Front Wiper Failure

[Missing Lincs]

I've found a diagram for the wiper circuit, slightly confusing as the wire colours don't match your plug. Looking at the picture of the plug it looks original.

If the wiring diagram I have is correct for your car then you should have the following signals at the wiper motor:-

Fixed ground - green/yellow

12 volt high speed and 12 volt low speed - the relay configuration that feeds these is slightly unusual, there is a double relay shown with an electronic circuit to drive it, this is in the fuseboard under the bonnet. The first half of the relay is an on-off contact, the second is a change-over contact that selects the speed. If the first part of the relay has failed it would explain your lack of voltage.

The other wire comes from the BSI inside the car. It is connected to the park switch on the wiper motor. The park switch operates on the earth side and removes the current path to earth when the wipers reach the park position. My guess is that the fourth wire creates a temporary earth point so the motor can run long enough to close the park switch. If this signal is missing from the BSI it will also stop the motor running.

A test lamp on the wiper motor connector with the other side of the bulb to 12 volts will see if the 'start' signal is present.

[Dawn]

Thanks Missing Lincs, I will make sure my brother sees this, he's the one with the meters and things

Thanks for taking the time to look at the diagram, I am sure it will help.

[Dawn]

Well, this afternoon whilst I was in town, I called by a local independent garage who specialises in Peugeot & Citroen - I thought it was worth asking him if he'd run a diagnostic to see what was wrong, to try and save messing around

He didn't say he couldn't or wouldn't, in fact not sure exactly of his words, but I think he kind of said there was no point - he said

"It will be the BSI".

I asked him how he knew, he shrugged, looked around and said, it's all I do. I mentioned that I'd read it could be relays, comms unit or the stalk amongst other things and his reply was that he'd done 40 or 50 of these and it was always the BSI, he'd never found it to be anything else - his words were something like "we update the software on the BSI, it takes about three hours to download and I don't know why but it always seems to fix the problem".

Hmm. I didn't press him about getting diagnostics done first, and he did say he'd got lots of parts lying around that he could test to make sure it wasn't anything else - it just felt a bit dismissive - wasn't sure if I was getting the "oh, it's a woman, she won't have a clue" treatment.

Any thoughts?

And, is there anybody on here with Lexia that would be willing to run the tests for me - I live between Nottingham & Derby, (M1 J25) and would happily pay for your time (so long as you're not charging me £80)

Thanks

[Arfur Dent]

"we update the software on the BSI, it takes about three hours to download and I don't know why but it always seems to fix the problem".

Interesting. I wasn't aware of this.

Lexia is the tool to update the BSI firmware and its not a huge job but checking all the entries are correct for the model of C3 is a bit time consuming.

[Dawn]

Thanks Arfur

Interesting to know that it can be done with a Lexia - seeing as they seem to cost less than the price he wanted and it would come in handy for future use.

I am still a bit wary, he was *so* dismissive of doing diagnostics, then again, I struggle to find garages I trust as there are too many out there willing to tell unsuspecting customers anything.

[Arfur Dent]

Interesting to know that it can be done with a Lexia - seeing as they seem to cost less than the price he wanted and it would come in handy for future use.

The Lexia tool is a clone of the tool used in Citroen approved workshops

I am still a bit wary, he was *so* dismissive of doing diagnostics, then again, I struggle to find garages I trust as there are too many out there willing to tell unsuspecting customers anything.

A good enough reason to learn as much about fixing the C3 yourself and not having to rely on anyone. Even if you don't want to take on the mechanical repairs, at least you will sound as if you know what you are talking about, and that can count for a lot

[Dawn]

Hi All

Just thought I'd come back and let you know what happened with this (meant to do so a while back)

I decided against the "specialist's" advice to simply have a firmware update at £80 and wait to see what the garage I'd bought the car from said (seeing as theirs is a free labour deal)


They were a bit doubtful when I first got there, seeing the temporary wiring job my brother had put in and were concerned that it could have really upset the BSI and said I'd probably need an auto-electrician.

I asked them what they would've done had we not put the temp wiring in and they said they'd be running diagnostics, so I asked them to still go ahead and try and find out.

A few hours later they phoned me, and apparently a BSI reset had sorted the problem out. No firmware updates, no steering control boxes, no relays. We had tried the BSI reset suggested elsewhere in this forum, but they do seem a little hit and miss, where as I presume the garage performed it using their diagnostics tools.

Anyway, BSI reset has sorted it, it works fine (for) now.

[C3CAR]

We had tried the BSI reset suggested elsewhere in this forum, but they do seem a little hit and miss, where as I presume the garage performed it using their diagnostics tools.

Anyway, BSI reset has sorted it, it works fine (for) now.

Thanks for the update Dawn. Fingers crossed it will be ok from now on

[KARENBANWELL]

Hi

I have a Citroen C3 1.6 HDi diesel April 2011 with 20,000 miles on it. I have had the car for 3 years since it had 5000 miles on it. I am 'one careful lady owner'

The front wipers began to play up a few weeks ago. I took the car to an auto electrician who said they tried to 'reset' it a couple of times and this didn't work. It cost me £377 for them to fit a new wiper motor. They said the part alone cost £260.

A few weeks later, the wipers began to display exactly the same fault again. They do not return to the right place, and they also keep stopping every few sweeps, even on 'constant'. I can get by by flicking the stalk whenever they stop.

The car is now back at the auto electrician's. I have just phoned him and he thinks it might be the 'body computer' They are £600 he says. I will get the verdict tomorrow. It cannot be going to cost me almost £1000 to repair my wipers can it?

Any input would be so gratefully received.

[Dawn]

I'm certainly not an expert, but I would have seriously questioned them saying it was the wiper motor that was the problem and replacing it if the wipers were working, even if they behave randomly.

Personally, I think I'd take it somewhere that could run a proper diagnostics before shelling out that kind of money, especially as they've already got it wrong once. If he's saying "it might be" the computer, I am guessing he hasn't got a diagnostic code confirming it. And I thought the mechanic telling me "oh, it's always the firmware needing upgrading" was fobbing me off...