Delayed action rear wiper - any suggestions for remedy

Figgerty

harveybobbles wrote: »

Does your rear fog light work? Think that picks up current from them contact plates i mentioned too.

You may find that the wiper motor is knackered. We went thru a spate of replacing them as they allowed water to get in them.

I will check this when I am next in the car. I know the indicator light inside the car works. The delayed action of the wiper blade is only a problem when I first start up the car. From once the wiper starts to work it is then ok after that. It is almost as if the engine has to be running for a while before it starts to work and after that the wiper works whenever I flick the arm. I thought it might be something to do with the battery except that the car always starts on the first turn of the key.

I will clean the prong and he contacts as soon as I go out to the car. This may be a couple of days as my back is a bit dodgy at the moment.

Thanks a lot for your help.

System

londonTiger wrote: »

i wipe my rear window once or twice at most, usually when i get into the cr after its been raining.. never need to use it. becaue the car travels forwards rain doesn't hit the rear window. Just a bit of rainx and you wont need to use the wiper at all.

On most hatches & estates the vortex effect 'sucks' some of the dirty water thrown up by your rear tyres back towards the car and on to the rear screen, a lot of the time in too fine a spray for rainx to cause it to run off

londonTiger

!!!!!! wrote: »

On most hatches & estates the vortex effect 'sucks' some of the dirty water thrown up by your rear tyres back towards the car and on to the rear screen, a lot of the time in too fine a spray for rainx to cause it to run off

well rear window visibility isn't as important as windscreen visibility where you have to see everything in front of you and anything else that MAY come in front of you.

it's fine if the rear window is slightly covered in raindrops, as long as you can make out roughly what's behind you which no amount of rain will block. I think fog is a bigger problem than rain though.

heck vans dont even have arear window they use their wing miorrors only and they get by.

rainx is a cheap solution, and i like to rely on that as much as possible. Wiper motors for my car cos upwards of £150 each, so I try to use them as infrequently as possible to preserve their longevity.

skivenov

harveybobbles wrote: »

Does your rear fog light work? Think that picks up current from them contact plates i mentioned too.

You may find that the wiper motor is knackered. We went thru a spate of replacing them as they allowed water to get in them.

Is the fog light not in the cluster on a bubble-shaped Fester?

harveybobbles

!!!!!! wrote: »

On most hatches & estates the vortex effect 'sucks' some of the dirty water thrown up by your rear tyres back towards the car and on to the rear screen, a lot of the time in too fine a spray for rainx to cause it to run off

I've ran lots of cars in my time and I find the Mk3 Mondeo estate is most prone to this!

tim9966

Having in the past owned 2 Fiesta's I would agree the contacts need a clean, as both cars (a 1992 and 2000 Fiesta) at times suffered the same problem.

I found just using the rubbing the car key over the contacts is enough for a few months anyway to get the wiper working, although this will leave a mark on the contacts.

Figgerty

I know a lot of people don't think rear wipers are necessary but if I try reversing out of a parking space in heavy rain I really want to see behind me to avoid running down pedestrians.

I agree that seeing clearly in front of you is the most important factor, this was explained to me by my driving instructor many years ago when I had a motorway lesson just after I passed my test. I was still looking into my rearview mirror just as frequently as when I was doing town driving. He was probably terrified I would run into another vehicle whilst I was watching to see what traffic behind be was doing.

Figgerty

tim9966 wrote: »

I found just using the rubbing the car key over the contacts is enough for a few months anyway to get the wiper working, although this will leave a mark on the contacts.

? Just rubbing the metal of the key and no cleaning necessary or should I try both. The metal is not goind to damage the contacts, is it?

Figgerty

londonTiger wrote: »

rainx is a cheap solution, and i like to rely on that as much as possible. Wiper motors for my car cos upwards of £150 each, so I try to use them as infrequently as possible to preserve their longevity.

I reread your post as I was puzzled with the cheap solution reference and realised you were talking about a product - I thought it was a typo.
I Firefoxed the product and found the You Tube demonstration, it looks very good. I will have to buy a bottle. I still hope to get my wiper working properly but rain x will also help with winter weather.

Thanks for the tip.

Figgerty

Thank you all for your valuable help in sorting out this problem. I'm sure you have saved me quite a bit of money. If I went to a garage I would probably have had to pay for a new wiper motor when all I needed to do was - wipe the prongs and plates with a clean hankerchied and then run my keys over both and hey presto the wipers work as soon as I switched them on.

You are all wonderful to share your knowledge with me and other Forum users.:A

:j :T :beer: