The_Remora

So my windshield wiper arms stopped working during a rain storm yesterday... made for an interesting ride home after they'd died. The wipers stopped about half way thru a cycle so they're about 45 degrees up on the window now frozen there. The w.washer fluid squirter motor also stopped working, seemingly at the same time.

I just checked the 25amp fuses and they are fine. It looks as though the only relay relating to the front wipers is for the intermitant wipe mode, is that correct?

So the next thing I'm going to check will be the switches at the stalk on the steering wheel/pod. I was flipping thru the settings a lot in the storm and maybe the wires came loose in there?

How hard is it to access the windshield wiper motor? Up under the plastic cover at the base of the windshield (haven't looked at diagrams yet and have never had to service one of those)?

Any other suggestions? This car's a daily driver so would love to fix it this weekend before have to drive in the rain again. Thanks for any suggestions!

Wisconsin Joe

You might check the plug connection at the motor after you check the switch. It's a bit odd that the motor "just stopped."

It's not all that hard to get to the wiper motor. I did it with the hood still on. You have to take the cowl piece off (the part between the hood and the windshield). With the hood still on, it takes some wiggling and finesse to get the motor assembly out.

This thread covers it:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-overhaul.html

I replaced the bearing in mine. The motor was still working, but had a bad bearing squeal.

Alan

Intermittent relay controls the wiper parking position. Without it the wipers will stop wherever they are when you switch off the wipers. Otherwise this doesn't affect anything else (except of course internmittent mode).

What year is this?

Do the foglights work?

Alan

The_Remora

Hi guys, thanks for the help. It's an 87 S4 5speed.
I took it out driving (nice weather here finally) and after about 20 miles the wipers just started working again. I was actually driving to a place to where I planned to dig in and find teh wiper motor since i can't work on it well in the city parking garage i keep it in. At first they just moved back into the down position, but still wouldn't work any further when i moved the stalk up and down, and then they started wiping when i hit a bump. Now they seem to work just fine. But I know there must be a loose connection there, likely under the cowl piece. Joe thanks for the description of how to get at that and the thread to reference, I'll look dig in there tomorrow to try and find the loose connection. Thanks

Alan

I asked about the foglights.. Its actually very important - when the wipers don't work - do the foglights work?

You may be barking at the wrong tree altogether here...

Alan

The_Remora

Oh that's right, you'd mentioned the foglights. Sorry. I believe they work but haven't specifically looked at them recently. I'll go check them. Although now the wipers seem to be working again so not sure if I'd find anything if theyre somehow connected.

I *do* actually have the left rear running light jumpered to the right rear running light temporarily, so the "parking lights" warning light comes on due to a voltage drop at the rear left. That's another thing I have to fix and possibly another thread at some point. Not sure if that would cause any electrical shannanigans that would effect the wipers though.

Alan

It could be that the wipers didn't work because of an intermittent X-Bus - which would mean a problem with the ignition switch (wiggle it). If this was the case you wouldn't have any fog lights or BRAKE LIGHTS!

Also the HVAC & cigar lighter wouldn't work at that time... anything sound familiar?

No brake lights is very bad - & you'd get no warning.

Alan

The_Remora

Oh wow, I certainly have a bunch of things to check out tomorrow before i drive it again. It just passed Mass. state inspection about a week ago, but something fishy is going on now. This car has sure had it's share of electrical gremlins since I got it, but most of them exorcised by now. Thanks