washer/wipers wont work

[fazzer]

after checking my van over for mot which was booked in for today(Saturday)the only thing it failed on was the washers and wipers because they wont work,they worked perfectly the day before, I tried them.Ive checked the fuse and its fine is there anywhere else to look.

[fairwynds]

Dirty switch? Earth crown?
You don't say what van...?
Does your heater blower fan work? Some vans gave a shared circuit between blower motor and wipers..

[bigherb]

Have you got power to the fuse? As it is powered by the relief relay.
And early or late fuse box?

[fazzer]

its an 84 kamper hightop 1.9 dg,ive cleaned the crowns but they look ok anyway,the heater stopped working in September for a few weeks then just started working again but now don't work.

[fazzer]

today I put a tester across the fuse and its dead,so I put a live to it and the heater ,washers and wipers worked,where could the problem be now,

[bigherb]

today I put a tester across the fuse and its dead,so I put a live to it and the heater ,washers and wipers worked,where could the problem be now,

If the headlamps still work then probably the relief relay which powers the fuse, relay No 3 normally grey in colour.

[fazzer]

Thanks for reply,headlamps work and fuse box is an early one with the bullet type fuses,does the relief relay apply

[bigherb]

Thanks for reply,headlamps work and fuse box is an early one with the bullet type fuses,does the relief relay apply

yes

[CovKid]

If its an 84 Fazzer, as mentioned, your wipers are on same fuse as blower motor. Its usually the ageing blower that pops the fuse. For safety sake get them apart. See last section on this page as to why you should do it and how:

http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Co ... eplacement" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"PRE-85 FUSEBOX MOD - ENSURING WIPERS WORK IF BLOWER KILLS FUSE"

Quote: "Because the blower and wipers use the same fuse on the these fuseboxes (a daft idea to be honest), any problem with the blower that for whatever reason, pops the fuse, also kills the wipers. Likewise the wipers could take out the blower. This can be a safety issue. I've mentioned before on here that I once had it happen on a busy motorway leaving me with no wipers in torrential rain and it was some miles before I could find a place to stop and replace the fuse - not good. In my view it was a design flaw."

The blower can draw a lot of current on startup as it ages - more sometimes than conventionally rated fuses and you may have a Summer job coming up, replacing blower motor but for now split them so wipers always work regardless of fan. The other cause of blowing fuse (I found ) was bad connections on the blower relay (if fitted). Its up above the earth crowns. Sometimes pulling off connectors and reseating relay will cure it. It can suffer same problems as the earth crowns.

[fazzer]

I have noticed theres 2 relays above crowns,theres 2 relays on top of the fuse board am I right to assume the grey one is the one I possibly need to change......
and yes covkid it is a bad idea will be changing it just need to get my mot sorted this week first..

[CovKid]

You should be able to figure out which relay works fan - remove it and fan won't work

The act of removing it and putting it back may well solve the blown fuse issue anyway - with luck. I only noticed this problem when I saw the overheated wires at fusebox. Took me several months to nail that one.

Yep, split those two as soon as you can buddy. Its a right hazard if you're driving along in torrential rain and it goes. When VW wired it all up like that, with new blower and wiper motor it wasn't a problem. Its only now with old electric motors that the issue has cropped up.

I still think they should have had their own fuses but thinking about it, perhaps there just wasn't the room in the type of fusebox they were fitting at the time. After all, its the basic Aircooled version fusebox and that didn't have a dash fan so I imagine they just clumped those two together before rethinking the electrics and fitting a brand new fusebox (post-85) with spade fuses.

Relays on fuseboard are all the conventional stuff. Fan relay was an afterthought and mounted nearer crowns.

[fazzer]

problem solved it was a faulty relay no 24.thanks for all help/advice......