On the way home tonight, (in the pouring rain, of course), my windshield wipers began to act very crazily. At first they wiped at a VERY high rate of speed. The speed was not changed by any positioning of the wiper switch, or controlled by the intermittent delay settings. Then they stopped working at all, making the rest of the trip home VERY interesting.

When I got home, I shut off the car and removed the ignition key. The wiper motors were still working, but the arms were not wiping. The motors continued to spin, even without power from the ignition key. I was worried that they would soon drain my battery, so I pulled the 40 Amp fuse in position 25. That finally shut down the wiper motor. I let the car cool down for awhile, reset the MMI, and then reinserted the fuse.

Now I restarted the car and switched on the wipers, and now they were completely dead. I gusess another trip to the service department is on my agenda for tomorrow. I sure hope the weather is sunny.

I am now keeping track of the times that I am without the services of my car.

Has anyone out there had a problem with their wipers??

 

Doc, keep track of exactly why you bring the car into service and when. My wipers can be set for "low-speed wipe" and sometimes when I stop the wipers do as well. I dont know if this is normal or not. But I never lost the use of the wipers. It almost sounds as though a sensor has gone kaflooey. Good luck tomorrow and please let us know what happens.


greenie 6625


04 A8L silver/sabre

 

Dear Dr. Gallo:

Oh yes, I certainly had "wiper possession" during the time I had my 2004 A8L(emon). Symptoms were somewhat different from yours, however. In my case, the wipers and washers would come on for no reason at all. The first time this happened, it "stopped by self" and I assumed that I had inadvertently hit the switch. The second time I was a bit more concerned, but Audi could find nothing wrong and I could not duplicate the issue. And, as you may well have figured out by now, oddball "issues" and "behaviors" are part of the A8L's special "charisma" and "soul" and are supposed to be something to gloss over lightly the way that World War I flying aces might have talked about the cranky peculiarities of their "crates."

Anyway, the third time, they came on and stayed on. Sprayed a gallon of expensive Prestige (oops, I mean Prestone) washer juice all over the car (thank heavens the sunroof was not open!) and could not be shut down at all. When the reservoir had emptied, they continued to grind away across the dry windshield. Nothing I could do would shut them down. I began to think of the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence from Fantasia. I drove straight to the dealer (these cars are like homing pigeons and zero right in to their favorite service bay, that's part of their "charisma").

As this model was still very new, it took my dealer several days to even figure out what was what. This was pretty surprising to me in my then-innocent state since I figured that whatever was wrong with a windshield wiper circuit could hardly require days in the shop.

As I recall, in my case at least, they told me the control switch on the stalk was defective (as in, "design-defective") and they had to get a new one from Germany or wherever and install it. They took photos of the defective part and emailed them to Germany for analysis. So there is a known issue by now about the wiper controls. Regrettably, since no one that I know of has posted any comments about a wiper-control stalk upgrade they appear to be operating on Audi's traditional: "If it ain't broke (yet) don't fix it," theory. Like the notorious ignition coil recall on the 1.8s where the policy was not to replace the known defective coils until they would actually fail in service.

Well, your issue may well have other origins but you can rest assured you are not alone in suffering "wiper possession." Have fun!

Buybeach (a/k/a Buyback)

 

Good luck on a quick fix. Problem is very rare.

 

Maybe if we post every problem here, we might find a "common thread". When I had problems with my windshield, the info that I found right here on this SIG enabled me to better explain the problem to my dealer. I am only trying to contribute. I knew when I bought the A8L in its initial model year that I'd be helping Audi "test market" this car. So far, it has been much more fun "test marketing" that it was driving my prior boring Lexus.

So far, this SIG and the very helpful people who visit here have enhanced my overall experience, or as you call it "A8L Charisma". I am NOT whining, but making an effort to help.

 

Now I wonder WHO could have aka`d you as Buyback? But "have fun"? Ouch!


greenie 6625


04 A8L silver/sabre

 

I think I did. Pages ago... :-)

 

Of course you are. And right to do it. I meant to be supportive, sorry if you didn't read it that way.

 

No problems with mine so far but only 450 miles so far in the last week I've had the car. Sound like more than a software glitch.

 

As an owner of 2 A6's, I hope you can work out your gremlins. We all face Audi issues, and I hope your dealer can work them out for you.