Wipers turned on by themselves, won't turn off.

[RedHookFern]

So my after driving on the bumpy cobble stone streets around my home, the wipers turned themselves on and won't shut off. This has happened before, usually after driving on really rough patches of street. Usually when this happens, the other wierd thing is the buzzing door-open sound will come on when I use the turn signals.

I am guessing that the connections on the stalk(s) are beginning to let go? I know on MK1 VW's this tends to happen, and I thought they actually share these same parts with Porsche, though I could be wrong.

I don't think it's a ground issue since everything else appears to work fine and the symptons usually come on with bumpy surfaces and sometimes go away by jiggling with the stalk.

Anyone dealt with this before? Need to replace the stalk? I really hate to have to pull the steering wheel.

[16vCorey]

Yeah, it's pretty common. You don't always have to replace the switch. Sometimes you can get away with taking it off and cleaning all the contacts. Sometimes the contacts have become bent over time, so you might have to bent them a little to get them to make contact only when there supposed to. Sometimes the plastic that holds the contacts in place breaks, then there's really no way of keeping them in place.

It's almost the same switch as an early VW, but not exactly.

I've got a brown one if you end up needing one.

[Panzer909]

Agreed. I had something similar happen on my old '84 and all it took was a good cleaning of the contacts. Didn't cost a thing.

[alan6272]

mine also did this but turned out to be the intermittent relay

[mytrplseven]

Have you pulled the relay to see if the motion stops? Could be you have a failed relay. It's easier to check than pulling the steering column apart.

[mrbeasley]

I had the same problem on my 1984 3.2.What worked for me was cleaning the contacts on by battery,replacing the fuse then making sure my battery was firmly secured in it's housing.It was slightly loose and had been moving around.Sounds unsophisticated and totally high school but it worked. Cheers.

[RedHookFern]

Well today it appears to be normal again. The ghost has gone away. For now. Ill try the relay though next time it comes up

[pfarah]

This is exactly what happened to me a while back on my 84 also. I simply (like others) removed the stalk and cleaned all swiper contacts. Actually, I found an extremely small piece of conductive material that looked like a single strand of steel wool (weird) floating about. Another reason to make sure your work space is clean when removing parts. If it happens again, try moving the wiper arm up and down rapidly a few times and see if it stops.