Front intermittent wipers fail when it rains

[oogliwoogli]

Can anybody tell me where to locate the relay for the intermittent wipers as I think that there is water ingression when it rains as I lose the intermittent function. When it is dry and my heater is on in the car, the wiper suddenly starts up again obviously when it dries.

[oneday]

hi what car is it

[oogliwoogli]

Oops. In my haste I forgot to mention that I have a 2000 2.0hdi Citroen Synergie

[lurchy666]

are they auto wipers or manual ones??

[oogliwoogli]

Manual ones
This has been happening for quite a long time now but has got considerably worse now. I only used to lose them in a heavy downpour and they used to return quite quickly afterwards but now it only takes light rain and can take a month to return. I am doing long journeys of late travelling to universities for my son and have needed the intermittent function a lot and really miss them hence the question.
I have played around with the relays under the bonnet behind the battery and screwed up the electric windows, electric mirrors and central locking but managed to get them back but not the wipers so I figured the relay wasn't there. I have looked behind the glove box in front of the passenger seat but it doesn't appear to be there either. Plus both of these locations appear dry as a bone too. Am I overlooking somewhere? I figured that it can't be an earthing problem as I still have the normal wiper function and the fast function.
I hate electrics. Give me mechanical any day, but electrics, no

[falling-out-with-my-car]

could even be the control arm going home they are about £90 new plus the vat.
it seems that it is usually the intermittent switch thats goes home first in most cases.
you could try sourcing one from a scrap yard first and try swapping it with the old one.
hudmidity seems to effect the operation of the switch if it is failing.
I had one on an xantia that worked all through the summer but as soon as the cold nights set in it failed to work at all.
a second hand one from the scrappy brought back the intermittant wipers though.

[oogliwoogli]

Not sure if its humidity or not as it literally only stops with rain. Damp doesn't affect it at all

[lurchy666]

I dont know a lot about your car so I wouldnt know where the relay is. All I can tell you is to put your ignition on and put your wipers on intermittent then listen for a click every time the wipers go. Follow the click and when you get to the relay you should feel it click as the wipers move. Thats the best advice I can give u

[falling-out-with-my-car]

As with all faults its usually a process of elimination. I still think its a good bet that the control arm switch is knackered esspecialy if the normal and high speed wiper functions still work its probably not the relay.