The windshield wipers on my MINI (2006 convertible 'S') have started doing something strange.

I have the rain-sensing wipers, and normally when I activate them, they'll wipe across the windshield just enough to clean it off, then they'll park themselves until enough mist/rain accumulates for them to activate again.

But every few weeks, they'll act up - I'll turn them on in "rain-sensing" mode, and they'll keep wiping even after the windshield is clear. Then, after 6-8 strokes, they'll just stop in mid-stroke, often in the middle of the windshield. At that point, nothing I do with the wiper controls will get them to move again (turning them off/on, selecting one of the non-sensing settings, etcetera). If I turn the car off and back on, everything's fine for another few weeks.

I'm hesitant to take it to the dealer, because I figure the odds of them actually seeing it happen are pretty low, but I only have about 15,000 miles of warranty left, so I need to do *something* in the next 9 months or so.

Has anyone else had this happen and had the dealer fix it? I'd love to be able to at least have a suggestion for the dealer as to which component to check out.

 

Take it to the dealer anyway. You're right, the odds of them catching the misbehaviour are slim to none; "Could not replicate problem, returned car to customer". But 1) you'll have it on your record that you had a problem so if it goes south on you after the warrenty, you can argue for a one-time 'good will fix'.
And 2) there may be someone at the dealer that has run into that problem and knows the fix without having to see the problem happen.

 

Not in a Mini, or a in a car with auto-sensing wipers, but I've had normal wipers that would stop mid-stroke. They were caused by a terminal on the wiper motor wearing out. Since yours are stopping mid way, it sounds like something is not allowing the power to stay on to the motor. Either due to a funky signal from the rain sensor or maybe something with the motor.

Yeah, that was no help, just throwing some ideas out there. Got a digital camera that records video clips? Try to record what happens so the dealer can see if even if it's not happening when you take it in. A random problem like this will be more difficult to find but a video of it might help them figure out a starting point.

 

I have basic wipers that stopped in the middle of the windshield last month during a rain storm. I stopped at the market for about 30 minutes. The wipers worked fine when I got back on the road. This problem hasn't reoccured, but I'll keep in mind the terminal connectors if it does happen again.

 

Well, it's gotten to the point where I can pretty much get the wipers to misbehave on command, so I have an appointment to take it in to the dealer on Saturday. If they tell me anything enlightening, I'll pass it along.

In the meantime, I've also noticed that the wipers will eventually freeze even on the "slow" or "fast" speeds (so it's probably not the rain-sensing circuitry that's the culprit).

 

Well, I had my appointment with the dealer today. Of course, since the day I scheduled the appointment they wipers haven't acted up at all.

But, the tech checked the computer and ran some diagnostic tests and determined that the wiper motor was failing. They've ordered a new one and will call me to make an appointment when it arrives.

It would have been nice if they'd happened to have a new motor in stock, but I can understand them not stocking them if they don't fail frequently. I was still in and out in an hour, so I'm not complaining.

 

That's good to hear it was relatively painless at the dealer!

 

Yep - very painless. Of course, when I checked my oil yesterday afternoon, I noticed that my passenger-side motor mount has given up the ghost and dumped its damping oil, so I need to call the dealer and make sure that they can also replace the motor mount when I come back to have the wiper motor replaced. I'm pretty sure that they stock the motor mounts, though, since that's a fairly-common repair.