XSeries-forum

Just had a great fix on the window now I must pay with something else. The intermittent wipe has gone again. Put the Alpina relay in and no difference. Put the X5 relay in the Alpina and it works fine. So not a relay problem. Anyone have any suggestions. I have checked fuses. My next move is to replace the wiper stalk because I have a spare one. Following that is to remove (don’t know how yet) the cover from the rain sensor and apparently there is a plug behind there which if you disconnect will give you intermittent wipe just not rain sensitive. Better than nothing if it works.

Try this…..it should allow you to get to the rain sensor. Then the sensor… If there are any signs of bubbles in the special pad, or fogging / discolouration of the sensor than that may well be your issue. The pad is optically clear and attaches the special element to the windscreen. You may still be able to get replacements from BMW and I expect any windscreen repairer would have them.

Thanks for that, very informative. I’ll post up how it goes. Let’s hope my next post isn’t about windscreen replacement.

Okay, so have got really pissed of not having intermittent wipe, didn’t realise how convenient it is. So having eliminated the stalk/relay/fuse I took the cover off the rain sensor and disconnected the wiring plug. This now gives me intermittent wipe and the knurled wheel to alter the gap between sweeps still works too. The only thing lost is the actual rain sensing. I have sent for a replacement silicone pad for the windscreen ( £6.58 ) which I will try and fit when it comes. It will probably be a pita to get the old one off and the windscreen clean. There is a fairly large air bubble on the silicone stuck to the screen and my diagnostics gives the fault that the photo sensor is to large. However if it doesn’t work I can live with the current intermittent wipe without rain sensing

Anything wrong with the silicone pad stops the system working. The sensor uses infrared light to detect rain. The rain changes the reflection level of the IR and triggers the sutowipers.

I had it on my E53 after a screen change (by Autoglass). The BMW Dealer found they’d fitted the wrong screen and tried to bodge the pad which no longer being optically clear caused the system failure. A genuine (Semperit) screen and new pad solved the problem.

From memory, I think it also caused the auto lights to fail as well.

Try cleaning the glass with Isopropyl Alcohol. It leaves no residue and won’t harm the plastics.

You are of course right in that the auto lights don’t work which had I been aware would probably have saved me the hassle of changing the relay and the stalk. It would seem that no matter how old you get there is always something to learn.