Technical fiat 500 rear wiper problem
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Technical fiat 500 rear wiper problem
Wiring going to the hatch has been severed.
With the ignition on, the wiper motor has a live feed to power the park circuit.
When you turn the wiper on, it should run and wipe normally, then when you turn it off, rather than the motor just stop, the ign live feed keeps power until it stops at the normal park position.
Inside the motor is a switch to stop the motor at the park position. This could be broken, or have poor contacts due to age, wear or contamination with dirt or grease.
It may be rescuable, if someone competent can dismantle the motor and clean/fix it. If not, then a replacement motor will be needed.
As 306Maxi says, the wiring to the motor might be damaged, so that is also worth checking. Usual place is where it bridges between car and tailgate.
According to my Haynes, there should be three wires to the motor.
Black - This is the earth. Make sure it has a good connection to the vehicle body.
Green with Brown tracer - Park feed. This should be live with the ignition on, but dead with ignition off.
White with Green tracer - Switched feed. This should be live when you turn on the wiper and dead when you turn it off.
When you turn the wiper on, it should run and wipe normally, then when you turn it off, rather than the motor just stop, the ign live feed keeps power until it stops at the normal park position.
Inside the motor is a switch to stop the motor at the park position. This could be broken, or have poor contacts due to age, wear or contamination with dirt or grease.
It may be rescuable, if someone competent can dismantle the motor and clean/fix it. If not, then a replacement motor will be needed.
As 306Maxi says, the wiring to the motor might be damaged, so that is also worth checking. Usual place is where it bridges between car and tailgate.
According to my Haynes, there should be three wires to the motor.
Black - This is the earth. Make sure it has a good connection to the vehicle body.
Green with Brown tracer - Park feed. This should be live with the ignition on, but dead with ignition off.
White with Green tracer - Switched feed. This should be live when you turn on the wiper and dead when you turn it off.
Hi, and welcome to FF,
the hatch wiring failure is unfortunately a common problem,
at least it should be easy / simple to spot..!!,
the advice about the park sensor of the motor and wiring could prove useful.. if the wiring is undamaged,
Charlie
the hatch wiring failure is unfortunately a common problem,
at least it should be easy / simple to spot..!!,
the advice about the park sensor of the motor and wiring could prove useful.. if the wiring is undamaged,
Charlie
I've had the wiring go twice. A local auto mechanic mended for £50-80 each time.
burrowsdeano
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Replace the entire flexy part of the wiring with silicone wires and you will never have the problem again. Will cost you about £10 for the wire on eBay
I have this job to do as I've just lost both rear number plate lights, outside in Jan, yey.
This is the link I've bookmarked fro when and if ours starts playing up.
http://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/vemo-875647.html
40 odd quid.
Do you have a link to eBay for one for a tenner?
Thanks,
Mick.
burrowsdeano
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So I can keep the price as low as possible for customers I've got lengths of silicone wire in stock so I make up my own repair kits. Buying bulk means the wire costs me around £5 per car but that does mean I have around 500 meters of cable in stock. Total cost for a complete job is then £120 and I'm fairly sure that's as cheap as you can get for the entire flexy replaced.
What he means is you can buy just the "wire" and repair it yourself there's no kit of cut pieces as suchfor £10 ,feeding them through the existing flexible more time consuming but way cheaper and there's no reason you can't use just one colour for all as long as you do the job in a methodical way, I've ordered a six pack of colours from Maplin via Ebay
Thanks, both of you. 
One one or another of the threads on here about the rear hatch wiring, I asked how to strip it down to inspect the existing wires.
When I try and look at ours, they are so very well wrapped up, and unless I destroy the wrapping, I can't even begin to inspect them. I can't even pull the cabling to see very far from the grommets at either end. Looks like I may have to remove the trims from the hatch and the roof.
Basically, I'm going to leave well enough alone.
I get the impression that on other people's cars, they aren't so well encased in wrapping as ours.
Best wishes for the season,
Mick.
One one or another of the threads on here about the rear hatch wiring, I asked how to strip it down to inspect the existing wires.
When I try and look at ours, they are so very well wrapped up, and unless I destroy the wrapping, I can't even begin to inspect them. I can't even pull the cabling to see very far from the grommets at either end. Looks like I may have to remove the trims from the hatch and the roof.
Basically, I'm going to leave well enough alone.
I get the impression that on other people's cars, they aren't so well encased in wrapping as ours.
Best wishes for the season,
Mick.
On mine the grommet just popped out with a pull, don't think any interior trim had to come off!
I remember we got the rubber surround off, and basically the inside was such a state on mine it wasn't an issue just cutting and completley redoing!
Although interestingly I did once lose my rear number plate light in a terrible rainstorm after it had all been fixed - not sure whether that's related but hope it all doesn't have to come out again!
I remember we got the rubber surround off, and basically the inside was such a state on mine it wasn't an issue just cutting and completley redoing!
Although interestingly I did once lose my rear number plate light in a terrible rainstorm after it had all been fixed - not sure whether that's related but hope it all doesn't have to come out again!
I can pull the grommets out, but the cables are wrapped very tightly indeed in a sort of black fluffy cloth. It's spiralled round from the inwards ends at the flexy tube and then outwards ......... and I can't pull them far enough out of the bodywork to get to a place where I can start to unwrap.
If I want to get to the wires, the only course of action is to cut the wrapping.
Hence, I'm leaving well alone.
Regards,
Mick.
If I want to get to the wires, the only course of action is to cut the wrapping.
Hence, I'm leaving well alone.
Regards,
Mick.
I think I will have to disconnect the loom from the tailgate connections to give me a bit more room though that still leaves the washer pipe issue?
So I managed to renew all* the wires going to the hatch lid without disconnecting the loom, took 3 hours to fix one wire at a time, it was clear several wires would have soon failed along with the number plate wire that made me fix it, used silicone wire for most all one colour I didn't do the heated rear window wires just wrapped them. Hopefully fixed for a long time?
Whilst disconnecting the battery I noticed the clutch fluid was low, topped it up, why is there a insert (rubber) that takes up 75% of the volume of the reservoir ? That said the slave cylinder push pin looked "wet" another thing to fix?
Whilst disconnecting the battery I noticed the clutch fluid was low, topped it up, why is there a insert (rubber) that takes up 75% of the volume of the reservoir ? That said the slave cylinder push pin looked "wet" another thing to fix?
Fuse 43 in the inside of the car supplies both front and rear wipers, so if the fronts are fine but the rears not, its almost a certainty its the hatch wiring issue, or in other words the wire has snapped noting that it maybe the earth that's failed as they run back in the loom not to the body(for the earthing)
So its not good news either way more and more bits on the hatch will start to fail, whatever you do, DON'T cut all the cables(at once) to insert the repair kit, there's about 5 all black wires that you mustn't mix up.
So its not good news either way more and more bits on the hatch will start to fail, whatever you do, DON'T cut all the cables(at once) to insert the repair kit, there's about 5 all black wires that you mustn't mix up.
Last edited:
Mighty Fergus
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aha this is touching on one of the ongoing electrical problems I mentioned that are affecting wee Fergus.
His boot can only be opened via the key, attempting to pop open by pressing the boot release itself fails. The rear wiper comes on every time you turn the ignition key, settling wherever it wants on the rear window. And then, just to let me know he's the boss, when you attempt to use the screenwash it's a real hash bash. Pushing forward releases screenwash but you need to manually operate the front wipers, all the while the back wiper is also going as it seems to think it too was asked to wash/ wipe. Same thing happens when you attempt to clean rear window.
And then the illumination bulbs on the heater control panel. I assumed the bulbs had gone out months ago, looked up the youtube video showing how to change them and was about to do so when completely randomly they have came back on.
Character building. Wife thinks the car should have been called Herbie as he does what he wants.
I have a feeling however that these particular electrical problems have the potential to a real pain in the backside if not addressed.
All that and I can say driving the wee car is great fun and puts a smile on my face. Not powerful in any way, but a hoot at what it does do well.
His boot can only be opened via the key, attempting to pop open by pressing the boot release itself fails. The rear wiper comes on every time you turn the ignition key, settling wherever it wants on the rear window. And then, just to let me know he's the boss, when you attempt to use the screenwash it's a real hash bash. Pushing forward releases screenwash but you need to manually operate the front wipers, all the while the back wiper is also going as it seems to think it too was asked to wash/ wipe. Same thing happens when you attempt to clean rear window.
And then the illumination bulbs on the heater control panel. I assumed the bulbs had gone out months ago, looked up the youtube video showing how to change them and was about to do so when completely randomly they have came back on.
Character building. Wife thinks the car should have been called Herbie as he does what he wants.
I have a feeling however that these particular electrical problems have the potential to a real pain in the backside if not addressed.
All that and I can say driving the wee car is great fun and puts a smile on my face. Not powerful in any way, but a hoot at what it does do well.
