Wipers just stop working!!!!

Leetaylor

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Here's a strange one, this has happened a couple of times now since i've had the car (Approx 3 months)
Go to turn the wipers on, and nothing, however, the rear one works, and the front washers.
If you stop the car take the keys out and wait for about 1-2 mins then try again they work!

Anyone else had this before, problem is if i take to the dealers they will want to see it happen, and it only does it now and again.
 
Dealers are not as good as they make out.....
 
A known problem on earlier cars, like mine. I don't think there was a recall - you just had to take the car / call out Roadside as and when it happened. Dealer should know about this, and so just have to check what part number wiper motor you have attached, and what you should have.
 
mine did the same and went crazy then stoped!!!! it was in the dealer for 6 weeks before they changed the car but according to them now its the wiper motor and the electronic control unit for the electrics in the car
 
Go to turn the wipers on, and nothing, however, the rear one works, and the front washers.
If you stop the car take the keys out and wait for about 1-2 mins then try again they work!

This exact problem happened my car, left the car to an Auto electrician and he was left scratching his head-this was prior to finding this post, as I didn't know it was a common occurrence! The electrician suggested that it could be the motor, so I decided to search the forum and very luckily found this post.

I phoned the audi helpline and they were more than helpful, they said that my car currently had an outstanding recall of the wiper motor. I was extremely relieved and told to go to the local audi dealership, where they will have a record of this and carry out the recall, free of charge.

In Northern Ireland, we have only have ONE audi dealer, Isaac Agnew, who know their monopoly position and exploit this through high prices and extremely arrogant staff. But I headed there anyway, as the helpline assured me that I had a recall that had to be carried out on my car.

Eventually got speaking to a service guy and was told that he has absolutely no record of my car requiring a wiper motor replacement under warranty at all, he showed me the computer screen and said that this was the same screen that the helpline use, and there was only one prior recall that had been carried out for the fan. I questioned this, as the helpline told me to head to the dealer to get it sorted.

The service guy then proceeded to turn arrogant and belittle me, probably because I am female, and say that because there was no mention of the wiper motor recall on screen, that he could do sod all about it.

As the helpline system was down, the service guy had no luck in tracing this recall, so I had to leave Agnew's, feeling exasperated and belittled.

Got through to the helpline tonight and another guy confirmed that my car has the outstanding recall for the wiper motor. I dunno if this was a breakdown of communication between helpline and dealer, but my wipers work once in a blue moon and it's ******* down!

The helpline said they will get Agnew's to phone me...Fingers crossed this "recall" issue is resolved. Free of charge.

Jen
 
The service guy then proceeded to turn arrogant and belittle me, probably because I am female, and say that because there was no mention of the wiper motor recall on screen, that he could do sod all about it.

.

If its any consolation, 80% of the Audi dealers I've had the misfortune of dealing with have treated me this way and I'm a bloke

I think its just down to them being cr4p TBH
 
Anyone else think dealers are too reliant on damned fault codes?
If nothing registers, you're left feeling like you made the problem up?
Is there such a thing as being a mechanic now?

Jesus, my Audi dealer went for a roadtest to see if my wheel bearing was knackered!
Jacking the thing and rotating the wheel by hand was the best option, surely!:tocktock:
A roadtest just drowned the wheel bearing noise out!
So, yet again, I was left feeling like a time wasting muppet.

I sympathise with your wiper problem.
A Cavalier Sri I once had had the same problem, which turned out to be a shorting wire.
Well scary though.:scared2:
 
I had the same issue and it was diagnosed by an independant.

I phoned Audi UK and they confirmed that it was subject to a recall.

I called Bristol Audi to book it in and they were as helpful as a chocolate teapot.
After escalating it past the Service Manager, up to the Area Manager it was booked in and replaced free of charge in under an hour.

Incidentally if I had a choice I would NEVER go back to Audi Bristol. They provided me with the worst customer service I have ever experienced!! Whilst waiting for my car to be 'done' I was chatting to 3-4 other customers who seemed to be experiencing equally shocking service.
 
Anyone else think dealers are too reliant on damned fault codes?
If nothing registers, you're left feeling like you made the problem up?
Is there such a thing as being a mechanic now?

In one year I have had the 'no fault code so no issue treatment' with:

Spark plugs
MAF
Clutch

I sorted the plugs myself, the MAF strangely didn't error code until 7 weeks after it started (thats presuming the dealers checked it!), and the clutch I've been laughed out of 2 dealers for until last week when one agreed that there was an issue and the gearbox should come off.

My rear wiper goes intermittently when I start the car, or of its own accord. Thought this may have been something to do with the auto wipers, but obviously not. Another thing for them to look at whilst the clutch and the windscreen come out tomorrow!
 
My wipers started playing up like in previous posts, when i bought the car was told by the seller that there was a recall of some kind, sure he mentioned wiper.

What number should i call to check with Audi UK if mine needs the recall. Will they still do it even though my car is 4years old?
 
I am in the same position, Mine is 4 years old and I dont know whether they will replace it free of charge.

I find that the Audi call centres are best to deal with. I phoned them up and they were very helpful with a problem with my rear speakers. But i then immediately phoned up Audi Nottingham and I was speaking to some nice young lady in the service department that knew nothing about cars, inparticular Audi's. And the phone call took 20 mins to book it in for a 5 minute job and they tried to charge me £158 to fix a rear speaker. So I ordered it and fixed it myself.

I will ring them up and post the outcome on here....

Eddie
 
The helpline I phoned about the wiper motor was 0800 699888 and they were more than helpful. I am waiting for my local dealer in NI to contact me after the Easter holidays and hope that they offer a resolution to what seems like a well-known problem with the earlier 8P A3's, despite the parts guy pleading ignorance to this fault.

Im very convinced that Audi are trying to charge me for the wiper motor and also fix it as a recall in their part, so that they get double the money for the one repair. Wouldn't surprise me at all, it's a complete disgrace. That's what happens when there is only one main Audi dealer in NI, a complete exploitation of the monopoly. My dad wants to get a new S3 sometime this year, after a few health scares and having never ever purchased a brand new car for himself before-I'm gonna go to GB for him and suss things out because I refuse to give such arrogant dealers the business, there would be sod all discount for a start!


If its any consolation, 80% of the Audi dealers I've had the misfortune of dealing with have treated me this way and I'm a bloke
I think it's an image thing, unless you are age 50+ and wearing a Barbour coat, you will get treated like dirt in an Audi dealership, despite the Audi employees having a monotonous and no-brainer job behind a service desk computer, simply booking cars in for a service, 8 hours a day.

It's horrific how such dealerships are so dependant upon VAGCAN and other diagnostic software to find out what is wrong with the car, when a real mechanic will find the fault by "hands-on" if vagcan brings up zero fault codes.
 
I think it's an image thing, unless you are age 50+ and wearing a Barbour coat, you will get treated like dirt in an Audi dealership,

TBH, I think the fact that a fair percentage of Audi's clientele are like this is at the root of a lot of the service problems.
These 'monied old duffers' (for want of a better phrase) are far too trusting and are willing to just take the dealer at their word.

"It's the Audi dealer, dear, he says the thrunger has boiled it's cork and needs re-threaded to compensate for the over-boinking"
"Does it dear? Oh well, just tell them to replace it"

So that just ends up being the sort of crap they'll pull on all their clients.
It's inevitable.
So you get ridiculous scenarios like me being told my wheel bearing noise, which I could hear at low speed, is caused by tyre noise and "maybe I should put new tyres on sir?"
I mean, which 40 year old bloke with any interest in cars is going to fall for that??:no:
So perhaps Audi need to realise their client base is

A/ Younger than it used to be
B/ More knowledgable than they give credit for.

I'd like to think my Alpina dealer will give me a bit more credit, because I'd like to think they will assume I have some knowledge of cars.
Time will tell.
 
TBH, I think the fact that a fair percentage of Audi's clientele are like this is at the root of a lot of the service problems.
These 'monied old duffers' (for want of a better phrase) are far too trusting and are willing to just take the dealer at their word.

"It's the Audi dealer, dear, he says the thrunger has boiled it's cork and needs re-threaded to compensate for the over-boinking"
"Does it dear? Oh well, just tell them to replace it"

So perhaps Audi need to realise their client base is

A/ Younger than it used to be
B/ More knowledgable than they give credit for.

That's it, the older generation are far too trusting or know sod all about the car in the first place... Reliable dealers eh! WRONG!

I spent every available penny I had in purchasing the A3, Audi are wrong if they think they are gonna insist I pay for parts that easily, especially if the helpline says it's a damn recall!

The parts guy I dealt with half expected me to buy the wiper motor there and then. The sod probably expected me to be a naive female that would just want my wipers functioning properly instead of arguing the case. And yes, I was the youngest person in the dealership by far, at 21. I got a few funny looks, probably because I was unaccompanied and not in my pram.
 
Yup, abuse of trust is a huge earner for the car industry, unfortunately.
I had a VW Golf Gti a few years ago.
If you went full lock in reverse, the tyres would catch the mudflaps and make this whirring noise.
A female colleague inherited the car from me and mentioned the noise when it went it for a service (I didn't mention it to her, I forgot about it)
The first I knew was when she came through screaming that I'd "ruined the gearbox" and the company was facing an £800 bill.
When I demonstrated the noise to her and the dealer, you wouldn't believe how quickly they tried to cover up their, at best, incompetence or, at worst, attempt to completely rip off a client.
The only advice I can ever give people is to check, check, check.
Never, ever, trust.
 
My sisters A3 had a new wiper motor under warranty about 2 years ago. This weekend it failed again but it turned out to be just a fuse.. so far.. as fuses don't normally just blow for fun maybe its failing again? Although the first time it failed suddenly and completely while she was on the motorway in heavy rain!
 
It's horrific how such dealerships are so dependant upon VAGCAN and other diagnostic software to find out what is wrong with the car, when a real mechanic will find the fault by "hands-on" if vagcan brings up zero fault codes.

Oh how true

Every single time I've taken my car back for a wheel bearing (Sorry L60N, I know I said I'd never mention it again) I've had to take the "Master technician" out and show them the noise

That's 3 dealerships

3 master technicians need me, a 35 year old bloke to tell them something is wrong with a car they should know more than me about

And for the second steering rack replacement, I'd printed off around 30 pages of info from various forums, including some material provided by VW to Auto Express to prove to them their was a problem - why should anyone have to do this?

Perhaps Bowfer's thoughts are true, their typical clients would be more trusting

Its actually very scary
 
It's totally horific, that yes, perhaps the majority of their clients don't know as much about cars and rely on Audi's judgement, a very scary thought indeed-unnecessarily milking the money out of oblivious customers who want their car repaired in good faith.

Maybe Audi have such issues with us, the car enthusiasts as we are more aware of the workings of our own cars and aren't as easy to fob off, and therefore buy their parts.

It's a shame that Audi's service department isn't anywhere near as prestige as the cars they are working on, the two should go hand in hand.
 
Result, phoned the helpline for the THIRD time today and they made the local dealer phone me a few hours later, my car is now booked in for getting a new wiper motor next thursday.

It's being done as a recall and the service guy that phoned me today was the wench that belittled me a few days ago-he made some excuse about the screen he was using and that it was different from the service network screen that the helpline use and he only had the recall in front of him that had been carried out on the car.

My persistance paid off, just don't let a pack of assholes lacking braincells like Audi employees, make you fork out for something that you have been told is a recall, three times.

Pack of twats, fingers crossed for next Thursday.

Jen
 
My persistance paid off, just don't let a pack of assholes lacking braincells like Audi employees, make you fork out for something that you have been told is a recall, three times.

Glad you've got it sorted but remember, the 'assholes' as you describe them are not employed by Audi AG or Audi UK. They are employed by whatever company owns that particular dealership. Each dealership is an independent company from Audi. Don't tar everyone with the same brush. There are good dealers and not so good dealers and there are downright awful dealers.

It was Audi UK that got the problem sorted for you!
 
perhaps when you go in you should ask the individual if he knows how to operate a computer, and if he would like some help from a monkey as clearly he is a complete berk
 
Each dealership is an independent company from Audi. Don't tar everyone with the same brush. There are good dealers and not so good dealers and there are downright awful dealers.

It was Audi UK that got the problem sorted for you!

Yea Audi UK were fantastic, they made the dealer contact me and arrange a fix. I wouldn't buy a new car from that dealership, I would go to GB and give the business to a nicer dealership.

perhaps when you go in you should ask the individual if he knows how to operate a computer, and if he would like some help from a monkey as clearly he is a complete berk

Well that's it, the guy in the service dept that belittled me said that he does "Know how to operate the computer programme as I sit in front of it 8 hours a day...".

Whatever matey.
 
You've all perfectly summed up why I did the Cambelt on my 8PA3 myself.

If the monkey's in the dealership are trusted to do it, damn sure I will get it right on a car I own/love!
 
Anyone else think dealers are too reliant on damned fault codes?
If nothing registers, you're left feeling like you made the problem up?
Is there such a thing as being a mechanic now?

Funnily I often have this conversation with my mate who is a proper mechanic. He often has to pickup the pieces at work for the youngsters when there is no error indication on the scanners they use.

Always brings to mind that Advert on the TV "Computer says no" LOL.

Paul
 
Well that's it, the guy in the service dept that belittled me said that he does "Know how to operate the computer programme as I sit in front of it 8 hours a day...".

I've been sitting in front of a PC for 8 hours a day for years.
I still assume they work by magic.:blush:

Glad your persistance paid off.

What do other, less persistent, people do though?
Do they keep on suffering a fault, because a recalcitrant dealer says they're mental?
Or do they sell it and go to another brand?
 
or, and this is probably the main driver for most dealers, do they simply pay for something to be replaced that should have been FOC under a recall?
 
Funnily I often have this conversation with my mate who is a proper mechanic. He often has to pickup the pieces at work for the youngsters when there is no error indication on the scanners they use.

How does a 'proper mechanic' or anyone else for that matter change some things on a modern car, without the use of a computer. Answer - he cannot. What is required is a technician who understands the use of both.
 
Need I mention wheel bearings? Last time I recall there wasn't much in the way of diagnosis done with a PC on this


Or steering racks
 
I've been sitting in front of a PC for 8 hours a day for years.
I still assume they work by magic.:blush:

Hope I didn't offend you :( I was aiming that at the Audi staff who are very quick to look down their nose at people, when their job is at a service desk all day... My bf works at computers too lol, only he has to use his brain (if he can find it) and fix errors etc.

or, and this is probably the main driver for most dealers, do they simply pay for something to be replaced that should have been FOC under a recall?

Thats probably it, they were trying to hit me with that one, I feel angry that dealers could try such a feeble scam, it just annoys me that some people may not be able to afford such high prices for parts, when the part should have been a recall in the first place. Double money for the dealer I suppose! As they rub their hands at meeting budgets...


Any mechanical parts that need replaced and that aren't shattered or hanging off have no chance of being discovered...Computer says NO!!! Young apprentice mechanics in Audi say NO!!!
 
Hope I didn't offend you :(

No, god, not at all!
I was having a pop at the pr*ck in the dealer, who equates time spent in front of something with knowledge of it's workings.
I could stare at a washing machine all day, I'd still be clueless...:laugh:
 
Well I got my wiper motor fitted eventually, although the driver's side wing, windscreen and somehow LHS wing, and even front grille are covered in spray grease (how and why the hell), but yes my wipers work eventually. Yay!

Disgusted that it took Audi four hours to fit the wiper motor (removing wipers, scuttle panel and there it is...) and I even had an extra 1.3 miles on the trip, so they must have been driving the car about to see if the wiper motor worked, even though I didn't give anyone permission to drive my car out the gates of the dealership.

But the fault was carried out as a "warranty repair" and not a recall. But it cost zilch, that's the main thing.

And yes, the complete pillock, David who I dealt with previously in service, was ***** as ever, even in front of my dad this time. Some Audi dealer staff need a slap and need to remove their head from their *** but that's for another day.
 
How does a 'proper mechanic' or anyone else for that matter change some things on a modern car, without the use of a computer. Answer - he cannot. What is required is a technician who understands the use of both.

Well the answer is that he is a proper mechanic that knows how to use the required scanning tools, online parts and technical manuals. As well as what to look at and check when the scanner says there is nowt wrong, but a test drive shows that there is !.

Paul
 
Just got back from the stealers and the wiper motor recall had already been done on my car and the software was all up to date but it was worth a try

Matt
 
Well the answer is that he is a proper mechanic that knows how to use the required scanning tools, online parts and technical manuals. As well as what to look at and check when the scanner says there is nowt wrong, but a test drive shows that there is !.

Paul

Disagree.

Ask every one of them for a job title or job description.

They will all be vehicle fitters or vehicle technicians. You'll struggle to find a mechanic in a modern car dealership nowadays.
 
Disagree.

Ask every one of them for a job title or job description.

They will all be vehicle fitters or vehicle technicians. You'll struggle to find a mechanic in a modern car dealership nowadays.

Ah well perhaps that is why then - he works at an independent Garage and works on all sorts of cars. Including the owners son's race prepped Evo VIII.

Paul
 
Disagree.

Ask every one of them for a job title or job description.

They will all be vehicle fitters or vehicle technicians. You'll struggle to find a mechanic in a modern car dealership nowadays.

I don't know what you mean by this.
If you're merely saying their job title has changed, I can't argue with that.
Although it is just semantics.
A 'cleansing technician' is still a bin man, when all is said and done.

If you're saying their entire role has changed and the closest they get to proper 'mechanical' work is changing pads/filters, then that's more worrying, as it leaves anyone with more involved problems with nowhere to go.

As I said before, my last straw with my Audi dealer was when they investigated my knackered wheel bearing in entirely the wrong manner.
A 'back street' garage would have investigated it in the time-old fashion.
So, basically, the back street garage is better, in some cases.:think:
 
agreed.

my mum had an electrical fault with a 2000 W reg Seat Ibiza TDi. Took the Seat dealership 5 weeks to find the problem, which didn't show up on any diagniostics because it was being caused by a split wire shorting out, intermittently. Once they found it, was fixed in about 10 minutes.