996 C4S Intermittent wipers not working?
996 C4S Intermittent wipers not working?
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Discussion

Budweiser

Original Poster:

1,110 posts

213 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
May be a common problem? Puts the stalk down and the wipers operate once, that's it. Thought the problem was the dash switch so replaced it (£46) and........bloody things still don't work!

Can someone help me with what the fault might be, please....

Magic919

14,506 posts

230 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
Do you have the sensor on your car? I'd presume that would influence it, if present.

Budweiser

Original Poster:

1,110 posts

213 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
Magic919 said:
Do you have the sensor on your car? I'd presume that would influence it, if present.
No rain sensor.....

RatBoy M3CSL

1,490 posts

225 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
..Funny you should say this.. I've been chasing the exact same problem on my 6-4S for 6 months now, sweeps once then stops, 1st changed the pot on the dash (£40), 2nd changed the control unit (£120), still not working, changed the gel pack on the rain sensor 3 times, my OPC think it's the rain sensor itself, which controls the switching to the motor, I can hear the relay clicking in and out when I click thro' the speed adjuster 1 click at a time, so I know it's working.

The rain sensor itself is £450, + an hour to fit + VAT.. £725 job @ OPC, that's as far as I've got.

I've had a screen changed recently and that's when it stopped working, so it's possible someone damaged the rain sensor or pulled a wire somewhere.

The rain sensor eye is the same as a new Golf, (£100) I've tried that too but the wiring is a socket into the sensor whereas the Porsche 1 has wires coming out of the sensor that go into the loom, my guess is the connectors are under the light unit somewhere, which is coming off next to have a look..

Edit.. interesting you have same problem only no rain sensor, which points to something else being the fix.. please update here as you progress, it's driving me nuts..!

You should try swapping your relay over too, it's the blue 1 in the board and about £50
I had a spare 1, but returned it as with the rain sensor option, it doesn't have the blue relay, but a separate control box.

Edited by RatBoy M3CSL on Thursday 4th July 19:56

Budweiser

Original Poster:

1,110 posts

213 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
Thanks for the update. 1 if it isn't the switch then I wonder if OPC will take it back?

2 we can't be the only two who are/have experienced this problem.
3 it's driving me nuts to..


Can anyone else suggest anything?....

Magic919

14,506 posts

230 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
The only things that get mentioned are the rheostat, which you've replaced, the wiper stalk (part of all the stalks on the car) and a relay.

garibaldy

47 posts

158 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
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Budweiser said:
Thanks for the update. 1 if it isn't the switch then I wonder if OPC will take it back?

2 we can't be the only two who are/have experienced this problem.
3 it's driving me nuts to..


Can anyone else suggest anything?....
You're not the only pair to experience this.

RatBoy M3CSL

1,490 posts

225 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
quotequote all
.. My OPC would not take back the parts that did not fix it as they are ordered to VIN from Germany and non returnable, I got lucky with the relay which I returned as my car didn't have 1 and they ordered it in error.

Any info would be greatly appreciated on a fix, as you don't have the rain sensor, but do have the exact same problem, so I'm now thinking it might not be the rain sensor after all.

Perhaps Mike @ S/C or Baz @ Hartech have seen this before and know a fix..?

The adjustable pot works, ie it triggers the intermittent wipe function with the stalk down, but it only sweeps once instead of keeping going on a 5 -10 sec delay, if you turn the pot 1 click at a time clockwise it triggers it again on every click, but always stops after 1 sweep..?

Edited by RatBoy M3CSL on Thursday 4th July 22:25

Dave Thornton

237 posts

178 months

Thursday 4th July 2013
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I had a slightly different issue but the solution "may" help you. I thought my intermittent rheostat didn't work since the interval was the same irrespective of setting. However I removed it and put a multimeter on it to find that at "maximum", it had the same resistance as minimum. So maybe check out its resistance and then refit and keep it somewhere in the middle - it now works as intended. I have no rain sensor (04 model 996 C4S).

Budweiser

Original Poster:

1,110 posts

213 months

Friday 5th July 2013
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Sorry Dave but how did putting the meter on it solve the problem? Appreciate the reply and I accept I might being displaying my 'thick' side...lol

Shurv

1,024 posts

189 months

Friday 5th July 2013
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I think he means that if it is on either maximum or minimum delay ,it doesn't work, but set it up in the middle and his seems to work ok.

RatBoy M3CSL

1,490 posts

225 months

Friday 5th July 2013
quotequote all
Will give this a try, I'm not fussed if it doesn't work on max or min, so long as it works somewhere, I doubt this is the fix tho' as its a brand new pot from Porsche..?

monthefish

20,467 posts

260 months

Friday 5th July 2013
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RatBoy M3CSL said:
Perhaps Mike @ S/C or Baz @ Hartech have seen this before and know a fix..?
That’s not a bad idea.


My experience of OPC mechanics are that, whist undoubtedly skilled and trained, if a fix isn’t laid out exactly in a manual somewhere which has been approved at the highest levels, they simply won’t do it.

Whereas Baz & Grant at Hartech (and presumably S&C as well) don’t operate under such constraints and are actually able to put proper engineering solutions to problems.

E.g. OPC weren’t able to disable the spoiler warning message on my 996 turbo (with a fixed spoiler) and said it couldn’t be done.
Hartech managed (and I am eternally grateful to them for this!).

Budweiser

Original Poster:

1,110 posts

213 months

Friday 5th July 2013
quotequote all
RatBoy M3CSL said:
Will give this a try, I'm not fussed if it doesn't work on max or min, so long as it works somewhere, I doubt this is the fix tho' as its a brand new pot from Porsche..?
I'd settle for that at least it's a little improvement. Lets hope the boys at Hartech spot this thread and have some ideas on how to solve it.

Thanks for the responses .....