MK V Golf front windscreen wipers not workong

[pagey1956]

Hi my son took his MK V Golf car in today to diagnose why his front windscreen wipers and washer dont work ,the wipers work only when driving,I think this is a default position for a faulty bonnet switch or if the bonnet is up.
There is no indication on the dashboard to say the bonnet is open ,the garage did say it is either a faulty bonnet switch or a faulty stork .The rear wipers and washer work fine ,if the stork was faulty would'nt the wipers not work at all ?
Does anyone have any other ideas before we take it back to the garage.
cheers pagey:approve:

[niall campbell]

Sounds like neither. If it works when driving , it would not work at all. Might be a Relay somewhere on its way out. He is putting the ignition on fully ? Sounds silly but it has to be asked, we cant see it !

[pagey1956]

Yes the ignition is on fully , what problems do you get if the relay is faulty would the wipers not work at all.?

[niall campbell]

it could be a relay away not connected to wipers. It maybe even be something connected with the ignition barrel. Bit of a guessing game. The Relay will have a switch in it , so if you put the wipers on , it will wait for power to open the switch in the Relay, this little source of power comes from the switch or ignition barrel. If the Relay is faulty the switch wont open. However the Relay for the wipers may be okay. It could as I say may be something to do with the ignition barrel or a voltage sensor from the alternator when the car is running. The wiper switch will be a complicated switch for all the size of it , as well. Is it a hatchback and do the Rear wipers work with the ignition on ??

[niall campbell]

I see you say the rear work. Go for the stork first .................. scrapyard may help for cost

[pagey1956]

Changed the bonnet catch/switch ourselves this morning wipers washers now OK ,the bonnet open light still not working though .:boggled:

[niall campbell]

might be bulb in dash away ??

[radox]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted.

I think some of the very first Golf Mk Vs may have had two warning lights on the dash. One to indicate that a door was open and another to indicate that the bonnet or boot was open. This was quickly changed to just a single warning light (with a different symbol: car pointing north south with a door on each side open) which only indicates if a door is open. There is no longer a warning light for if the boot or bonnet is open. However you can tell if the boot is not closed properly if the car's interior light does not go out.

Hope that helps,
Stuart
Stuart Dalby - 2005 Volkswagen Golf Mk 5 (http://www.stuartdalby.co.uk/vwgolfmk5)

[pagey1956]

Yep that sounds right .it did throw us a bit at first as we thought the bonnet open indicator on the dash should have been on .In the end we just decided to change the switch and luckily it worked and probably saved ourselves £50 by not taking it to a garage.:biglaugh:

[niall campbell]

it used to be that the switches were ok , but rust around it meant the switch wouldn't earth !