I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable can point me in the right direction, I'm close to my wits end with this. So, 1987 ce1 mk2 golf gti 8v. It's been off the road for many years, and I'm currently going through a list of issues with it. Amongst these, includes the several issues I'm having with my wipers: 1. They don't park, 2. Intermittent runs constantly at speed 1 3. Speed 2 doesn't work at all. Just stops dead as soon as you switch it to speed 2. I've changed the relay, switch & wiper motor, all for brand new (plus I damaged the mfa stalk during removal, not ideal - those things cost a small fortune. It's currently got a non mfa stalk until I get this figured out) All wires have continuity from the switch to the fuse box, and from the motor to the fuse box. I've checked the grounds from the connectors at the switch, and from the motor, against the body of the car. At the same points, I've checked the ignition live wire (grey/black) for voltage, and it was over 12v at both ends I've removed & opened the fuse box & there is no signs of any breaks anywhere inside, infact it's like new. If anyone else has any further ideas on what I should be checking, please please please, let me know.
Hmm, sounds like a wiring issue given what you’ve replaced and where you are. Not sure if you’re aware but interestingly checking continuity alone doesn’t always prove a circuit as for any given specific circuit (i.e. wipers) that then shorts between switched earths/lives from another circuit can throw that testing off. This is a helpful watch.
yep thats fine, back to the drawing board. does the relay click at all when changing wiper settings? maybe fusebox is still to blame, did you look closely at all the sockets for relay and fuse to make sure they're nice and tight+clean
There's a slight delay when switched to intermittent, and then the relay clicks & runs constantly at speed one.
OK, so quick update as to where I am with this at the moment. First off, I'm totally an amateur with this, and by "shorting to ground" what I mean is, I'm checking continuity from the pin in question & a ground point, hopefully I'm doing this correctly... Anyway, after going back & checking if anything is shorting, I found pin 53 at the switch is shorting to ground, until the relay is unplugged. From the relay connector, with the relay unplugged, 53m is shorting to ground, until the motor is unplugged. After checking the motor, 31 53 & 53b are all shorting to ground, whilst the wipers are off. I then took some readings, both with the motor plugged in, and unplugged. Connected to motor: Wiper off Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 0v, gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 12.2v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 0v, gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Intermittent Brown, 31 - 0.1v, not gnd Green, 53 - 12.2v, gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 12.2v, fluctuates, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 7.8v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Speed 1 Brown, 31 - 0.1v, not gnd Green, 53 - 12.2v, not gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 12.2v, fluctuating, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 7.8v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Speed 2 Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 0v, gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 12.2v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 0v, gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Motor disconnected: Wiper off Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 2v, not gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 0.6v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 2v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Intermittent Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 12.2v, not gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 0.9v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 2.6v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Speed 1 Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 12.2v, not gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 0.8v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 2.7v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd Speed 2 Brown, 31 - 0v, gnd Green, 53 - 1.7v, not gnd Grn/blk, 31b, 0.7v, not gnd Grn/yel, 53b, 2.2v, not gnd Gry/blk, 53a, 12.2v, not gnd I'm assuming that, 31b, is something to do with the wipers parking? So it has voltage, but the fluctuations are where it should park? I've checked the results with 3 different motors with similar readings, so I can only assume that the motors are all ok. I've also tried swapping the relays back, with no change. Should 53b be grounded at the switch end, like it is at the wiper end? Does anything else look off with those readings?
the fact you're loosing your earth on pin 31 on some settings seems to be the issue I think, it should have a solid earth at all times on the CE1 fusebox the wiper earth comes in to the white engine loom D plug on fusebox, then theres a brown wire coming out the back of the same pin which needs to go to the white 4 way spade block on the headlight loom. there should also be another earth in this block from the dash loom and another from the fuel pump. out the back of this block is a wire which goes to the claw above the fusebox that supplies the claw with earth, and a thicker one which goes off to the battery edit: to clarify the pin on the white D plug is the main earth for the fusebox from the white block, the wiper loom just piggy backs off it
Cheers, I'll check through the earth points when I'm back home in a few days. Thanks again to you both for taking the time to assist Rubjonny, replying on all these posts must be a full time job for you!
So, I've had a bit more time to look at this today. I spliced a new ground in at the wiper motor end, which didn't change anything. I then decided to try disconnecting the ground from the loom altogether, so the motor was purely relying in the new ground I'd just fitted, and once again, no change. So, back to the drawing board. I once again removed the fusebox (that I previously described as 'like new' inside) and found a pinout for it. I checked for continuity across the various wiper pins, and discovered no continuity from pin A5 to D9 (wiper high speed signal) or from A6 to D17 (wiper park signal) To confirm this is a fault with the fusebox, I've bypassed the fusebox for these 2 wires (spliced a wire from grn/yel on blue plug to white plug, and done the same for the grn/blk wire) and all is now working, as it should be. Thanks again to Rubjonny & Rustbuster, your guidance was extremely helpful. Virtual pints sent to you both!
