[genman]

Until this week my wipers had been fine, doing everything as they should then yesterday went to do a single wipe to clear the screen and they kept wiping for about 10 cycles then stopped about 2 inches above their rest position. This continued all the way to work each time i needed to use them.
Then today they have a mind of their own and stop wherever they feel like which in turn stops them completely for about 5 minutes...changing settings on the stalk does nothing.
Screen washers are also misbehaving during this time and wipe a lot more than normal especially when they do the little secondary wipe...used to be 1 or 2 cycles now its 4 or 5.

I think i've read all the forum posts on this and not found a solution ... some have had similar issues and taken the car to the dealer but not posted what was at fault or if they got it fixed.

 

[pekem]

Erratic wipers have been mentioned previously in the Technical Forum here : http://www.xfforum.co.uk/threads/1559

 

[genman]

That just goes on about the 'AUTO' wipers playing up and how others remember cars years ago managing without such features and also the TSB for it and even mentions its not a guaranteed fix.....i did a TOPIX check when i got the car and it came back as being up to date so I assume thats been done anyway.
Is there a relay related to the wipers or is it all ECU controlled.?

 

[jagular]

The self parking function seems to be malfunctioning. There should be a position sensor inside the wiper motor to inform the control unit when the wipers reach the low point of the stroke after the wipers are switched off. Then they self park, or are supposed to. Some malfunction is preventing that auto park feature from working.

Normal operation for the wash cycle is several wipes (I think four strokes but I'm not sure) concurrent with the wash spray which sprays twice, on initiation and on the third wipe ). Then the final wipe should be a single stroke a short time after the initial four (or maybe six?) strokes. The stalk button operates this feature, non-standard as all other cars do so when the stalk is pulled towards you.

Single stroke wipe is actuated by pulling the stalk once towards you.

Does your problem change at all with the stalk positions? Does the auto wipe feature work at all?

If all works except the self park then it is the position sensor in the motor not sending the correct signal or the signal not being responded to.

That's my best guess. This won't be a software issue, likely.

 

[genman]

Single wipe ....wipes 4 or 5 times then parks somewhere.
Wash/wipe...just seemed to wipe and again park somewhere and no follow up wipe...don't remember seeing any spray
Auto wipe...again just seemed to wipe like the other modes.

Tonight on the way home after a few attempts to use the wash/wipe the system returned to normal in all modes...only thing that had been done was I held the washer button for a good 5 seconds before seeing any washer fluid....they parked normally and did a single wipe afterwards.
I doubt its fixed and I suspect theres an electrical gremlin at its tricks...can't see it being a software issue either.
I had a look into the fuse box and its as dry as a bone in there...fair play to Jaguar for managing that.

Started up the car and tried the wipers...worked ok.
Tried the screen washer and it went pear shaped again..stopping wherever it felt like.
Tried a single wipe and got the screen washers instead, wiggled the screen wash button and its stopped wiping and parked normally.
For now i've sprayed some contact cleaner into the stalk incase this is all just dust/dirt related.

So ...how awkward are the stalk assemblies to replace....I assume its a steering wheel and airbag etc off job.

 

[jagular]

The wash wipe cycle is software driven. PeterG had his dealer bypass the software and switch it directly to the stalk. Here:

http://www.xfforum.co.uk/threads/23794-Windscreen-wipers/page2?highlight=Washers


It would be exceptional to require removal of the airbag and steering wheel just to change the stalks. Remember the stalks aren't on the rotating part. Normally a shroud is removed from below and the stalks just unbolt and bolt up I don't know this for sure but have a look and see if the shroud under the steering column comes off. I doubt it is the stalk.

 

[genman]

Had an amusing chat with the service guy at the dealers and it was like pulling teeth getting him to admit there is a TSB related to the wipers.
He reckoned it had to be wiper motor related and a faulty park switch that he claims isn't serviceable...which would end up around £400 with no guarantee of it fixing the problem....so I bought/downloaded the entire Service/Electrical manuals and its time to do some background homework.
From what i've read so far everything goes through the CJB ( cabin fuse box ) and a few relays in the Engine bay fuse box apart from a CAN signal from the light sensor on the screen....most of that kind of stuff i can work through.
For now the battery is out of the car getting charged/load tested etc.

 

[jagular]

Yes, unfortunately, that park switch is integral with the motor on all types I am familiar with. In many cars the entire wiper assembly, with arms, drive gear, park switch and motor comes as one pre assembled piece.

 

[genman]

I got a neighbour who works on truck diagnostics and after a chat and refitting the battery he plugged his laptop into the car data port.
1st thing he found was a list of CANBUS faults between the dash and the central junction box 1st time stamped to Saturday afternoon...I hadn't driven the car that day but had plugged in a cheap bluetooth code reader and it had been there til last night.
He cleared the fault list and reckons the code reader was screwing with the CANBUS communication but also agrees that the park/stop position on the motor could be randomly faulty as whilst testing the wipers he didn't always see that input to the Central junction box as the wipers returned to the park position.
For now he regreased all the wipers linkages ( lots of fun getting at that ) and it did help with the % of park signals....time will tell and i've done a few miles of successful road testing.

So to sum it up......don't connect anything longterm to the cars OBD data port that isn't CANBUS compatible which mine isn't.
I have previously used a handheld ebay U480 code reader on the car with no side effects.

Now i owe him a favour....I usually fix his bikes as he jokes that they are too small for his big hands to work with.

 

[genman]

ITS back....7 months on and today the weather was mental...out driving for about 5 hours and then they went nuts.
I knew this time there was no possibility of something external causing a CANBUS fault so i managed the last 15 miles of the trip home with random wipers and the odd complete failure.
Once the rain eased i removed the whole wiper assembly ( no idea how a dealer claims 2 hours labour, only took me 15 minutes to remove it ), stripped the gear and motor covers off and found the brass parking plate well grooved by the contact pins, motor was spotless and electrically sound.
I used a mini-drill/ polisher to clean up the contact pins and park plate and all back together 20 mins later ( some amount of crap along the bottom of the dash trim ).
Wipers back up and running.

Tools used.
13mm socket for the wiper shafts
2 leg puller to get the arms off
10mm socket to undo the assembly
torx bit to remove motor covers
flat head screwdriver or similar to remove plastic trim pins
something like a dremel to get the contact pins / park plate cleaned up.

Skills needed...if you can change the likes of brake pads then this is just as simple.
even if i had to replace the wiper assembly a used and 6month guaranteed unit was offered from a breakers for £65.

 

[Hewy.j]

Hi Genman, thanks very much for coming back and explaining what you did to solve this. I'm having the same problem with my 2014 xf and appreciate you taking the time to share the solution. Cheers!