I drive a Fiat Brava 1.6 ELX petrol year 2001. The problem I have is an intermittent electrical fault on the front wipers. The wipers do not self park (very annoying), instead it runs at regular speed and I have to manually park (extremely distracting and even more irritating). Speed wipe mode and all other wiper functions, wash, fast wipe, rear wash wipe /park etc all work well. The problem sometimes goes away when the weather warms up. Could this be a 'dry' connection problem or a relay problem. I previously owned a Tipo for 8 years and it developed the same problem after 7 years and cured it by replacing the stalk / control mechanism.
There is a control board held in place by around 4 self tappers on the back of most Fiat wiper motor assys. It comes off easily after you have removed the wiper motor assy. Snag is the stainless, wiper assy retaining screws, are often set solid in their diecast threads due to corrosion. Once off remove the control board, there are 3 or 4 phosphor bronze fingers acting on slip rings on the big gear. There may also be a relay and a few components to time the intermittent wipe duration. I have had several instances of failure to run or intermittent running, due to the fingers acting as a filter and causing a lump of moly disulphide, from the black moly grease, lifting the wiping finger. I have a repair scheme for that, but that is not your problem. I'd suspect the relay, maybe welded contacts, or failing that, as you mention, the stalk wiper switch, not breaking the supply to the motor, but as you can switch the motor off manually, it's less likely, If it is a relay you probably can't source a replacement, so I'd see if the motor assy bolts can be loosened, then head for your friendly local breakers yard to see if you can source a replacement motor assy. I have a list of all the breakers in a 30 mile radius, in order of liklihood of having bits I want. You could also enquire of a Fiat dealership the price. Before committing myself to expenditure I have a 12V test lamp, with flying leads, for probing the electrics, can save hours of unnecessary work and expense if you can diagnose first. You might like to mull on the fact that after a few years of rain at 70mph, water can get down the shaft, the rod that drives the arm is steel, the housing diecast, a good corrosion combination. Motor assy freezes up, nasty smell from motor, which usually survives, but quite a bit of work to free up, apply more suitable lubricants to stop it happening again, and renew the worn O-ring that let the water through. Fiat wipers don't last forever.
Thanks for this, as I suspected without some kind of investigation to eliminate possible faults from the equation it could be just about anything. I will do some baisc diagnostics as you suggest to narrow down the possibilities.
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