or connecting back together, it'll be obvious when you pull back the plastic cover.

[Caff]

Thanks. I shall have to investigate.

[antony]

Yep its the wires in that rubber boot in the boot. I had exactly the same, and number plate lights didnt work, unlocking via the boot set off the alarm, middle brake light didnt work and the interior light was tempremental when you opened the boot. I had 6 split wires.

 

You WILL need some cable to patch the existing ones that have split as its a tight fit and check BOTH ends of the boot. unfortunately i had to split mine as the work space is way too tight.

[Caff]

I only have the jerky wipers. Tomorrow I shall be investigating! Also now got to look at the pool in the passenger foot well from the leaking rear wash pipe and also the sad reversing sensor unit. It's gonna cost!

Since we got it in 2001 this car seems to be going through all the faults described on this forum. Thank heavens for you all on the forum.

[Caff]

Spot on. Thanks. A couple of wires with the insulation cracked. Have bound them in tape and will see how it goes. Was mesmerising to watch the wiper actually working properly! <_<

[SolarB]

Ah ha! I have the same intermittent wiper action.

Now I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

[Dave K]

Ah ha! I have the same intermittent wiper action.

Now I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Thanks for the info. My rear wiper stopped working a few weeks ago so I will check out thr wiring tomorrow.

[jkspoff]

Its a common fault with the low quality wires between door and boot joints, the next thing that might stop working are the electric windows in the rear, its the same problem, split wires due to wear and tear.

[SolarB]

Took me a while to get around to looking at the rear wiper but I noticed the problem was only on the last sweep before parking. Multiple sweeps with a wash were all ok apart from the last sweep which ruled out dodgy wiring.

 

I pulled the motor out and took it apart. Underneath the main drive wheel is the park system/pickups. They had become dirty and the brass plate on the back of the drive wheel was scored. A light sanding of both and bingo! one working wiper.

It rained the other day and I spent more time looking in the mirror than I did out the windscreen!

[cm6478]

this wikll give me something else to look at on my galaxy when my rear fog lights are on my wiper comes on and likewise if my rear wipper on my rear fog lights up and have no number plate lights or reverse lights and high level brake light not working

[Simon_H]

Thanks all for the info, my rear wiper's been playing up so I had a look at the wiring between the body and the tailgate and sure enough some of the insulation was worn away. Luckily none of the wires had broken so I've used some electrical tape to seal them all up again.

 

Now I just have to fix the rear washer!

[richyrich]

SolarB - thanks for your post and photo's. Had a look at my rear wipe today and same as yours - just needed to clean the copper ring and pick up contacts. Did mine in half an hour without taking the motor out, just took the rear tailgate cover off, then the wiper cover plate, rear wiper, and then the machanism pulls out.

Easy job.

 

Richyrich

[antzatgalaxy]

I'm glad I eventually found this post, I found a lot of posts referring to erratic rear wiper movement, not parking correctly, starting on its own etc. In my case, the wiper would set off as soon as I turned on the ignition and stop after a few cycles, but not in the park position. If I selected rear wipe on the stork, the story was similar, it would go continuously for a bit then stop out of position, so in order to get it to go again I'd have to flick it off and on again on the stork. After a week of so running on a dry windscreen, the wiper blade was shot!

 

Most posts seem to point to wiring faults in the rubber boot on the tail gate, but on mine in the face lift version, the wires are in cased in a flexible trunking as well (I guess to solve this worn cables issue).

 

So this post gave me the confidence to attack the wiper motor itself and YES that was the problem. Grease in the mechanism eventually gets through to the electrical contacts on this control wheel. All that was required was a quick (but thorough) clean (no sanding) of the copper track and copper contacts and all was working again.

 

You do have to get to the motor by taking the boot door card off, and get the motor out and apart, but THIS is the solution...

[gregers]

thanks for posting this up 'ANTZ'

[bigdave982]

Good call Antz , finally fixed mine!!

[bigdave982]

Good call Antz , finally fixed mine!!

Well it did until next day lol, might need the tracks scraping a bit