Wipers issue

[mr angry]

Drove the car last week and instead of the usual 5 blinks of the indicators they were only flashing once. The next day they went back to the usual 5 flashes.

After this I noticed that the wipers would occasionally park about 2 inches higher than normal. Today when turning on the wipers they operated briefly for a few minutes and then stopped. No matter which way I operated the wiper stalk they wouldn't move and were parked vertically on the screen.

I turned the car off and restarted it and they worked, however the park position is still random and not correct. I cant see any connection between the indicator flash issue and the wipers but who knows.

Anyone any ideas?

[X5Sport]

Could be a dodgy wire on the steering column such as a frayed or corroded connection to ground?

[Leslie]

Is the number of blinks set in the idrive I'd check see what it's set to plus how old is the battery maybe things are getting turned of if the car thinks it needs to save power, modern cars are too damn complex lol.
If the starter motor spinning over fast?

[mr angry]

The indicator flashes seem to have returned to five of their own accord, they used to be three but coded to five using carly a number of months ago. The wipers however work for a while but dont park in their normal position and sometimes they are on constantly.

The battery is recent with good voltage. I havent found much online suggesting not a common fault but wonder if the szl unit at the stalks could be on its way out

[rehan]

Regarding the wiper issue, I remember on an older car many years ago inside the wiper gearbox mechanism is a rotating electrical contact with brushes. This is to position the wipers in the correct position once they are turned off. Might be something worn out with yours?

As for setting the indicators from 3 to 5 flashes, I've tried this myself on Carly but it didn't work for some reason. Is there a trick to this?

edit: Could be wiper relay playing up?

[mr angry]

I have put up with the intermittent wiper issue for a while now but today they gave up. I removed the motor and discovered that the nylon gear within it had stripped. After searching eBay I see that these gears can be purchased on their own for £25, just not in the UK. I am now left with a quandary....do I order the new gear and have no car (with working wipers) for 12 days awaiting the post, or buy a used motor from a breaker with the possibility of having the same failure again.

Has anyone had an issue on the e70 with these gears stripping?

[sapphireblack]

I wouldn't buy an unknown pre-owned myself.

Can the seller (China?) not express the parts to you to maybe halve the 'downtime'.

[Raj]

Wouldn't have thought it a common issue the gears stripping. I guess the question is can you be without the car for that period of time. If not then maybe a breakers is the way to go for the time being.