Hello. My recently acquired 2006 VDP is in very good shape with just a few niggles. The one I'd like some help with is that when I give one sweep of the wipers to clear light rain. They will stop half way and do not return to the park position. The same situation occurs when the wipers are set to auto and it starts to rain lightly. It will give a couple of full sweeps the stick at the top of the sweep. This was a problem noted by the PO in the service records so it's not new.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Stephen

PS. I still have the XJS in my photo

 

Check ground stud.

 

Hi Stephen,

abonano beat me to it ... I'd check the ground studs behind the headlights as they corrode and cause problems with ABS warnings, engine stalling when using wipers, windscreen wiper creep on their own, headlights not working etc etc. I replaced mine when I got lots of strange faults like this. I found one had corroded and just snapped off.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Thank you.

 

Hi Chris. Thank you for the advice. Can you tell me how I go about this? Do I remove the whole headlight assemblies?
Thanks, Stephen

 

Hi Stephen,

The problematic ground studs are just behind each headlight assembly and attached to the frame running along the front of the car. The one that the wipers connect to is one of the ground studs behind the passenger side headlight in the US - drivers side for us in the UK. There are two on that side - one above the other. They are both accessible but the lower one is not that easy to get to, especially if you have xenon headlight units fitted.

I don't have xenons so I was able to fit new ground points without removing the headlight assemblies.

You can attempt to clean them in the first instance but you may find that undoing the nut snaps off, as it did with mine. I just attached a new ground point 'near' the original. I cleaned the bottom one but later had issues so replaced that one as well. I also then had issues with the indicator on the other side of the car which was a problem with the other ground stud so I replaced that one instead of trying to clean it again.

All my electrical gremlins have now gone following these replacements.

There are some guides on here and on the internet about replacing the ground points and they are fairly straightforward to do. Just disconnect your battery before doing the work otherwise you risk damaging some electrical components whilst you swap over the old points to the new ones. Assuming you need to replace them. A clean with electrical contact cleaner and a small brass brush maybe all that is needed.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Hi Stephen,

I forgot to say, that if you do decide to replace the ground points or the old ones snap off then do not be tempted to connect all the electrical connectors from both points to one single ground point. Keep them connected as they were on the original ground points. You do not want to overload a ground point. Also put some distance between the new ground points if you have to replace both on that side. The originals are also spaced apart for a reason so try to do the same with the new ground points.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Passenger side (LHD) behind headlight 2006 XJ8.
Many thanks Chris. I've attached a photo of two posts with wires attached located behind the passenger side headlamp. Is this what I'm looking for?

Stephen

 

I took off both nuts. That bottom one was hard to get at as you said. Bright metal. Clean with no corrosion. Excellent contact. I tightened them back up but, on a single sweep. the wipers still stop at the top of the stroke.

 

Check the grounds on the other side.

 

Hi Stephen,

Yes those are the ones. I tried to clean mine and although I cleaned them really well they still were not grounding properly. In the end I completely replaced them all which fixed my problems straight away.

Check the other one on the other side - that side only has one.

Are you having any other issues such as ABS or Brake Fault or DSC not available showing on the dashboard? Or does your engine cut out when the wipers are used at all?

Thanks,

Chris

 

Check all earths first but if not resolved check wiper relay and it's socket.

If you are into 'belt and braces' replace wiper fuse.

If still not resolved you could be looking at wiper park switch.

PITA to remove I believe.

 

If the grounds are good then I believe the only fix is replacement of the wiper motor. That was the solution for my wipers stopping in the center of their track. The internal position sensor goes bad over time.

 

Thank you.

 

I got 3.6 ohms on both nuts. Is that what you would expect?

 

What reading do get touching the leads of your tester together? I show 0.6 ohms and when I test the ground nuts I get 0.7ohms, so the net resistance on my grounds is 0.1 ohms

 

NCJagman, did you ever find the fault? I am having a similar problem with my car. They stop right before they hit the max up swipe. I give the wiper stalk another hit and they work as intended for 5 or so wipes.

Thanks!!

 

No. I could not find what was wrong so it goes in the shop later this week. He feels it's a faulty sensor that detects the wiper position. Like yours, it will wipe properly then stop at the top of the stroke then work properly again for a few strokes. The guy at the workshop goes" Yeh. Bring it in when you pick up your XJS." It feels like I rent these cars from the workshop rather than own them. I pay the guy a lot of money, drive the car (s) for a while then bring them back again. He keeps them for weeks or sometime months (I'm still waiting for parts he sez). Then the whole dance starts again. At some point either they'll run right or I'll just throw my hands up and say ########. Well, you know what I'll say.

 

I had an 08 XJ with the same issue. I never figured it out but in my case I found that if I left the wipers on "auto" they would work in their own strange way, sometimes stopping mid stroke and the suddenly starting up again. They kept the window clear enough and I found it somewhat amusing. I also found that they worked perfectly fine on low or high. I had cleaned all of my grounds and the problem persisted so I figured it was in the stalk itself or the rain sensor in the rear view mirror cluster. I honestly felt it was the rain sensor and wish I could tell you which one but it never bothered me enough to start ripping those components apart.

 

I would really like to solve this... Yes it's cute when the wiper stops in the middle. BUT..... I have fixed my grounds and checked fused and relay etc. I think I agree with the position sensor as a possibility. BUT... if anyone has actually solved this I would love to know how. I would really prefer not to take things apart enough to change the motor if I can help it. I don't want to throw parts at something till I actually know what is wrong. Can anyone point me in the direction of the position sensor?