Windscreen wipers - misbehaving...

[Phil_Edge]

Recently got caught in the rain, which may or may not be related to this funny little problem...

Wash & Wipe button - used to spray and wipe whilst held, then re-seat the wipers, now, as soon as I let go, they stop in the middle of the screen, or wherever they happen to be.

At the same time, the Wipe button - where before there was "intermittent", "slow" and "fast" settings, now the "intermittent" seems to also no park the wipers back in their start position.

Genuinely confused, so anyone else had the same?

Thanks - Phil.

p.s. Also had a spell where the indicators, headlight mainbeam control and both wiper buttons stopped working for a short while. After leaving the car, coming back, everything worked again... might be related - but really have no ideas to go on right now.

[kevin63]

Check the wire ribbon is still intact under the dash, if it is, the park switch for the wipers could be faulty, but that does not account for the lights fault, so may be it could be the ribbon.

[Phil_Edge]

OK - do you mean a toach and some poking around underneath - or is it more involved?

Either way - thanks - sounds like a likely place to start...

kevin63 said:

Check the wire ribbon is still intact under the dash, if it is, the park switch for the wipers could be faulty, but that does not account for the lights fault, so may be it could be the ribbon.

[Byker28i]

Nope this is TVR. Intermittant means exactly that, they stop intermittantly in different positions It's also part of the character hitting the wipe button twice from wipe to stop the wipers at just the right point - ish.

Seriously, they have a little plastic switch which controls the stop position and it's really common for them to fail. They are easy to get and cheap, but apparently a bugger to fit.

http://www.clever-trevor.net/cars/1-cerbera-v8.htm...
WIPER PARK SWITCH TVR PART NO M0470 - £8.52

Also you'll find using RainX on the screen helps the wipers glide across.

[Phil_Edge]

Sounds like a job for someone who's done it before...

Might have to 'make do'until its in for something else.

All over the rainx Stopped using the wipers in the end and managed just fine with the rainx effect at a good cruising speed

[jonbarrett]

I've just spent some time, and money, fixing a wiper related problem. I suggest you check the wiper motor and park switch fast. The motor is prone to water damage and the park switch is under-rated. My park switch shorted and it blew a 20A fuse. Problem is, the fuse also protects the steering ECU power supply. All I can assume is that a spike killed the steering ECU (hidden away in driver footwell). The steering ECU handles the functions from the steering column so the ECU failure also caused problems with hazards and dip beam. New steeting ECU and replacement wiper motor solved all the problems. If my wiper ever shows signs of trouble it will get fixed immediately. Ignore it at your peril.

[Phil_Edge]

Ouch!

I'll get on to it in the morning!!! Thanks for the info.

[JensenA]

For those of you who have problems with really slow wipers, here's a 'sort of' cure. When I had a problem I removed the passenger side wiper, and the single driver side wiper worked perfectly and cleared the screen really well.

[C3BER]

Had this problem on mine before I had all the niggles sorted for me. I thought it was some type of timer at first but bit by bit other problems started to appear relating to the steering wheel control buttons and in the end all failed. Turns out it was the ribbon that had fallen apart and once changed everything works like a dream.

[mxi933]

Hi Phil. I would say its definately the park switch on top of the wiper motor thats gone. Its not a particularly difficult fix. Just a bit fiddly thats all. Should take you a couple of hours and a couple of quid to fix.

You will to take off the front cowl that hides the battery, clutch reservoir, etc.
Remove the expansion tank.
Undo the wiper motor and you will see the switch in question.
The fiddliest bit is refitting the pipe on the bottome of the expansion tank.

Hope this helps

Steve

[Gazzab]

If your indicators, horn and flasher stop working then put the hazards one very quickly and it will bring them back to life!!??? Mine used to do this until APM diagnosed the fault (not the ribbon).

[Byker28i]

Interestingly I noticed this advert on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Wiper-motor-Griffith-Chi...

It seems someone has managed to get parts remade and is refurbishing wiper motors.
I know nothing about this person, but they seem to have TVR knowledge
http://www.exactly-tvr.demon.co.uk/

[JensenA]

Expensive at £200, when you think the original Mini Wiper motor motor can be bought brand new for £46.00, and all that is different basically is the gearing !!

http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=35962

However as there seems to be no alternative, what are we supposed to do?

[jonbarrett]

I've just refurbed my the wiper motor and it is definitely not the same as a mini motor. I confirmed this by buying one and comparing it and also talking to a specialist at the manufacturers.

It is a completely different design with the main differences being the power output (much higher) and gearing.

The manufacturer confirmed that they are no longer making this model but are supplying some spares.

I have spoken to the chap selling on ebay and he knows what he is talking about. A rewind on my armature alone cost £120 so £200 for a refurbished model with enhanced features suddenly sounds cheap.

In fact the increased power is one of the problems because the TVR design uses the same park switch as the smaller mini model and thus sees a higher current.

[Byker28i]

So what we also need to see is a redesigned parking switch. I mean the original one is about £8 which is a fraction of £200 for a new wiper motor

[jonbarrett]

I've investigated the failure mode of my parking switch and it looks to be mechanical at source. I'll take some photos and post my recomendations provided someone can explain how to add an image to a message.

[Adrian@]

Byker28i said:

So what we also need to see is a redesigned parking switch. I mean the original one is about £8 which is a fraction of £200 for a new wiper motor

Not that the park switch is the fault....the park switch is the sympton and not the cause, the units 'lifestyle' of never getting used as "I do not use the car if it rains" does not help either, the switch will exceed the design spec. because the motor gets hot/cold and the internals rust, this rust grips the amature, the load increases, the motor warms up the card within the armature, this dries out, breaks off into the magnet housing, that gets damp and sticks between the armature and the housing. The load is then excessive to the park switch that has been taken off the 14 watt unit, to do the same job on a 29 watt unit. On another forum the point was made that the switch unit could take more than double the 29 watts, in perfect condition.

As for who I am....I have had 51 TVR's own 6, 3 new..only ever having worked on TVR's (apart from the wife's cars) and 1 Broadspeed bullet Capri) I am the global expert on M Series TVR's esp. the Turbo models, I own Exactly-tvr Ltd, (I recently closed my 10 car workshop as we have a 2 1/2 year old deaf boy, one of the youngest Cochlear implantees in the UK) Getting things EXACTLY right is what I do.
Adrian@

Edited by Adrian@ on Wednesday 4th July 08:34