wipers doing strange things, can anyone help

neilg · Post by **neilg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:09 am

Hi everyone,
My wipers seem to have a mind of their own all of a sudden. They dont function as they should, you cant put them on with their propper settings. To get them to work you just have to move the stalk somewhere, they come on at medium speed, run for around 10 seconds and them stop wherever they feel like (normally across the middle of the window). there is no way to turn them off they just stop when thay want.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me as it is a real pain!

Thanks

Post by **DaiRees** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:25 am

I hope for your sake it's a dodgy switch but it sounds like it might be the dreaded BSI again....

neilg · Post by **neilg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:31 am

whats a bsi? how can i check?

Post by **DaiRees** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:14 am

BSI is Built in Systems Interface, it's the magic box that controls all the "non-vital" electrical bits of the car, lights, wipers etc (non-vital, yeah right

). When the BSI packed up on the wife's 206, it cost £375

. Just guessing it's that though, don't mean to scare you

, I'm sure someone will be along soon who knows a bit more about how this stuff works.

neilg · Post by **neilg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:17 am

you any idea what it would do to the lights?

Post by **DaiRees** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:38 am

From what I understand, pretty much every command you give the car goes through the BSI. So if could affect pretty much anything....

On the wife's car it was in intermittent fault, so you'd be driving along any suddenly the wipers and indicators would just stop working. Then in a little while they'd start again. These pockets of crapness got longer and more frequent until it was wrong more than it was right. But the worst bit about it was that the fault also took out the remote central locking, which isn't a problem in itself 'cos you can always ure the key, but the central locking is linked to the immobiliser, so if the fault occurred when the car had been locked normally you could open it with the key but it wouldn't start

. RAC - main dealer - big bill

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:02 pm

if your 406 is a D9 then its as Dai says, the bloody BSi, but they are usually quite well behaved on the 406, what year is your car?

neilg · Post by **neilg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:08 pm

its a 2000 hdi

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:11 pm

it could either be the BSi, but more likely its the COMM 2000, basically the wiper stalk

and they aint cheap either, about £180+fitting+vat i think

neilg · Post by **neilg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:20 pm

Is there any way of telling if either one has had it?

Cant i just get a second hand wiper stalk if thats what it is?

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:25 pm

the only way to tell is to take it to the dealer, and i dont think a used one will work as it has to be matched to your car by the dealer

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:59 pm

There's some D9 wiper stalks on ebay for about £90 at the moment...

neildavies · Post by **neildavies** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 3:00 pm

DON'T MENTION THE 'B' WORD IN FRONT OF DAI.

julian · Post by **julian** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:36 pm

Hi Neil

Sounds like it's your BSI. I have exactly the same fault on my 01 HDi 90. Basically the problem is that the BSi unit is not detecting the wiper park switch. The wipers will run for about ten seconds and then 'time out' and stop. I doubt it's your stalk, however you can check it buy seeing if the wipers run at different speeds in the 'normal' and 'fast' positions.

You may me be lucky and find it is the park switch (a simple check with a meter) and then it is a new wiper drive assembly.

I have found a company in Kent (not tried them yet) who can repair the BSi for £125. However you will need to take out the 'BSi box' and send it them.

You could try diconnecting the battery and re-booting the BSi, although this made no difference in my case.

If you want more info do a search on 'BSi' in this forum.

Hope this helps, sorry if bad news and let me know how you get on?

Julian

Babybadger · Post by **Babybadger** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:33 pm

These COMM 2000's are they difficult to fix? Just got a HDI on a 51 plate and the indicator is floppy to say the least! I can get one from ebay, but how long does it take to fix?