09 C5 Wipers not working

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philip sowerby
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09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

The wipers on my 09 C5 work perfectly on a morning but after a run when I restart the car the are not working at all. Car needs at least 4 hours before they start working again.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

You might want to locate the relevant fuse (probably in the engine bay fusebox) and unplug/plug it in a few times. On my first C5 the rear wiper was intermittent (in functionality), but when I plugged the fuse in/out several times the rear wiper behaved properly. What I think had happened was that tarnish had built up on the fuse blades/holder until it affected the wiper. The plug/unplug action would have scraped the tarnish off.
Last edited by Hell Razor5543 on 28 Apr 2021, 16:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

F12 30A is the wipers fuse in the engine compartment fuse box.

Have you had any erratic behaviour as yet from the wipers? - As in wiper arms randomly stopping and starting independently, pausing on the wipe cycle?
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

I Have unplugged once. I will do it a few times.

Behaviour not erratic just either on or off

They seem to reset over night as they always work on a morning
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Ok, so check your fuse first and consider replacing that as although they can appear ok visually, they may have a hairline crack in that is affecting the circuit so worth changing that for a new one.

Then try a BSI reset here:

BSI Reset / Battery Disconnect / Reconnect Procedure

Be aware that the wipers operate independently and have an ECU in the Master wiper and this acts in a Master / Slave relationship with the other wiper to coordinate the wiping function and speed of wiping / parking function. One of the issues with the X7 wipers is that water ingress can get into one or both of the housings over time and start playing tricks with the electronic circuits causing the behaviour I described. When this happens it is usually a replacement wiper unit. But try the fuse and reset first.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

GiveMeABreak wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 18:13 Ok, so check your fuse first and consider replacing that as although they can appear ok visually, they may have a hairline crack in that is affecting the circuit so worth changing that for a new one.

Then try a BSI reset here:

BSI Reset / Battery Disconnect / Reconnect Procedure

Be aware that the wipers operate independently and have an ECU in the Master wiper and this acts in a Master / Slave relationship with the other wiper to coordinate the wiping function and speed of wiping / parking function. One of the issues with the X7 wipers is that water ingress can get into one or both of the housings over time and start playing tricks with the electronic circuits causing the behaviour I described. When this happens it is usually a replacement wiper unit. But try the fuse and reset first.
I have tried the bsi reset. should the clock need resetting? it kept its time so I guess I havnt done it correctly
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

The clock may synchronise time with GPS - so if you have that enabled it will do it automatically.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

GiveMeABreak wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 18:13 Ok, so check your fuse first and consider replacing that as although they can appear ok visually, they may have a hairline crack in that is affecting the circuit so worth changing that for a new one.

Then try a BSI reset here:

BSI Reset / Battery Disconnect / Reconnect Procedure

Be aware that the wipers operate independently and have an ECU in the Master wiper and this acts in a Master / Slave relationship with the other wiper to coordinate the wiping function and speed of wiping / parking function. One of the issues with the X7 wipers is that water ingress can get into one or both of the housings over time and start playing tricks with the electronic circuits causing the behaviour I described. When this happens it is usually a replacement wiper unit. But try the fuse and reset first.
Could a weak battery cause the BSI network to disappear intermittently

The wipers stop working after the car has been ran for a while then restart after a few hours.

If it was the motors wouldnt one still try to work?
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by wheeler »

philip sowerby wrote: 06 May 2021, 12:44

If it was the motors wouldnt one still try to work?
Not necessarily, the wiper motors sync with each other so they don’t collide with each other. One faulty motor can prevent the other one operating.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

wheeler wrote: 06 May 2021, 13:10
philip sowerby wrote: 06 May 2021, 12:44

If it was the motors wouldnt one still try to work?
Not necessarily, the wiper motors sync with each other so they don’t collide with each other. One faulty motor can prevent the other one operating.
The bit that confuses me is that they work after the cars been left overnight of for a few hours during day
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Consider contraction and expansion of fuses or dry solder joints. Heat will expand a joint losing contact and when cold it contracts, so contact is made again.

Just a thought - so I would start by replacing the wiper fuse regardless as that only costs pence and will rule out a flaky fuse.
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philip sowerby
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

GiveMeABreak wrote: 06 May 2021, 15:44 Consider contraction and expansion of fuses or dry solder joints. Heat will expand a joint losing contact and when cold it contracts, so contact is made again.

Just a thought - so I would start by replacing the wiper fuse regardless as that only costs pence and will rule out a flaky fuse.
Thanks

I tried that and no difference.

The bit that gets me is that if the wipers are working when I set off they continue working for the whole journey untill the car is stopped. Then the wont work for at least 2 hours. Normally longer.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Hi Philip. In that case you may need to bite the bullet and pay the £60 diagnostic at Citroen to ascertain the issue. You don't want to get caught out in a downpour on the motorway for obvious reasons.

Incidentally, if you pop your VIN up (automatically masked on post submission), I can check if the C5 X7 wiper recall affects your vehicle. There were 4271 vehicles affected in a certain range where the wiper motor failed. May be worth a check to see if your vehicle is inside the recall range.
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by philip sowerby »

GiveMeABreak wrote: 07 May 2021, 08:50 Hi Philip. In that case you may need to bite the bullet and pay the £60 diagnostic at Citroen to ascertain the issue. You don't want to get caught out in a downpour on the motorway for obvious reasons.

Incidentally, if you pop your VIN up (automatically masked on post submission), I can check if the C5 X7 wiper recall affects your vehicle. There were 4271 vehicles affected in a certain range where the wiper motor failed. May be worth a check to see if your vehicle is inside the recall range.
Hi will get the vin number for you.

Have the car booked in at a local auto electrician. £25 for diganostic. Am I wasting my money? Will the citroen machine be required? (my local citroen dealer is a joke and I begrudge spending a penny with him)
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Re: 09 C5 Wipers not working

Post by GiveMeABreak »

I can only put it down to one of the wiper motors (the master wiper motor controls the other motor) failing or the engine fuse box. There is a relay (R5) in the engine fuse box (internal only so not replaceable).

I wouldn't waste your money on a third party garage for this sort of thing, because they may not be able to interrogate the manufacturer specific faults codes with their code reader. Your dealer may also be aware of this problem, but have access to proper technical support from France if necessary and any similar issues.
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