Austarion

Here's the culprit:



The demister works intermittently as does the Wiper, the sprayer works all the time! I have checked the connections on the rear hatch both at the demister\wiper and at the hydraulic arms the check for good contact! WD40 has been well used and a wire brush, but still no joy! I have also checked th connections behind the switchs as above but found nothing! Any help, as the wiper especially is really annoying!?

You've checked the connections on both ends, now check the wiring in between. A wire may be stripped and could be earthing out every now and then, and hence the sporadic functioning.

Ok, cool! Any ideas where to start? Maybe in the harness that runs down along the doors? This is really shitting me! :x

Can you get hold of a insulation resistance tester? that'd be perfect for checking if the wire is earthing out.

I've got a few mates who are sparky's! I'll ask them! Cheers! :)

so you have bent the contacts on the rear hatch hydraulics out with a screwdriver for optimal contact?

No, but I like where your going with this...

There is a little grub screw that you can undo, and you can slide all the contacts down lower, so when the hatch shuts, the contacts slide in deeper.
( not thinking rude ) It goes out of adjustment because the top hinges for the hatch slip somehow. ( Don't know how to fix that one )
A.

Tried all your solutions, cheers again guy's! Found a culprit though...



This has fixed my wiper issue, little bastard was hiding under the plastic sheath! Have checked the rest of the arms for defects but seems she's a loner! Demister is still a mystery? Cleaned the actual contacts on the window with sandpaper, but still no luck! Also tried Abalistic's idea, but to no avail! At least I have the wiper again!

I fucking over this!!! I still have no Demister!

I'm now thinking of running a new wire from the cockpit to the hatch...

Where do I connect it though?

Does the demister just run on 12v or what?

I know the switch is good, I even have a spare one.

I'm thinking just a wire from the switch and into the boot, at least to a section where I know the wire is good...

Any thoughts?

Mine stopped working when it got re-tinted :(

These cars suck without them.

Tested pole to pole with resistance to see if its making decent connection?

Chryzla wrote:These cars suck without them.

Mine works, but I don't use it. Maybe it depends on what you're doing in the car to steam up the rear window?

*nudge* hush you :pimp

Ok crunch time..

Firstly the washer will always work as its not dependant on the gas struts for power.

Secondly the problem your having lies in the strut connections being spaced too far apart, ill describe this fix soon.


A few things to look for if your demisters aren’t working:

The bottom most contact point on both sides is for the demisters if you put a multimeter between them with the demisters on you should get 12V.
If you don’t then the issue lies somewhere in the switch and relay and the wiring up to the contact points.


Ok next, if you have 12v at this point put the multimeter across the terminals connected to the glass demister plates and shut the boot, you should have 6V there which means that they are working.
If not then the contact points in the struts are bad or there’s an open circuit.

To diagnose the issue:

Use alligator clip leads or some electrical wire and bridge the contact pad to the matching nipple on the struts and then use a multimeter to check for 6v at the demisters. If you have 6volts then the issue is the strut contacts, if you don’t have 6v at the demisters but have 12v at the strut pads then the fault lies in between the contact points and the demister pads which should be an easy fix if you follow the wires from the nipples to the demister strips.

Next instalment - why are my contacts no good?

Dallas

Ok

After years of opening and closing the boot the spacing of the contacts becomes incorrect see below:

As the following pic shows only a small part of the contact nipple is touching the pad, the white paint is a representation of were the contact nipple sits on the contact pad:



So how do we get more contact, well believe it or not its able to be adjusted without bending contacts, use a screwdriver to pry the 2 pieces apart, the spacing works well at about 6mm if the following picture is referred to.
This puts the nipples deeper down the hollow and makes them tighter against the contacts as they are sprung out against them:



Hope you now have reliably working demisters and wipers as this will tighten the wiper contacts as well.

Dallas