TallPaul
Member Since: 03 Jan 2008
Location: Near Reading
Posts: 1214
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| Stupid <censored> auto windscreen wipers! |
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Ok, with 3 distinct can bus networks and something like 21 nodes in an HSE you would think it would know NOT to auto-wipe the windscreen when its freezing and the wipers are frozen to the screen (because the arms are badly designed and you can't leave them up at night like a real 4x4).
So this morning wife leaves, driver side frozen, Disco tries to wipe screen even though its freezing (as she left wipers on auto) and passenger side moves but driver side frozen. Doesn't blow a fuse, but seems to have stripped thread on wiper arm, spindle or broken linkage 
Anyone else had this happen? Not had chance to investigate yet as Wifey has disappeared to the train station with it.
Lets hope its destroyed the inside of the arm spindle, not the spindle in the car from the motor 
Why can a company with a worldwide customer base, especially one based in the UK, NOT design a pair of windscreen wipers? the fact that you can't leave them up of the screen must make the car useless in the snowy half of Europe from now until March at least! 
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 20th Oct 2010 10:05 am |
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2DISCO3ORNOT
Member Since: 27 Apr 2009
Location: at sea
Posts: 1209
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What a  fingers crossed it hasnt stripped the spindle, almost worth disbling the bloddy thing for winter 
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:40 am |
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TallPaul
Member Since: 03 Jan 2008
Location: Near Reading
Posts: 1214
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Yep, checking they are off not on auto is always a good start, but its a bit of a design floor to say the least to assume all owners will do this!
I posted new thread as not much turned up with search, but it does seem that perhaps the spindle thread in the arm is cast aluminium, but the motor spindle is steel so rock and cheese springs to mind.
Can't do anything before wife gets back, fingers crossed for no rain today as she has no working drivers side wiper!
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:47 am |
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D3Chris
Member Since: 24 Aug 2010
Location: Staffordshire / Cheshire border
Posts: 72
 
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Disabled mine yesterday, got so peed off with the over sensitivity and lack of control of them. Was sat in a queue of traffic during heavy rain, pulled plastic trim off behind mirror, pulled black plug out of rain sensor, et voila, standard intermittent wipers, bliss!!!
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:50 am |
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jojim65
Member Since: 05 Dec 2008
Location: Barton on sea, Hampshire
Posts: 440
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I feel your pain, did exactly the same thing and watched the passenger wiper freely do its thing whilst the drivers one was frozen to the bottom of the screen, in my case I was lucky that it just worked against the securing nut which the wiper worked loose in it's attempt to wipe the screen.
Now I make sure the nut is the weakest point and do it up enough to make the wipers work but not over tight that way if it happens again hopefully it won't do more serious damage.
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:51 am |
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Spikey
Member Since: 27 Feb 2009
Location: Leeds
Posts: 66
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D3Chris, do your automatic lights still work having pulled the plug off the sensor unit? I was under the impression that it was a light sensor too...?
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:53 am |
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DG
Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50934
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It will do the same with a layer of snow....when the wiper travels in the upward direction the snow falls to the bottom and then the wiper drops back down compressing the snow at the base of the screen and this can bend the wiper arm from its correct spindle position.
You cannot blame the system as it will never be able to distinguish whatever is covering the sensor...this is a human error thing...you can only try to remember to switch them off the auto setting when the conditions don't favour the operation  21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
Last edited by DG on 20th Oct 2010 11:09 am. Edited 1 time in total
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| 20th Oct 2010 10:59 am |
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D3Chris
Member Since: 24 Aug 2010
Location: Staffordshire / Cheshire border
Posts: 72
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I think you are right, it will also disable the auto headlights.
However, I have never used them anyway so wont miss them!!
I should have checked the outputs on the windscreen sensor, I should imagine there is one output for the wipers and one for the headlights. If this is the case it should be easy enough to just remove the corresponding pin for the wipers from the plug, hence keeping the auto lights. Job for another day maybe!!
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| 20th Oct 2010 11:01 am |
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TallPaul
Member Since: 03 Jan 2008
Location: Near Reading
Posts: 1214
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jojim65 wrote:I feel your pain, did exactly the same thing and watched the passenger wiper freely do its thing whilst the drivers one was frozen to the bottom of the screen, in my case I was lucky that it just worked against the securing nut which the wiper worked loose in it's attempt to wipe the screen.
Here's hoping its the nut then! 
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| 20th Oct 2010 11:15 am |
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TallPaul
Member Since: 03 Jan 2008
Location: Near Reading
Posts: 1214
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DG wrote:You cannot blame the system as it will never be able to distinguish whatever is covering the sensor...this is a human error thing...you can only try to remember to switch them off the auto setting when the conditions don't favour the operation
Can't disagree its operator error of course, but you have to concede its also poor design.
To not be able to leave the wipers up in Snow is just ridiculous, having spent many winters now in Eastern Europe at the outlaws disco would not last 5 minutes without TLC every time.
Biggest issue we have in the UK with snow, is proper -10 or under snow is fluffy, but we get -2 or -3 slushy snow that freezes like a bad popsicle on the screen.
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| 20th Oct 2010 11:17 am |
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TallPaul
Member Since: 03 Jan 2008
Location: Near Reading
Posts: 1214
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D3Chris wrote:
I should have checked the outputs on the windscreen sensor, I should imagine there is one output for the wipers and one for the headlights. If this is the case it should be easy enough to just remove the corresponding pin for the wipers from the plug, hence keeping the auto lights. Job for another day maybe!!
Doubt that very much, its probably one input to the CAN bus and each module reads the value for its own purpose.
Don't get me started on the way the wipers behave on intermittent with sense, Martin does not have a big enough server to take all my views on that 
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| 20th Oct 2010 11:18 am |
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DaveC
Member Since: 29 Sep 2009
Location: Wirral
Posts: 1033
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with all the cleaver gadgetry the disco can do you would have thought when it senses frost conditions (i.e. the snowflake icon) there is some jigery pokery that asks if you want to auto wipe rather than jut doing it!
it is a pain when cleanign the car not being able to park the wipers off the screen, it's the only car i've ever had that can't! XC90 T8 R Design Pro
MY14 D4 HSE Lux (sadly gone)
Mariana Black with Ivory interior and lots of toys!
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| 20th Oct 2010 11:39 am |
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Bill Wright
Member Since: 03 Nov 2007
Location: Glorious Devon
Posts: 3254
  
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I know it's a bit OTT for such an expensive automobile but, as someone on here suggested last winter, I carry a couple of wine bottle corks in the drivers door and when there's a hint of frost, I put them under the blades to keep them off the screen.
The spindle is hardened steel and the wiper arm is aluminium so if the OP's experience is yours, you'll need a pair of the wiper arms (lower section) which are amazingly an easily obtained off the shelf spare at my dealers.
Bill Wright Never take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
D4 SDV6 SE Tech Kaikoura Stone MY15.
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| 20th Oct 2010 12:24 pm |
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PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
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TallPaul wrote:Ok, with 3 distinct can bus networks
There's only two CANBus networks. The third would be the snow/ice network that they didn't fit to the D3 for cost reasons although I think it's a bit to tell you this now
D3Chris wrote:I should have checked the outputs on the windscreen sensor, I should imagine there is one output for the wipers and one for the headlights.
Disconnecting the rain/light sensor will disable both the auto wipers and auto headlights...
I'm pretty sure that the sensor communicates with the CJB over a LINBus connection, so there aren't separate outputs for each sensor function, just a single data bus between the sensor and fusebox.
Or something like this 2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto Buckingham Blue
2007 Golf GT DSG
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| 20th Oct 2010 1:04 pm |
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