[ashivas89]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Soft turn off and turn on of all interior lights and switch illumination - Isnt it there by default in the cars? Like when you manually turn off the light in the rotary switch, every light in the cabin fades out slowly and vice versa. I saw some video in insta where some page had claimed that they are enabling it via coding. But when I checked it was already the case in my car and I don't remember enabling it via VCDS.

Don't know about softness of the fade, but they do turn on and off with some fade in my car. No VCDS coding done yet.

On a totally unrelated note though and seeking help of fellow BHPians..

I am facing a weird issue in my car since the rains hit BLR. Wipers started to come on randomly even in parking garages. Initially I thought it could be the rain sensor picking up on random water droplets, but no.. not the case. It still occurred when it had been bone dry for 2 days straight + after my disabling auto wipers in car settings. Although i have been unable to reproduce it, I suspect that it happens whenever I hit a modular bolted on speed breaker or rumble strip.

Has anyone faced this, been able to reproduce it and fixed it? lets compare notes please..

[ashivas89]

Originally Posted by ashivas89

On a totally unrelated note though and seeking help of fellow BHPians..

I am facing a weird issue in my car since the rains hit BLR. Wipers started to come on randomly even in parking garages. Initially I thought it could be the rain sensor picking up on random water droplets, but no.. not the case. It still occurred when it had been bone dry for 2 days straight + after my disabling auto wipers in car settings. Although i have been unable to reproduce it, I suspect that it happens whenever I hit a modular bolted on speed breaker or rumble strip.

Has anyone faced this, been able to reproduce it and fixed it? lets compare notes please..

Bringing this up again..

The problem has gotten really bad and reproducible now.

Symptoms:

1. The wipers do not respond to my varying the speed in the intermittent setting, they run at the lowest non-intermittent speed. They respond to the higher speed settings though.

2. Sharp expansion joins and speed breakers in parking lots trigger the wipers. I need to try different combinations of flicking the stalk to get them to stop. Worst case I need to stop the car on the side of the road and switch the ignition off and restart the car in order for the wipers to stop.

I found one video where the chap diagnoses a related issue for a last gen polo systematically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOsVh3m3JIg

I am planning on driving the car to the ASC in a week or two to get this sorted. Hopefully the fix is as simple as replacing the stalk module.

I will post an update on the outcome.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by ashivas89

1. The wipers do not respond to my varying the speed in the intermittent setting, they run at the lowest non-intermittent speed. They respond to the higher speed settings though.

2. Sharp expansion joins and speed breakers in parking lots trigger the wipers. I need to try different combinations of flicking the stalk to get them to stop. Worst case I need to stop the car on the side of the road and switch the ignition off and restart the car in order for the wipers to stop.

I am planning on driving the car to the ASC in a week or two to get this sorted. Hopefully the fix is as simple as replacing the stalk module. .

If this issue is only when the stalk is kept in intermittent mode, then there are two things to be checked in diagnostics. One is if the intermittent speed settings are working correctly, which otherwise would point to a faulty stalk switch. Otherwise, you should also check the status of the rain light sensor. If that is faulty, then it could be sending triggers to turn on the wiper. Since its an optical sensor, poor mounting of the sensor(especially if the glass was replaced) or a faulty sensor gel base between the sensor and glass) would also create this issue when you drive over potholes etc. The sensor might be reporting the jerk as a rainy situation and hence the wipers would be getting triggered. Ask them to check both.

[ashivas89]

Originally Posted by ashivas89

Bringing this up again..

The problem has gotten really bad and reproducible now.

Symptoms:

1. The wipers do not respond to my varying the speed in the intermittent setting, they run at the lowest non-intermittent speed. They respond to the higher speed settings though.

2. Sharp expansion joins and speed breakers in parking lots trigger the wipers. I need to try different combinations of flicking the stalk to get them to stop. Worst case I need to stop the car on the side of the road and switch the ignition off and restart the car in order for the wipers to stop.

I am planning on driving the car to the ASC in a week or two to get this sorted. Hopefully the fix is as simple as replacing the stalk module.

I will post an update on the outcome.

Update 1.

The problem got really out of hand on Saturday. Every time I would engage the wipe function, the wipers would come on full swing and not turn off until I turned off the ignition.

Imagine the pain of this happening on a day interspersed with drizzle.

This is apparently not uncommon on VAG cars (just google the issue). It is hilarious that known issues continue to exist for years in VAG products. Do not buy these cars until their USP (confidence inspiring driving dynamics, snappy gear shifts, engines that deliver more than what is promised on paper, ASMR inducing door shut sounds and most importantly safety) and your priorities are perfectly aligned. Not a peaceful ownership experience.

Therefore, I gave up, cancelled my plans, took an appointment and drove the car straight to the ASC on Sunday. The Service Advisor took a look at the issue along with the floor in-charge. Since the issue was so reproducible, both readily admitted that a warranty claim has to be made. They requested me to bring the car back in on a weekday so that there is minimal lead time in raising a warranty claim and also the master technician is only available on weekdays.

I did precisely that. Drove the car back in on Monday morning, handed it over and went to work. Thirty minutes later the SA created a Whatsapp group with the CRM and floor in-charge and added me to it + created a running repair ticket and sent me link to approve it. The link also contained a video of the car's interiors, exteriors, engine bay and the problem being reproduced.

I had requested the SA to provide regular updates and he has been doing exactly that.

2 hours later, the master technician had diagnosed the issue as being a major fault with the wiper stalk module (as suspected). They then raised a claim with Skoda. I was then told that it will take a day until they receive a recommendation by Skoda HQ as to how to proceed. Meanwhile the SA accommodated my request to store the car indoors with all the windows shut.

This morning I got a call again saying that Skoda has approved the replacement of the stalk module and that the part is on its way and that the car will likely be returned on Friday.

Sensing my disappointment, he offered to reassemble the steering and return the car to me. I decided that it is too much of a hassle to collect the car on Tuesday evening, only to return it to them on Thursday and collect it back again on Friday.

I plan on doing a surprise visit to see the state of my car this evening.

[Aditya]

Wiper issue in a Skoda Slavia | Wipers won't turn off! - Posts moved to a new thread.

[pravint]

Are these intentionally designed to fail ? I dont think wiper stalk should have any complex mechanism/electronics inside it which can fail.
This is pure reluctance from VW group to fix basic design issue and milk the customers.

[arjab]

Same issue happened with a friend of mine, as of June 2023 with his Skoda Kushaq 1.5 MT.
He had gone with his friend on a road trip from Kolkata to Leh - Ladakh and the wipers acted up. Initially it was coming on randomly and then packed up altogether. They visited the Skoda workshop at Mandi and were told that they do not have the parts in stock.
They completed their road trip, sans wipers, rubbing tobacco on wet windscreens to prevent water beading, when it started raining - and following the tail-lights of his friend's 10-year old Ecosport EcoBoost which accompanied them, (which by the way did not even raise a whimper despite being a decade old and close to a hundred thousand kilometres!).
On their return, he visited Skoda after sales Delhi, who replaced the entire wiper assembly alongwith combination switch and wiper wiring harness, under warranty, no questions asked.
So it seems it is a vendor / supplier batch issue and can randomly affect any model sharing the common parts bin. Sooner VW takes cognisance of this and resolves it permanently the better it is for customer confidence and peace of mind.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by ashivas89

The problem got really out of hand on Saturday. Every time I would engage the wipe function, the wipers would come on full swing and not turn off until I turned off the ignition.

2 hours later, the master technician had diagnosed the issue as being a major fault with the wiper stalk module (as suspected).

In addition to that, I would be looking at the "clock spring". There are wires that run through the center of the clock spring. These wires are prone to damage/breaking over time and can cause an interruption in the electrical current. I would be first looking at this part before moving any further for troubleshooting. All stalks on the streeing wheels communicate through clock spring.

[aghate]

@ashivas89

Have the Service Center checked for a blown fuse/relay?

I had a similar issue with my Mondeo where the wipers would only work in 2nd speed and not stop when in operation over a couple of minutes (the time for the issue to start only lessened over the course of weeks). I don't have Automatic Wipers that perhaps explains why didn't come up randomly. And no, they wouldn't stop even when the Car was switched off with the key out. It would stop after 2 or 3 minutes. Had to pull the Old relay out once to stop the wipers.

I had to replace the Relay to fix the issue, and it has not happened again since.

I find it a bit far fetched that the stalk has the issue.

[ashivas89]

Originally Posted by aghate

@ashivas89

Have the Service Center checked for a blown fuse/relay?

I had a similar issue with my Mondeo where the wipers would only work in 2nd speed and not stop when in operation over a couple of minutes (the time for the issue to start only lessened over the course of weeks). I don't have Automatic Wipers that perhaps explains why didn't come up randomly. And no, they wouldn't stop even when the Car was switched off with the key out. It would stop after 2 or 3 minutes. Had to pull the Old relay out once to stop the wipers.

I had to replace the Relay to fix the issue, and it has not happened again since.

I find it a bit far fetched that the stalk has the issue.

Hi aghate,

Thanks for the hint.

It got to a point where I could reproduce the issue by just tapping or flicking the stalk gently (not engaging any position just a slight perturbation). This points towards faulty switchgear.

This is apparently a known issue with VAG wiper stalks (they are more than simple switches, apparently). After diagnosis they ruled out the relay, motors and the rain light sensor.

Lets see if this relatively simple fix works.

[ashivas89]

Update 2

The issue seems to be fixed!!

Communicated with the CRM (the SA was on leave) and arrived at the SC this afternoon.

I was shown that the stalk assy./combination switch was replaced. Checked if it works as intended and it did.

They had also taken care of some "campaign" items like the driver side window roll back bug fix, airbag related software update and replacing the original owner's manual with a new updated one.

I then had to wait for about 45 minutes for a "warranty procedure" to be concluded.

Since the steering wheel had to be removed from the spline to get to the combination switch, I insisted that I wanted to test drive the car and see if it tracks straight and true after reassembly before signing on the dotted line.

The wheel was listing ever so slightly towards the left while driving straight. The Floor In charge who accompanied me also drove the car and admitted that the the angle is off.

He proposed wheel alignment, I flat out refused and asked him to have the steering wheel spline joint checked.

As suspected they had not installed the wheel correctly. It is very easy to misalign the steering wheel when sliding it on to the spline although there is usually a marking pointing towards the right orientation. The alignment was off by one gear tooth of the spline.

After fixing this, we went out on another test drive, nothing felt out of place and I finally took delivery of the car.

Got the car washed at a proper car wash place and got the interior surfaces foam cleaned and vacuumed for good measure ( I never get our cars cleaned at ASCs).

Take aways:

1. While a practically new car has no business having such gremlins, props to the team at Raja Skoda ASC Mahadevapura (Whitefield, BLR) for being mostly professional, very courteous and accommodating of all my requests (being careful about where they park my car, keeping the windows rolled up, etc.)

2. They were attentive and open to nearly every suggestion from me and acted on my inputs swiftly (especially the steering wheel issue).

Here's to hoping that nothing else crops during the rest of my ownership.

Cheers!

[GTE]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

In addition to that, I would be looking at the "clock spring". There are wires that run through the center of the clock spring. These wires are prone to damage/breaking over time and can cause an interruption in the electrical current. I would be first looking at this part before moving any further for troubleshooting. All stalks on the streeing wheels communicate through clock spring.

Actually the clockspring has nothing to do with the stalks. It is only used for the airbag & other switches on the steering wheel.

[ashivas89]

Originally Posted by ashivas89

As suspected they had not installed the wheel correctly. It is very easy to misalign the steering wheel when sliding it on to the spline although there is usually a marking pointing towards the right orientation. The alignment was off by one gear tooth of the spline.

Cheers!

You can see in the images that the 12 'o' clock positions (marked by indentations) of the inner and outer splines do not line up. If anyone is interested

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by GTE

Actually the clockspring has nothing to do with the stalks. It is only used for the airbag & other switches on the steering wheel.

Well well, in my old car, one fine day indicators, cruise control and wipers stopped working altogether. They used to work intermittently. I tried to troubleshoot and replicate the scenario and came to know that these were working while the steering was turned one full round either ways.

Mechanic was quick to find the reason of a kaput clock spring. Replaced it and and all these issued were buried forever. That’s why I suggested to look into this.