Losing the will to live!

[wizardsleve]

As it says, I'm really losing the will to live with my BMW. Can Anyone PLEASE help?
It's the damm wipers! They work on all speeds for 10 to 15 wipes then stop. Most of the time they stop in the middle of the screen obscuring my view of the road. If I pull over and switch the car off totally, re-start the car again I get another 10/15 wipes and they stop again. I have also no control of the wipe on demand, one push down on the control arm. They will move as normal but if I let go of the switch they stop in the middle of the screen. I have to time it and let go as they reach the bottom of the screen. I have read this forum and changed the control module under the glove box but the problem still stays. That was £92 wasted! I'm close to scraping this car but I do love driving it!

[Torque]

Either a bad switch itself or the wiper/washer control module ... on LHD cars it's behind the glovebox (like a relay and says WI-WA on it). Either way, should be fairly easy and cheap to fix with parts from a breakers yard.

[wizardsleve]

already replaced the wiper control moduel, the one behind the glove box with the big blue connector. At £92 the problem still occurs. Is there a fix with the motor itself perhaps? I've heard of a park sensor that may be the cause. But I cannot find the step-by-step fix that was on this forum. If anybody has a copy of this can they e-mail it to me!

[marti5]

Its got to be the wiper relay, if when you restart the car it does the same, the relay resets its self everytime and does the same cycle....

[92cleanbeam]

Honestly if you think its the relay then chances are you got a defective one from the parts store. I have gotten more than a handful of brand new relays that were bad. Relays are a pain sometimes.

[wizardsleve]

I think its amazing that a brand new control module from BMW has exactly the same fault as the old one. there has to be another reason. If there is another relay can anybody tell me where it is? or is it the wiper motor? I just don't want to change the motor at over £150 to find i have the same fault!

[92cleanbeam]

Have you downloaded the manual that Torque put up? Its on the main e36 page. Not sure if it has anything but give it a shot.

[wizardsleve]

Never mind people. I fixed it! Here's how.
I pulled the wiper motor and cleaned the little park switch of grease. That didn't work. So I pulled EVERY relay in the fuse box and soaked them all in good old WD40. then I pulled all the relays under the dash on both sides and soaked them all in WD40. put them all back in and some how, don't ask me how, I now have fully functioning wipers.
Intermit wipe, wipe on demand and all the speeds. No more stopping in the middle of the screen! So all that money wasted when I could have spent only a few on the trusted can of WD40. I realise this will not work on all things that go wrong, but hey, it worked on mine this time!

[marti5]

Great stuff, well done, so its probably down to a bad connection on a relay or where it plugs in that needs sorting, WD is great stuff but do remember it does evaporate so if the problem returns, time for a nail file in where the relay fits or maybe just some electrical cleaner available from Maplins in aerosol. see if BM will take the new module back you may have a handling charge but thats life otherwise eBay....might just be worth checking....put your old one back in and see if it works!!

[92cleanbeam]

Thats some good stuff. Very funny too. I fixed my doors with WD40 a few weeks ago. I will just keep a can in the trunk from now on. Seems to be a good fix for BMWs.

[kandi08]

Mate it is the back of the dash board.
Most likely a connection has unsoldered.
The wipers are linked to this through odometer and vehicle speed sensor.
I had the same problem and also thought i had fixed it. It just came back.
You need to replace the rear BLUE part of the odometer.
You can use your same clocks, but will need to swap your distance unit over.
There is a link on the DIY E36 Site.
Hope this helps