Wipers Not Working

[boffa]

Guys, Last night my windscreen wipers stopped working on my 2001 mk11 galaxy. I checked the fuse and that was fine but whilst doing that, the wipers went once on their own. So its not the motor methinks, and not the fuse. The wipers aren't juddering so I'm guessing it's the stalk or a computer fault. The only post's I can find are regarding sticky mehcanism's, but nothing about any other reasons. Is there any kind of module that controls the wipers as they have always reverted back to intermittent when the car stops at traffic lights, for instance, and if so, where is it.

Thanks in advance

[Nige22]

Hi folks, why do these nightmares happen at the worst possible time? Here is my similar nightmare...

 

Ford Galaxy Ghia 1.9 TDI 2003 MK2 MK11 MKII

 

Everything working fine, go to the gym for three hours, wipers not working !!! WHHHAATTT.

 

Fiddling about does get a response, basically move the stalk all over the place and the rear wiper randomly works, but with no squirt. Occasionally the front wipers will do a single full wipe, but again no squirt.

 

So I have done the usual thing had a good old fiddle about, trying to take steering cowlings off to look at the stalk, trying to have a look at the wiper motor hidden behind the plastic windscreen panel, and checking all associated fuses and relays.

 

All with no results.

 

Steering Cowling: How in lords name to you get this off??? Found 5 screws but it will not release the lower half!!

 

Wiper Stalk: How in lords name to you get this off??? I suspect that you have to remove the steering wheel, which is rediculous !!!!

 

 

Fuses: Exactly which fuse is it anyway?, i checked all the ones i could find, all OK.

 

Relays: Which relays are they, and where are they, and how do you get to them?

 

So for my particular problem i suspect it is an electrical fault, otherwise the wipers would not work at all, I feel i am going to have to drop it off at the dealers and take out a loan to get it sorted, as its December the 20th today i cant do without the car over xmas!!!

 

If anyone has any suggestions, then please go ahead and reply, if anyone has been thru all this already, again please let us know. When this is all sorted for me i will also post ready for the next poor victim.

 

Happy xmas all !!

[boffa]

Well.....Took the gal into Fords this morning,

[Nige22]

Ah Ha !!

 

Mine was a fuse too, not the one as stated in the manual.

 

It was the 10 amp fuse, 2nd from the right on the bottom row, the ones that are horizontal rather than vertical.

 

This is confusing as, to prove my point to the service engineer, i removed the replaced fuse, and showed how the wipers still sort of worked, as described previously.

 

So, hope this helps some other worried galaxy driver, as I was prepared to pay almost anything to get this sorted.

 

The engineer did say the common fault on the MK2's is the wiper units, the whole thing ceases up,

[tinker15]

nige22 Thanks for the information same here.

I too thought that i had a dodgy stalk

I purchased a new stalk and then spent 30 minutes getting stressed trying to get the steering wheel off without success. then found your post after searching how to remove steering wheel. changed fuse and all ok know.

 

Now hopfully get my money back on the part.............???

Again Great info

 

:lol:

[markie]

My front wipers also went last weekend, if you pulled back on the wiper stalk it operated the rear wipers. Thanks to this forum again, found it was 2nd to last 10 A Red fuse on bottom row that had blown. They seem to be going in the cold weather !

 

Now just got to fit the new glow plug to the booster heater, which has also gone wrong !

[sidcos]

thanks chaps, mine was the fuse too! :lol:

[Charlie Mc]

thanks chaps, mine was the fuse too! B)

Thanks, as a new member that bit of advice has just saved me a tidy sum.If only I had joined this forum before it would have saved me a lot of time taking out the wipers and greasing them. Funny thing is ,although this is working my dashboard lights have suddenly stopped any ideas !

[gregers]

thanks chaps, mine was the fuse too! B)

Thanks, as a new member that bit of advice has just saved me a tidy sum.If only I had joined this forum before it would have saved me a lot of time taking out the wipers and greasing them. Funny thing is ,although this is working my dashboard lights have suddenly stopped any ideas !

 

you havnt knocked the wheel(dimming wheel)by your right knee have you??

[billyboy]

Ah Ha !!

 

Mine was a fuse too, not the one as stated in the manual.

 

It was the 10 amp fuse, 2nd from the right on the bottom row, the ones that are horizontal rather than vertical.

 

This is confusing as, to prove my point to the service engineer, i removed the replaced fuse, and showed how the wipers still sort of worked, as described previously.

 

So, hope this helps some other worried galaxy driver, as I was prepared to pay almost anything to get this sorted.

 

The engineer did say the common fault on the MK2's is the wiper units, the whole thing ceases up,

[insider]

The 10A fuse (33) powers the wiper switch, whilst the 30A fuse (24) powers the wiper motor. With no power to the switch it cannot tell the wiper motor to move!

However, this is only on models built between May 2002 and November 2004.

[pauls ghia]

Ah Ha !!

 

Mine was a fuse too, not the one as stated in the manual.

 

It was the 10 amp fuse, 2nd from the right on the bottom row, the ones that are horizontal rather than vertical.

 

This is confusing as, to prove my point to the service engineer, i removed the replaced fuse, and showed how the wipers still sort of worked, as described previously.

 

So, hope this helps some other worried galaxy driver, as I was prepared to pay almost anything to get this sorted.

 

The engineer did say the common fault on the MK2's is the wiper units, the whole thing ceases up,

Edited January 8, 2010 by pauls ghia

[flatroofstephen]

^_^ Fantastic advice! After half an hour struggling at -10C this morning, and a drive down a salty motorway with no wipers and the sun in my eyes... But many, many thanks for the tip. Yes, it's the cold, yes it's the 10a fuse, and no, my Galaxy is only 2001.

 

Cheers!

thanks chaps, mine was the fuse too! :lol:

Thanks, as a new member that bit of advice has just saved me a tidy sum.If only I had joined this forum before it would have saved me a lot of time taking out the wipers and greasing them. Funny thing is ,although this is working my dashboard lights have suddenly stopped any ideas !

[bfdboy]

The 10A fuse (33) powers the wiper switch, whilst the 30A fuse (24) powers the wiper motor. With no power to the switch it cannot tell the wiper motor to move!

However, this is only on models built between May 2002 and November 2004.

Many thanks for that wipers stopped working groaned and thought Oh no wiper motor gone!

Tried Fuse 24 that was ok.

It was the Fuse no 33. - labelled as fan !

Mine was built 2000 registered 2003

[torvil]

Do not overlook that the blown fuse may be down to/ aggrevated by the wiper arm spindles getting stiff. This is a common problem caused by water ingress into the spindles under the nut/thread at the bottom of the wiper arms. You will know if they are getting sticky when speed "2"on the wipers are not much or no faster than speed "1".

It's a fairly easy fix albeit one better performed in the warmer weather.

There are threads on the this forum to assist.

[Will L]

Well.....Took the gal into Fords this morning,

[insider]

Do not overlook that the blown fuse may be down to/ aggrevated by the wiper arm spindles getting stiff. This is a common problem caused by water ingress into the spindles under the nut/thread at the bottom of the wiper arms. You will know if they are getting sticky when speed "2"on the wipers are not much or no faster than speed "1".

It's a fairly easy fix albeit one better performed in the warmer weather.

There are threads on the this forum to assist.

 

Fuse 33 (10A) doesn't blow for this reason as it powers the wiper switch not the motor. If Fuse 24 (30A) blows then you should start being concerned!

[plum]

thanks chaps, mine was the fuse too! B)

+1 ;) Today I love the internet, google but most of all fordgalaxy.org.uk

[blagger1]

Add me to the (long) list of those with just a blown fuse :25: wrongly indicated on the fuse card.

 

Drove 350 miles back from scottish highlands yesterday (thankfully no rain). Had to stop half a dozen times to clean the screen though.

 

Had checked the fuse (no 24) but it was ok. Spent this morning contemplating taking to a garage to be fixed but came across this post.

 

Thanks once again :D

[YawnGoo]

I had the same problem, my rear wiper started going bonkers on it's own, whilst my front ones stopped working.

I looked in the handbook at fuses 20 + 24 as shown, but these were fine.

Not knowing much about cars i called my brother who started talking about relays, linkage and motors, being out of work i was panicking about the cost.

This was until i read this post which had the same symptoms as i was experiencing ( rear wipers working when you pulled the stalk back ), i instantly took your advice and checked fuse 33, 2nd from bottom right on the horizontal fuses, and found this to be blown.

I changed the fuse and all works fine.

 

Thank you so much, if it would not have been for this forum, then i am sure the local ford garage would have charged me silly money.

 

Best site ever.

[Kappatango]

Thanks for this info - is there any idea though how to avoid this?

 

Fuse Blew on Friday night - called AA and he checked all, found F33 blown labelled as Fan. He replaced and gave a spare.

 

On journey home ( Me, Wife, 4 Kids and a dog!! ) fuse blew again after about an hour, outside temp was around -3.5 oC. Inserted spare and all seems ok - I have read that this may be be the cold, but is there any other reason or do I just keep a whole bunch of 10a spares on board?

 

Cheers guys, Happy Christmas!

 

Karl

Edited December 19, 2010 by Kappatango

[Mac1]

Great advice re the wiper fuse - replaced the 10amp blade fuse - 90p each in Halfords. Thanks.

Now if anyone can tell me how to fix the juddering when I brake......not the pads, not the tracking, not the brakes (according to Ford Stevenage).

[Mac1]

Great advice re the 10 amp fuse - 90p each at Halfords, saved me a packet. Thanks

[Ford1973]

Just had the same issue on my 2003 Galaxy, and yet again as stated in the thread it was fuse 33 ( Red 10 A ), on the fuse layout it shows it's for a fan. It is actually the power to the stalk as also stated previously.

[gemini666]

I had this problem this morning wipers working fine then when I went to use hem again nothing the back one would go instead of he front wipers then the front ones went once and then nothing, checked fuses when I got home and hey we're fine great I though then I went on this forum and like all the other treads check the second fuse from the right on the bottom and yep it had blown changed fuse and then working again ;-)