Rain Sensor

Yes, just don't put the stalk in the auto position!

Fast Normal auto / intermittent off flick

and IIRC press = wash cycle pull = squirt and flick

I agree as it worked on my E38 740i and my new E65

So how can I have intermittent without auto activating?

AFAIK you can't, but why would you want to? You can adjust the sensitivity of the rain sensor though, by using the knurled wheel on the indicator stalk which will alter how frequently it wipes. Mike.

Oh, I see. Thank you. Why is there an intermttent setting then?

The drivers h/book might have expressed it better. You have intermittent, 'or' rain sensor if it is fitted, but not both. Mike.

All becomes clear. Thanks again.

It's not a brilliant system but the function is worsened if the *inside* of the screen isn't clean - I'd guess due to 'light' scatter effecting the sensor. So give it a good clean with warm water with a drop or two of washing up liquid in it then finish off with a chamois leather and see if it works more to your satisfaction.

The sensor is moulded into the screen so which bit are you suggesting cleaning?

The whole of it - why bother just doing a bit? Some people never clean the inside of the windscreen properly as a build up of traffic film etc happens gradually and evenly via the demister vents so can go unnoticed. But if you're one who does keep the screen clean ignore this. ;-)

I'm going to give it a try but if it doesn't work you're in big trouble ;-)

Really? In my cars that have rain sensors, there are small ~2" black square areas in the windshield, directly in front of the rear view mirror, that have the "sensors". The only part of the windshield that the sensor is sensitive to is the 2" square and perhaps an additional inch in each direction, all of which cannot be cleaned from the inside. You cannot see the sensor area from inside the car as it is covered by a part of the interior molding.

Oh, and I agree. They are most definitely not brilliant. I personally prefer a standard time delay intermittent and to adjust it myself to varying rain intensities.

Could be - or that it is only the parts of the screen close to the sensor that react by cleaning it. All I can say is mine was worse than usual after a long trip with a car full of people - and a dog - where the screen ended up pretty dirty. Cleaned the whole screen and it reverted to normal operation. Could of course be just coincidence but it costs nothing to try.

Trouble is you're constantly tweaking the delay as the rainfall changes. I fitted such a system to my other car - fully variable delay instead of fixed - and it's still anything but a perfect solution. I did wonder about trying a highly selective frequency sound measuring system - if the blades produce a fixed frequency as they dry out.

I think you are right. I don't the cleaniless of the screen interior can affect the behaviour of the sensor.

I quite like it. The problem I find with a std delay system, is that in light rain, one speed can be too slow, and the next speed up too fast. Or on a wet road where the spray coming off other vehicles is not constant, or the amount of rain varies from minute to minute. In those circumstances, the only real solution is to operate the wiper manually, or in conjunction with the delay timer.

With the rain sensor system, the wiper can be adjusted to suit varying conditions. I've found that at the most sensitive setting it wipes too early, and at the most sensitive setting, too late, which makes it easy to find a setting between which suits me. Mike.

On my E46 it's OK but it depends on what type of rain we get. The one on my E38 isn't very good at all and it got worse after the screen was changed.