Rear wiper stopping in middle?

I wonder if anyone can help? The rear wiper on my lads K12 is not parking correctly. It will work when switched on, but only for one swipe then it stops in the middle across the rear window. I ha e to switch it off for a few minutes and then when I turn it back on again it will swipe once and do the same? Sometimes it will stop in the correct place only to do it again next time. The boot switch works fine, however I have noticed the boot light isn’t working, I have replaced the bulb.

Any ideas?

Ps, first post, it’s his first car and he loves it!
 

John_D

Club Member
Radio Code Guru
Two possibles to start with.
Firstly the wiring that goes through the rubber convoluted tube between the hatchback and the body is notorious for breaking/shorting out so this is the first place to check. You need to firstly unclip the tube from the body side and ease it back over the wiring to inspect.
When I had problems with the rear hatch lock/unlock on mine, the taped over outer coat of the wires revealed, looked OK but cutting that back revealed damaged wires inside that I had to repair.
The second possible cause for the rear wiper doing strange things is the fact that it is controlled by the 'Body Control Module' which operates on the CANBUS from the ECU. My rear wiper stopped working completely at one point and knowing that it was effectively computer controlled I did the equivalent of 'turn it off and turn it on again' by disconnecting the battery for 5 or 10 minutes and everything worked again and has done since (18 months and 15K miles)
 
John D, Thanks very much for your reply.
Right, so first thing to try is a “hard reset” by disconnecting the battery. Then, if that fails, the wiring from body through to the tailgate to see if that’s the problem. Then the body control module which I know nothing about but am willing to learn! I’ll try the first two first and report back. I’ve ordered a new set of linkages for the wipers as they’re really loose and wobbly with one set of blades running over the edge of the screen. Now you mention it I wonder if it is the wiring as the boot light is not working with the new bulb? Luckily the boot catch seems fine. If it’s dry tomorrow I’ll have a go!
Thanks for the reply, I’ll report back and hopefully it’s not the body control thing as I know nothing about them.

Cheers?
 
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