4rings

Sometimes when I move the wiper lever to the "off" position, my wipers just keep on going. To get them to finally turn off I have to go through a couple cycles of turning them on, then off again.

This just started happening recently. I live in Pennsylvania, and it has been pretty cold here recently. Not sure if that is a factor or not?

I STFA'd but didn't find anyone having the same problem. Any ideas on what might be causing this?

Thanks!

Z-Tuned (Alex)

It will initiate a manual swipe but then it should return back to "off". See what happens.

4rings

Guess I'll need to figure out where the relay is, and replace it.

MNblackS4

My car was doing this a couple weeks ago It stopped now but I found out it could be the wiper motor

Z-Tuned (Alex)

Wouldn't it more likely be the electrics that controls the motor?

MNblackS4

I actually replace it, but with it working now I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Aman_UnatrlyAspiratd

One night it was way below freezing here, and after I cleared the ice off the windshield i flicked the switch down once for a single wipe, and it kept on wiping when returning to the neutral position. Couldn't get it to stop for a couple of mins of switching up and down through the various modes, then it got better by itself. perhaps the contacts inside the switch get some condensation on them, are really cold, and freeze?

silva

This "tells" the motor to stop when the wipers are in the down position.

Unless the actual wiper stalk is sticking, or the relay or timer moduel is defective, chances are that the motor is at fault.

First off: Does this happen only when you squirt the windshield washer fluid, or does it occur with any position of the wiper stalk? This is critical in diagnosis, since there is a relay that signals the motor to run for a few seconds after you have released winshield washer squirt mode.

Here's another thing to try. Next time it is very cold, and you think that the problem is going to happen again, do this:

Before you put the key in the ignition, grab both wiper arms and manually pull them up the windshield slightly. This will put the motor out of index, and, as soon as you turn the ignition on, the motor will want to return to home position. It should go through one full sweep and stop. If it does, good, if it continues to run, then you have just finished diagnosing the problem. Replace the motor.

Lastly, I'm not certain if you can diagnose the switch portion using VAG-COM, but, if so, that's great (I know you can do it with the window switches, not sure about others).

Hope this helps. Alternately, you can do the same thing that most shops would probably do, that is, start replacing parts until the problem is fixed (can get kind of expensive).

Audeye A6

Very informative, thanks for taking the time to post.

4rings

But I have been using lots of washer fluid lately, and I do know that after squirting washer fluid the wipers run for a few seconds. But sometimes they KEEP running, which causes the winshield to get smeared, and I have to clean it again.

I guess the next time I take my car in for service I'll have the techs take a look. I was hoping to avoid the costly "replace parts until the problem goes away" approach. But this problem is pretty annoying and I'm willing to spend some money to have it go away.