Windscreen wiper issue - drivers side stopped!

robint

Full Member
Apr 12, 2006
168
9
UK, Essex
Driving happily to Wales along the A5 on Thursday decided to remove English bug life from the screen. Took a few moments to realise that while wife could see clearly ahead I couldn't........ Her wiper behaved quite normally, mine did nothing!!

Pulled over and prodded around, checked a fuse or two, made sure nothing external was jamming the wiper but still no joy. The great god Google suggests that it is a wiring problem with either no volts or signal getting through to the drivers side - the passenger (UK) side is the master (4 wires to the motor and responding correctly) and the driver is the slave (3 wires). No indications of prior problems and no sign of motor overheating etc. Linkages in excellent condition.

As Wales was wonderful weatherwise have so far not needed wipers and now home will play in the morning and see what needs doing. Have found out how to disable the bonnet switch that (for some reason as no clear fouling point) stops the wipers working when the bonnet is open and will take some pictures for future reference.

Helpful suggestions as to where the wiring goes is welcome - car is 2010 2.0TDi XL by the way, not our more mature 2005 2.0FSi!
 

robint

Full Member
Apr 12, 2006
168
9
UK, Essex
Have removed secondary firewall and unplugged the motors. On the working passenger one there is 12V and earth on the 2.5mm cables, on the drivers (non-working) side there is no 12V but the there is earth continuity...... There also appears to be voltage on the signal wire on the passenger side which changes with the wiper switch position - this tallies with what actually happens on the car at present.

The 12V is there with the keys out of the ignition and there is no fuse in F1 in the engine compartment which is supposed to be for the wipers, all other fuses seem to be in place. Having not touched the fuses since getting the car then presumably the missing fuse is irrelevant - possibly due to having auto wipers?? Seems odd also that there is 12V when the ignition is off - clearly care needed when working on Altea electrics - disconnect battery if in doubt!

So where has the 12V gone on the drivers side? Presumably a loose connection or connector somewhere in the system, will try simply bridging across from one to the other and see if it all works. Bit worrying if there is a fault in the depths of the harness somewhere though!
 

robint

Full Member
Apr 12, 2006
168
9
UK, Essex
All sorted now, 2 scotchloks and a suitable bit of 2.5mm cable and working fine. Have some pictures which I will try to add to point others in the right direction, but it is actually a very simple job to sort.

Wiring faults in a less than 4 year old car are more worrying, especially as others have had the same issue. Might drop a line to SEAT (without much hope!) and see what they say.
 

iain1970

I ♥ TDI
Apr 19, 2005
484
0
The Wrong side of the Pennines
"hola, you SEAT eez make in Mediteranean land. All auto cars made in las lands bordering Mediteranean will be faulty wire y flicky switches. Weather plus scorchio and men making autos make sweat in wires that got pif paf puf after seista. You turn steering, radio turn off. You wash window, heater stop work. One brake bulb new, other go pop. You want reliable SEaT, buy Arosa or Mii, not made near seaside."
 

nikolas1

Guest
I had 2 malfunction regarding Windscreen wiper-right
1 st- motor by-by
2nd -wire fall off
 
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