[CapnJack]

Hello everyone I hope you are well! I am hoping someone on here will be able to assist me.

Yesterday a weird thing occurred when I went to you my wipers, I clicked the lever down to just clear the water off of my window screen, but they did not work and I heard a clicking sound. At the same time that i try to use my wipers it trips the heating unit out completely, and then starts again a few seconds after I release the lever. Sometimes the wipers will work but this is not very often. The water also appears to not be working.

I also had another event happen while I was trying to get my wipers to work by clicking the lever down and cycling though the speed settings. I turned the engine off and took the key out (just to see 😅) then when to start the car again, but this time I’d left the wiper speed at 1 and the ignition then stopped working as well... 🙈 I clicked the speed setting back to zero and the ignition started to work again.

Honestly totally baffled by this everything else appears to be working, and I haven’t made any modifications myself or had any work done to the car. Don’t think it could be a fuse as the wipers do work occasionally.

[Dazzler]

Definitely sounds like something is shorting out. I'm guessing some wires under the dash are intermittently touching each other! What do you thing @The Gonz

[The Gonz]

That's a crazy set of symptoms. This could be electrical or logical. If electrical, it could be wires or connectors either touching the wrong things (too much contact) or not properly seated (not enough contact). So many things at once may also suggest a logical problem, as in disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery for 30 minutes and allowing the BCM to reset.

If the reset doesn't work, I'd start trying to eliminate symptoms by removing fuses to isolate problems one at a time.

[CapnJack]

Thanks for the reply guys, it’s really weird because I can’t see what could have caused it everything was fine, then out of the blue all of this occurs 😅

I will try that logical reset tomorrow when I get home from work, and I will try to get some footage of what’s happening.

Cheers guys 💯😎

[CapnJack]

Good afternoon everyone!

So absolute nightmare... car started fine this morning, went to start it after work to drive home and nothing... all my lights are working and the wipers and heating still playing up. The glow plugs warm up but the starter motor just isn’t engaging at all not even attempting to.

Havnt performed a logical reset yet, as I was going to do this at home tonight, but I will do this when I get to work tomorrow. Really need to get my car working again have to travel a fair distance to get to work.. and got a service and not booked for the 22nd.... how typical 🙈😂

[Dazzler]

Good afternoon everyone!

So absolute nightmare... car started fine this morning, went to start it after work to drive home and nothing... all my lights are working and the wipers and heating still playing up. The glow plugs warm up but the starter motor just isn’t engaging at all not even attempting to.

Havnt performed a logical reset yet, as I was going to do this at home tonight, but I will do this when I get to work tomorrow. Really need to get my car working again have to travel a fair distance to get to work.. and got a service and not booked for the 22nd.... how typical 🙈😂

Oh dear! I was going to use a strong expletive but thought i best not.

I'm quitely confident that a reset as suggested. Disconnect negative terminal of battery for 30 minutes minimum will work. Quietly confident for me is probably > 50% chance)

Otherwise I'm afraid it's auto electrician or mechanic to the rescue. 

[Lorian]

what voltage is the battery showing when car is turned off?
How old is the battery?
Check the scuttle under the windscreen isnt blocked and full of water
Check the ECU isnt wet (big connectors by the battery)

[The Gonz]

This latest development could be a blessing in disguise. A poorly performing battery delivering too low a voltage can create all this mayhem.

[CapnJack]

Evening all

So today I performed a BCM reset to no avail. I also disconnected the battery and removed it, chased the earth cable to check that they were tightened securely.

I have tested the battery with a multimeter and it shown 12.3v unladen and 11.5v under load. I also tested several of the problematic fuses/relays to make sure they were getting power and that they were actually in good condition.

I tried to bump start the car after work tonight and it wouldn’t go, so we found the fuel pump and it appears I am also not getting power to the fuel pump... so in total now it’s the wipers/water pump/heating/stereo/starter motor/fuel pump all either not working or problematic.... 🙈 

Got in touch with somebody today who thought it sounded as if the main earth strap from the engine could have gone and recommend a bypass by connecting a jump lead to the negative terminal of the battery to the engine so I will try this tomorrow and see what happens🤞

[Lorian]

You can check the earth continuity (resistance) between the negative on the battery and the engine - multimeter on the ohms scale.  you want low resistance < 5ohms is a nominal figure.

Have you checked the earth cable  to the bulkhead behind the ECU/battery

[Dazzler]

So today I performed a BCM reset to no avail. I also disconnected the battery and removed it, chased the earth cable to check that they were tightened securely.

I have tested the battery with a multimeter and it shown 12.3v unladen and 11.5v under load.

Isn't that on the low side. Is it worth going to a battery place and seeing if a new battery miraculously fixes everything?

Mind you I seldom keep my cars long enough to have to consider new tyres (let alone a new battery) I know. I'm very lucky!

He says. after 2 hours sleep and feeling very sore!

[CapnJack]

You can check the earth continuity (resistance) between the negative on
the battery and the engine - multimeter on the ohms scale.  you want low resistance < 5ohms is a nominal figure.

Have you checked the earth cable  to the bulkhead behind the ECU/battery

Oo ok cheers dude I’ll try that tomorrow see if I end up finding the problem!

And possibly? Would that be located in the same place as where the one from off of the battery goes? There were like 4/5 earths in roughly the same area and they were all tight and corrosion free.

[CapnJack]

So today I performed a BCM reset to no avail. I also disconnected the battery and removed it, chased the earth cable to check that they were tightened securely.

I have tested the battery with a multimeter and it shown 12.3v unladen and 11.5v under load.

Isn't that on the low side. Is it worth going to a battery place and seeing if a new battery miraculously fixes everything?

Mind you I seldom keep my cars long enough to have to consider new tyres (let alone a new battery) I know. I'm very lucky!

He says. after 2 hours sleep and feeling very sore!

I think it was higher before but I’ve tried to start it several times with the flow plugs heating etc which I think has taken some of the life, but I could try jumping it I guess would eliminate the battery I guess?

Haha what that’s crazy man! How’d you manage that one?! 🤙

Mannn don’t think I could function with that much sleep 😩 how come you had so little man!

[Dazzler]

So today I performed a BCM reset to no avail. I also disconnected the battery and removed it, chased the earth cable to check that they were tightened securely.

I have tested the battery with a multimeter and it shown 12.3v unladen and 11.5v under load.

Isn't that on the low side. Is it worth going to a battery place and seeing if a new battery miraculously fixes everything?

Mind you I seldom keep my cars long enough to have to consider new tyres (let alone a new battery) I know. I'm very lucky!

He says. after 2 hours sleep and feeling very sore!

I think it was higher before but I’ve tried to start it several times with the flow plugs heating etc which I think has taken some of the life, but I could try jumping it I guess would eliminate the battery I guess?

Haha what that’s crazy man! How’d you manage that one?! 🤙

Mannn don’t think I could function with that much sleep 😩 how come you had so little man!

I've had 34 cars in 45 years of driving. My Father had garages and was a car nut. Mainly MGs and my Step father had a car dealership that at different times sold Volvo, VW, and various other brands. They both used to bring different cars home almost ever day.

I picked up their bad habits. I was fortunate enough being a Bank and Retail manager for much of my 35 odd year working life to be able to afford to upgrade regularly.

Luckily I was also able to retire a bit early as my health has become very complicated with various ailments and drugs restricting my sleep at times.. Having a bit of a bad patch sleep wise at the moment whoops! 

[CapnJack]

Good evening all!

So a little update on my issues.

The car is still not cranking via the key, but we have had the car started by bridging the switch at the starter relay in the fuse box under the bonnet with a piece of cable.

We have also replaced the ignition switch as when we plugged in a OBD computer the live data was displaying that we had not got ignition 2. Ignition 1 is displaying on and off when turned on and off.

Am now starting to wonder as this began with the wipers, do you think they could be shorting out that circuit?

[Dazzler]

Good evening all!

So a little update on my issues.

The car is still not cranking via the key, but we have had the car started by bridging the switch at the starter relay in the fuse box under the bonnet with a piece of cable.

We have also replaced the ignition switch as when we plugged in a OBD computer the live data was displaying that we had not got ignition 2. Ignition 1 is displaying on and off when turned on and off.

Am now starting to wonder as this began with the wipers, do you think they could be shorting out that circuit?

Thanks for the update always appreciated.   

I can't help with the answer to that question sorry.