JW911

These things work quite well and have been used in vehicles for a long time. There's this thing that you move with your thumb that adjusts the sensitivity. There's this thing called the owner's manual that tells you all about it. Heed the manual. Adjust the sensitivity. Then you won't need to look for a way to deactivate this really useful feature.

stevepow

All over the city - all over the planet - most likely the universe - they are watching us - wave for the camera.

bradyb

RSB (rain sensor burnout) - ouch. Thanks for this post, I needed a good laugh this week!

alan000

Thanks for your insightful *sarcasm* reply. We have tried the sensitivity function on the wiper stalk on her car and it makes no difference. On my 997, the rain sensor is not an issue b/c I'm able to use the manual setting on the individual adjustment in the PCM. As I said before, my wife does not have sport chrono, and hence no access to the indiv. setting. Adias' reply (with supplied picture) may be helpful to try. If that does work, maybe I should tell my dealership to RTFM as well.

On another note, while the rain sensor may work well for you, it doesn't work well for us. Others have had problems with it as well. I like to think my eyes are better at determining when my windshield needs wiping than a silly sensor.


Alan

ADias

No argument there.

Mike in CA

The rain sensor is most useful when driving in changing rain conditions. It's annoying to have to constantly adjust the wiper setting to match conditions. Sure, my eyes work better, but unfortuntely other action is required once my eyes see the problem. A properly functioning rain sensor resolves this. Of course if it doesn't work right it's just another headache.

raspritz

The bigger concern, according to my dealer, is the Bi-Xenon headlight washer. Apparently, those motors are a weakness, burn out frequently, and are a very expensive repair. They strongly recommended to me that I leave them permanently 'off'.

jhbrennan

How do you turn them off permanently?

The headlight washer system automatically sprays
once for every ten times the front windshield
washer system is operated.

stevepow

When they burn out, they'll be off - and don't repair them - permantently?

I don't recommend driving on the tires either as they wear out even faster than the headlamp washers and are equally expensive.

alan000

Too bad it hasn't rained recently in LA. I really want to try this method, too. To my understanding, position 0 is "off" and position 1 is "intermittent/adjustable." To turn off rain sensor, leave it on position 1 and turn on ignition.

Maybe I'm not fully understanding this, but once it rains and I'm already on position 1, how do I use the adjustable intermittent mode without turning on rain sensor? (According to the manual, as soon as I adjust the interval, this turns the rain sensor back on). I guess I should have specified earlier that I wanted to completely deactivate the sensor.

Alan

alan000

Mike, I agree. My friend loves his Audi's rain sensor and finds it quite useful. My wife wants to like it, too, since she paid for it She finds it amusing that in her expensive P-car with rain sensor, she ends up using the manual one time wipe constantly.

Alan

Tcc1999

A BMW tech told me that the auto shut-off was for protecting the car from the driver (idiot-proofing). Claimed, for example, that if there was no auto shut-off and you went through a car wash the moving wipers would get destroyed. Don't know it that's true.

I once saw a pamphlet on how the BMW system auto wiper system works. IIRC, it used infrared light (or some type of light beam). Above the clown nose on the rear view (circa 2005 models) beams are emitted and the degree of refraction triggers a break in the circuit and the wipers are activated at speeds relative to the refraction (when the auto-sensing system is activated). Well, at least that's as much as I remember. Don't know if Porsche uses the same system but how varied could the technology be?

Jastx

Is the rain sensor like the PDK of wiper switches? Sorry, just popped into my head.

nazhat

lol

slicky rick

from what i know if the wiper is set to the first click which means that the rain sensor is on everytime you start the car or turn on the ignition the wiper will wipe once... then you know the rain sensor is on