Hey all,

Appreciate any help you can give me here. I'm having some electrical problems with my Tipo 1.4 i.e. (think it's a DGT) that I can't solve. There's a fair bit of explaining to this date, so I'll try to keep it clear and concise:

Had a water leak back before Christmas, with water coming in (quite obviously) from underneath the glove box... Seemingly from inside/around the heater fan.

Dropped the glove box off to get a better look, and it happened a few more times, but then seemingly stopped. However, the fan had burnt out. I didn't have time to go fixing so I left it and forgot about it (and froze, consequently.)

Little while later I thought "£3 is worth it to go through the car wash", but of course that was the worst idea ever. Upon coming out of the car wash, I could hear a lot of sloshing water in behind the bulkhead, and the water leak sprung up again.

To make matters worse, the front wipers, rear wiper and the rear heated window had all stopped working! I only noticed when I went to clean my windscreen shortly after the car wash, to find that the washers worked, but not the wipers.

So, I set about taking the wipers off to get under the scuttle panel. Nothing was apparent straight away (my mechanical knowledge is limited) so I poured a jug of water in and .. We had Lake Tipo. Reason? The two pipes responsible for letting the water drain, were blocked.

The fatter, thicker plastic pipe had somehow pinched itself together; perhaps with heat and time, so upon pinching it back to a cylindrical shape (and keeping it that way with a very tight cable tie) the water quickly drained out as it should.

The smaller, rubbery pipe was blocked-up with muck and leaves, and required a lot of water and pushing with a thin, bendy pipe to clean it out successfully. Most disgusting job ever. :yuck:

Anyway, that sorted the water issue. Sadly, when I purchased a replacement heater fan from the scrappy, it made sod-all difference (nothing wrong with the fuse!)

So since then, we've been pouring over the relevant wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual and found that for the two sets of wipers to go and the rear heater, there are only a few things in common. So, along with the heater fan I bought (from a scrappy in Stoke) the following:

- Wiper Stalk mechanism
- All the relays, but most-importantly, I had replacements of the relevant ones.

Changing these parts out has made no difference. I've checked all the fuses a number of times, and they're all fine. I've even dropped the fuse box off of its hinge to see if any of the plugs into the rear of it are dislodged somehow.. And so far as I can tell, they're all seated securely.

So I'm at a great loss. The MOT is now out, and I've just declared it as SORN because it's unlikely that I'm going to be able to fix it without some help. The biggest problem is that I can barely afford to eat atm (Student) so a fix is gonna have to be pretty damn cheap to justify keeping the car. There's no way on Earth I'll be able to afford an auto-electrician for the job.

Anyway, my apologies for the car's life story, but I thought it best to go through what I've done so far. Any help is greatly appreciated! :worship:

Thanks in advance to everyone looking.

Tom

trying to think of something. need to find my haynes manual and have a look at the electrical diagrams. seems odd though. it might be best to get yourself a test lamp. (simply a 12v bulb connected to two wires) and test to see if the parts are getting power. this'll tell you if the components are at fault, or the wiring.

i'd imagine the front wipers to be the main concern so i'll try looking at them first. The motor is located under the scuttle panel, disconnect the wiring and connect up your lamp to the power lead and the other end to the bodywork. if it lights up when the wipers are switched to on you've got power which is a good start.

Thanks for having a look.

It's a good idea - I'll see if I can convince my old man to fish a 12v bulb out for me when I see him at the weekend.

I should add that when switching on the rear heated window, the light on the dash doesn't even come on.. I wish it was just as simple as 'ah, that one component connects them all' but it's not been the case

Tommeh said:

Thanks for having a look.

It's a good idea - I'll see if I can convince my old man to fish a 12v bulb out for me when I see him at the weekend.

I should add that when switching on the rear heated window, the light on the dash doesn't even come on.. I wish it was just as simple as 'ah, that one component connects them all' but it's not been the case

Click to expand...

ahhh if the dash light doesn't come on then the relay isn't operating or that circuit isn't getting power. which means it's most likely a problem with the stalk side of things.

you've said you've checked the fuses, have you tried swapping like for like ones around at all? it seems stalk related though, but then the sprayer jets are working. i need to check the diagrams.

does the horn work? and the left hand side indicator? (weird questions but they seem to be related in some form.

maddogmorg said:

ahhh if the dash light doesn't come on then the relay isn't operating or that circuit isn't getting power. which means it's most likely a problem with the stalk side of things.

you've said you've checked the fuses, have you tried swapping like for like ones around at all? it seems stalk related though, but then the sprayer jets are working. i need to check the diagrams.

Click to expand...

Well, I've pulled all the fuses out and checked them all for signs of burning out.. Nothing really. The fuse for the heater fan went when that burnt out (originally.. But replaced that to no avail, as it probably went when the motor got fried in the original torrent of water.)

The relays have all been swapped around with a set I picked up from the scrappy, though I've no way to test if they're working or not...

Same goes for the stalk I got .. I've no real way to check *that* works. All I know is that it exhibited the same behaviour as the original part: washer jets worked, but no wipers, and no rear heated window.

maddogmorg said:

does the horn work? and the left hand side indicator? (weird questions but they seem to be related in some form.

Click to expand...

Horn and left indicator both work, yes. I presume you're looking at the Earth points down that side?

it could be a problem with the fuse board I had something similar a few years ago with my central locking (mine was caused by water) In the end i had to get an autoelectrician to do some resoldering and re-wiring but £50 later all was fine and no problems since.

That said a good start is the electical tester as a no cost option

tipomike said:

it could be a problem with the fuse board I had something similar a few years ago with my central locking (mine was caused by water) In the end i had to get an autoelectrician to do some resoldering and re-wiring but £50 later all was fine and no problems since.

Click to expand...

Did you find out what the cause of the issue was for your £50?

Where did the water get in?

Water got in under the dash/scuttler area. Its nevewr happened since. After the work everything worked perfectly and has done ever since. I think the main damage was due to shorting out - I guess as a result of the water. A few wires were replaced/re-routed and all was fine.

tipomike said:

Water got in under the dash/scuttler area. Its nevewr happened since. After the work everything worked perfectly and has done ever since. I think the main damage was due to shorting out - I guess as a result of the water. A few wires were replaced/re-routed and all was fine.

Click to expand...

Right! Gotcha. Did you have water coming in over the heater fan, dripping into the passenger-side footwell?

I remember the fuse for the heater fan went when it finally burnt out, so there's every chance that's what has happened.

Hi,
Interesting thread, I've had a similar water leak problem (coming into the passenger well from the heater fan direction). At first I thought it was the windscreen seals as that's a bit shot, but then I removed part of the scuttle panel. There's a well around what I think must be the air inlet. It had become full of water. Looking at it, it seems unlikely that the windscreen seals would have prevented this and its more likely that the water is meant to get in there, but its not draining away. The thing is that I can't see a drain pipe as Tommeh mentioned above. Does anyone know where I might find this? I groped around a bit but it was getting dark.

If anyone could give me any pointers, that would be really appreciated.

By the way, I started to remove the wiper arms but stopped as not sure exactly how they're fixed. Is Do the caps prise off? I'm assuming that there must be a nut underneath, but the caps appear to be made of metal, not easy to remove rubber, for example.

Thanks everyone

N.

notion said:

Hi,
Interesting thread, I've had a similar water leak problem (coming into the passenger well from the heater fan direction). At first I thought it was the windscreen seals as that's a bit shot, but then I removed part of the scuttle panel. There's a well around what I think must be the air inlet. It had become full of water. Looking at it, it seems unlikely that the windscreen seals would have prevented this and its more likely that the water is meant to get in there, but its not draining away. The thing is that I can't see a drain pipe as Tommeh mentioned above. Does anyone know where I might find this? I groped around a bit but it was getting dark.

If anyone could give me any pointers, that would be really appreciated.

By the way, I started to remove the wiper arms but stopped as not sure exactly how they're fixed. Is Do the caps prise off? I'm assuming that there must be a nut underneath, but the caps appear to be made of metal, not easy to remove rubber, for example.

Thanks everyone

N.

Click to expand...

the wiper arms do have a plastic cap over the bolts, 12mm from memory, as had to take mine off a fair bit, on the 1.4 which had carp wipers. i don't miss fixing the linkages with string in pouring rain.

the drain pipe for the scuttle panel is a black flattened pipe at the back of the engine bay.

another thing to be aware of is that the heater taps tend to go on these cars which will lead to a wet passenger footwell. this isn't a big job and the parts cost £15. easy to find out whether it's this leaking as the water is sticky, due to the coolant.

Could be easy fix...the plug going into fusebox shares wipers and heaterbox. Make sure it is plugged in well as if a little out it will break the contact. From vague recollection it is the light blue plug. Will check for you.

Thanks Maddogmorg,

Yep, I found the drain pipe this morning and it was badly blocked. Tommeh mentioned two pipes but I could only see one. I'll see how it goes.

Looks like it's goodbye to my partner's foot spa

Thanks
N.

notion said:

Yep, I found the drain pipe this morning and it was badly blocked. Tommeh mentioned two pipes but I could only see one. I'll see how it goes.

Click to expand...

If you like, there's one in front of the drivers seat, and one in front of the passenger seat.

Almost symmetrical.. Though given that both were different, I'd say it was possible that one was retrofitted. The driver's side tube was ~20mm OD (and rubbery) whilst the passenger side was more like 40mm OD and made of harder plastic, which had sealed itself shut over time.

Hope this helps.. Having the big one opened was more than enough to stop the water leaks for me, however. Was just a shame the electrics didn't hold out long enough - the car ended up going on the back of a trailer. Two nice men from Dewsbury wanted to keep their Sedi's alive with its bits.. Was a happy(ish) ending.