BMW E39 M5 Wipers stopped working/not working relay problem
Discussion
Hi all,
Thought I'd post on here with a few pics I couldn't find about changing the relay, along with my own definition of the problem after my recent experience for the next poor soul in my position.
Symptoms of my problem:
Wipers left on rain sensing intermittent mode, stopped after 40 mins driving (failed in down position consistently when repeated not on screen)
Once stopped they wouldn't work on any mode (surely this is poor safety design BMW!!)
Fuse fine/no odd sounds
Once left for 20 mins with engine off they worked again (left on full wipe NOT intermittent mode) and continued to work fine for another hour of driving,
As soon as put back on intermittent mode they failed again within a few sweeps
Worked fine again following morning for the 1h 30min drive home (avoiding intermittent mode)
Note: Oddly with relay removed the washer jets work fine (with no wipers) but when failed nothing worked at all. Not even washer jets.
How it happened to me:
First week of ownership and I'm driving at 'M5 cruising speeds' on the dual carriageway last night, pitch black and in fairly heavy rain when approx. 40 mins into my journey all of a sudden my wipers stop working!!
After some fairly flustered pulling and pressing and flicking through the settings on the stalk I resorted to crawling along in the slow lane with my head out of the window getting v.wet until I could pull over.
Found the fuse box in the roof of the glove compartment and took out 'fuse 1 - 30a' for the wipers but it was fine, put it back in and tried again.. still no joy.
Then after doing some quick internet browsing on my phone I came across common stories of the relay problem and it being fine once cool.. so after 20 mins of swearing and considering phoning the AA I tried again and it all worked fine.
Other stories I found of the same thing:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-dis...
http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/73917-wipers-playing...
Relay location and removal instructions:
The relay is located in a box in the engine bay under the right hand side (uk RHD car) interior fan air filter box as below:
To remove the air box you need to pop off the air filter lid (metal clip no screws) and un-clip the oval vent on the left hand side of the box by prising up the three plastic clips along the top and wiggling the cover back (there are no clips underneath - thank you bmw.
The whole box assembly then pulls out lifting from the oval inlet side first, revealing the relay container box:
There are four allen key bolts to open the relay container. To access the back two you need to remove a small black cover, which you do by undoing this 8mm nut and lifting from away from the nut end (don't just yank it up as it slots into clips at the other end):
Once you've undone the four Allen head bolts, the cover should lift straight of and it should look something like this:
The relay for the wipers is this tall brown looking one here (comes out pretty easily with a wiggle, no clips):
The part number for the relay should be 6136 8 384 505 and mine was a 'Siemens' relay. Replacement cost me £15.85+vat from euro car parts.
No fun at all losing your wipers and I'm pretty disappointed in BMW for not having a simple backup which allows the wipers to work without the intermittent function which is what happened on my old 944 when the relay failed. However I hope this thread is an easy find and helps speed up the process for the next unlucky fellow.
Thought I'd post on here with a few pics I couldn't find about changing the relay, along with my own definition of the problem after my recent experience for the next poor soul in my position.
Symptoms of my problem:
Wipers left on rain sensing intermittent mode, stopped after 40 mins driving (failed in down position consistently when repeated not on screen)
Once stopped they wouldn't work on any mode (surely this is poor safety design BMW!!)
Fuse fine/no odd sounds
Once left for 20 mins with engine off they worked again (left on full wipe NOT intermittent mode) and continued to work fine for another hour of driving,
As soon as put back on intermittent mode they failed again within a few sweeps
Worked fine again following morning for the 1h 30min drive home (avoiding intermittent mode)
Note: Oddly with relay removed the washer jets work fine (with no wipers) but when failed nothing worked at all. Not even washer jets.
How it happened to me:
First week of ownership and I'm driving at 'M5 cruising speeds' on the dual carriageway last night, pitch black and in fairly heavy rain when approx. 40 mins into my journey all of a sudden my wipers stop working!!
After some fairly flustered pulling and pressing and flicking through the settings on the stalk I resorted to crawling along in the slow lane with my head out of the window getting v.wet until I could pull over.
Found the fuse box in the roof of the glove compartment and took out 'fuse 1 - 30a' for the wipers but it was fine, put it back in and tried again.. still no joy.
Then after doing some quick internet browsing on my phone I came across common stories of the relay problem and it being fine once cool.. so after 20 mins of swearing and considering phoning the AA I tried again and it all worked fine.
Other stories I found of the same thing:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-dis...
http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/73917-wipers-playing...
Relay location and removal instructions:
The relay is located in a box in the engine bay under the right hand side (uk RHD car) interior fan air filter box as below:
To remove the air box you need to pop off the air filter lid (metal clip no screws) and un-clip the oval vent on the left hand side of the box by prising up the three plastic clips along the top and wiggling the cover back (there are no clips underneath - thank you bmw.
The whole box assembly then pulls out lifting from the oval inlet side first, revealing the relay container box:
There are four allen key bolts to open the relay container. To access the back two you need to remove a small black cover, which you do by undoing this 8mm nut and lifting from away from the nut end (don't just yank it up as it slots into clips at the other end):
Once you've undone the four Allen head bolts, the cover should lift straight of and it should look something like this:
The relay for the wipers is this tall brown looking one here (comes out pretty easily with a wiggle, no clips):
The part number for the relay should be 6136 8 384 505 and mine was a 'Siemens' relay. Replacement cost me £15.85+vat from euro car parts.
No fun at all losing your wipers and I'm pretty disappointed in BMW for not having a simple backup which allows the wipers to work without the intermittent function which is what happened on my old 944 when the relay failed. However I hope this thread is an easy find and helps speed up the process for the next unlucky fellow.
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