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2005 E500 with rain sensor - drove to store, wipers worked fine. Started car, wipers don't work in any position, including pushing washer. I checked the fuses and found a 15a blown in f54, replaced it, no change. Alldatadiy is of limited use to troubleshoot; it shows the N10/1 as the box containing the wiper relay, but fails to specify which relay of the 9 controls the wipers. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot?
Had the same thing happen to me this morning. Pouring rain here in DC. Got in my car to drive in to the office, wipers were working fine. 10 minutes into my commute, they just stopped.
Nothing. None of the settings respond (not even pressing for washer). Managed to complete my 30 minute commute (with limited visibility); but kept testing wipers randomly and nothing.
I got in my car for the commute home last night.. first thing I did was check the wipers.. and they worked!
Since this is the first time this has happened, I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if it recurs. If so, I may try replacing the wiper motor as per link #2.
My wipers stopped working the other day, but after shutting the car off they worked the next time I started the car, only to fail again the next time I started it...
The intermittent failures lead me to believe that it may not be a bad motor or bad stalk but rather something different.
I will try messing with the relay but noticed in another unresolved thread (from different forum) with exact symptoms was not resolved by the fuse/relay. Someone mentioned the Controller Area Network needing to be reset via star??
I had the same type of failure and it was the stalk. Sometimes it would work when turn signal was on too. When I removed the stalk, I could see the exposed wiring burnt out. Replaced and worked fine.
Interesting. I will remove the stalk next to verify no broken or damaged wiring. I'm not sure that's it since when I have the blinkers on it doesn't seem to affect the failure. I also had it scanned today and there was a fault for the motor saying something along the lines of (interrupted). Not sure if that means the front SAM is beginning to fail/bad ground, or if the motor/stalk failed and the CAN stops any and all processes related to wipers. That would partially explain why my headlight washer works when I press the button but does not work when pushing in stalk with highbeams on...
I bought this car in Florida where the sun has taken it's toll on the rubber, particularly the strip the leads water from the bottom of the windshield into the collector tray to drain. There are several chunks missing where water can pass freely into the area where the wiper motor is located...
So here is what I found..
As you can see water has compromised both the circuit board and the connection leading to the connector.
New on in the mail for $35 from a salvaged unit, dealer wanted $450....