Peugeot 406 Wiper Faults - look here

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fuel
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Peugeot 406 Wiper Faults - look here

Post by fuel »

Hey guys, thought I would write up a how to guide to better help anyone else in the same situation as I was - I was having a hell of a time finding all the info all in the one place let alone anything which was relevant for my model.

I have a 1997 D8 406 2.0 4cyl auto sedan and it developed a fault with the windscreen wipers not working on intermittent speed, and also the wipers would not self park once turned off, they would just stop exactly where and when you switched them off.

After replacing the whole wiper motor and cleaning out the wiper stalk the issue was still there - the issue lay within the wiper relay which has the intermittent speed timer IC circuit integrated into it, and these often are prone to 'dry' solder joints where a connection on the circuit board will fail.

Now to get to the wiper relay on a D8 406 you first need to locate the passenger compartment fuse box, which is hidden behind the 'coin box' which sits just above the driver's right knee. When you open the coin box you'll see a black plastic locking 'screw' like so:

Image

with a large flat bladed screwdriver rotate the locking screw 90 degrees in either direction to unlock it, the right hand portion of the panel will now drop down to reveal the fuses behind it:

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I found for easier access and to actually be able to shine a light up under the dash to see where your hand needs to get to the wiper relay, it was easier to remove the whole lower plastic panel first, of which you need to remove the three clips and fabric card cover (two clips shown, the third one to the right):

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and then remove the 6 T20 torx screws securing the lower plastic panel on. With that removed you have better access to everything. Looking at the fuse panel again you will see a red tab on the left hand side:

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Grab some pliers and pull it out completely, now grab the fuse panel and push it to the left to 'unhook' it and then pull it out completely, letting it dangle below while being careful not to pull the plugs out from behind it:

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Deep down behind it you will now see a blue box:

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That is the wiper relay! To help show where it is, from looking under the fuse panel there is a bunch of other relays (this photo has the lower plastic panel attached still):

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Below the large yellow relay (which is the rear window demister relay) and the purple relay you will see a little bit of a blue socket holder - that is the wiper relay. It's really difficult to get to at all angles, I found it easier to basically just maneuver your hand through the letter box opening where the fuse panel was attached to, and grabbing the wiper relay and pulling it up and out - the relay socket will detach from its mounting before the relay itself will detach from the socket but thankfully there's plenty of wiring to pull it out a bit and detach there:

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Don't worry about trying to seat the relay socket back where it was, you'll spend ages trying to fit it in to find it wont budge. Just leave it resting in there somewhere - it's not going to go anywhere!

Once it's out, pull the casing off to reveal the circuit board inside:

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Where you'll see a dry solder joint on one of the main terminals where it meets the circuit board:

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it isn't very well shown in my pic but in this pic you'll have a clearer idea:

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And that's basically it! To refit do the reverse of the actions above, and then hope that the issue is fixed! If not, then start looking elsewhere and don't ask me because I would have no other clue!


Cheers,
Phil
Last edited by steve_earwig on Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Pics moved to imgur
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steve_earwig
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Re: Peugeot 406 Wiper Faults - look here

Post by steve_earwig »

Nice one! :cheesy: Very much one for the old Knowledge Base (just don't ask me to move it 'cos I'll probably delete it by accident). I presume you managed to find the dry joint on the relay, sometimes they're just not that obvious (I have a 10x spy glass for just such eventualities 8) )

I once spent weeks looking for a fault on a mate's Passat - sometimes the fuel pump wouldn't run, sometimes the whole engine management went out too. We even tried a new ECU to not effect, in the end it was driving about with LEDs tapped into the fuse panel so I could see just what it was up to. Turned out it wasn't just one but two relays with dry joints :roll: And the lesson learned is don't just assume it's not the relay :oops:
Unskilled meddling sin©e 2007

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teamster1975
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Re: Peugeot 406 Wiper Faults - look here

Post by teamster1975 »

Fantastic job, moving to KB now!!
1996 406 1.8LX Got a bad case of hydro lock!
1996 406 Executive 2.0 Turbo XU10J2TE No longer hangin' on in there :(
1997 Honda CB500V
2003 Volvo V40 1.8 GDi SE killed by a nutter in a beemer 5 series
2008 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Titanium X

"Always look on the bright side of life, dedo, dedo dedodedo"
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