When I set my wipers on automatic (my '09 Clubman has a rain sensor) by pushing the button on the end of the right stalk they work great for a while. However, they randomly just stop wiping even though it's still raining. I can get them to come on again by pushing the same button twice - I assume that the first push turns the function off and the second turns it back on. If it's raining hard enough that the wipers are continuously wiping (no pauses between wipes) this never happens.

My car was in the dealer yesterday and they couldn't find anything wrong - no codes - so they didn't know what to fix. I have no problem with that.

Anybody else have this happening? Any suggestions on further methods to diagnose?

I did a search, but didn't find anything. I doubt that it makes any difference, but my car has Nav. I can definitely live with this as long as it doesn't get any worse.....esp after the warranty is over.

 

I see this problem at times (not all the time) and only on the highway. The cause as far as I can tell in my case is that the rain sensor is not seeing enough moisture on the window where the rain sensor is to cause the wipers to wipe. I have had my GF sone stick his head out the sun roof while driving in the rain when this happens and from what he tells me the area where the rain sensor is, is almost completely dry even though most of the rest of the windshield is covered with rain drops. I think it has to do with the airiflow over the window at higher rates of speed.

 

My '08 does the same thing - I think it's just the nature of the auto wipers and the position of the sensor. Most of the time they work great and I'm glad to have them, but occasionally I wonder if they're worth the trouble.


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Thanks Schatzy - that makes sense for my situation as well. Most of my driving is on the highway and I don't remember this happening while driving at lower speeds. When the circumstances are right I'll experiment with this.

 

And this is not unique to the second gen cars either, my '03 did this as well. To me it was worst when in a very fine rain, almost like mist - the windshield could go completely opaque and still they wouldn't wipe!

Can't you just move the stalk up one notch to turn them on continuously, or push down once to get it to wipe just once?

This is part of the reason why I didn't order the rain sensing wipers on my '09 Clubby, they just didn't work well enough. However, I sure miss not having an adjustable intermittant wipe on the standard wipers....

 

that does not surprise me. My BMW does this as well some times, and so did my Dodge Pickup it is a matter of what the sensor sees and wind on the windshield can change that dramatically depending on conditions.

Well sort of. Pressing in the downward position will send it for a single wipe. Pressing it up puts it in the continuous mode and cancels the auto wipe, which to me is even more aggravating.

As for the frequency of this problem, IMHO it does not constitute a "they don't work well enough". It happens very rarely in my case. And IMHO they work better than any others I have ever had on a car.

 

Update- it was raining steady (not a downpour) on my 45 minute commute this morning. The wipers were on automatic and were intermittently wiping while I was driving at about 55 mph for a few miles. They stopped twice during this time. The part of the windshield that I could see was consistently covered with droplets, but the wipers would not wipe unless I pushed the button on the end of the right stalk twice. Later I got on a faster section of road, driving about 75 mph, with the same amount of rain for about 20 miles and the wipers stopped once. Again, the windshield was consistently covered with water that the wind was pushing into streams.

It seems like there would have been enough moisture over the sensor, at least when I was driving at the lower speed....

Not the end of the world, but I just don't want to have to buy a sensor when it goes out of warranty.

 

i know this may be hard to do but if you can video tape this and show it to the dealer. That way when they can not reproduce the problem in their garage spraying water on it at least you have it on video and have proof that there is a problem.

 

Why don't you go into the settings on the OBC and make the wipers more sensitive to the rain? That's what I did. I think the default is box 2 and there are 4 or 5 boxes to select. I selected all of them to make it the most senstitive to droplets.

 

Schatzy-Good idea, shouldn't be too tough.
MiniDean-You're right. In fact I tried that this morning and I couldn't find the right screen at 75 mph (I have Nav). I'll pull out the manual before my drive home tonight (RTFM!!!)

Thanks.

 

Update- i adjusted the sensitivity (it's the same as the non-Nav, page 51 of my neglected manual) to maximum sensitivity. It was raining pretty hard this morning so my wipers didn't pause or rest between wipes except once. However, the one time they did pause, they exhibited the same problem. I was driving at about 25 mph and the wipers "forgot" to come back on and my windshield was covered with water. I'll keep watching and looking for clues....

 

You know, this could have been the problem with my '03, I didn't even know there was a sensitivity adjustment, and I thought I'd read that manual thoroughly - learn something every day here!

I think I'd still be happier with a setup like the one on my Audi, with about 6 or 8 adjustments to the intermittant and just regular high and low speeds on the switch.

There were times on my '03 when it would wipe furiously when there was virtually nothing on the screen, and times when it seemed to wait forever before it would clear......could have been down to the sensitivity adjustment as I said, but having driven several of these cars with rainsensing wipers - this feature is not for me.