Auto wiper problem

[rjam]

Hi

Live in Oregon so lots of rain. I set the wipers to the most sensitive setting and unless the rain hits hard on the windshield they don't come on. I cleaned the outside of the windshield and it didn't help. Anyone know if I take it to the dealer if they can fix it so they come on in light rain or am I out of luck.

Thanks!

[plus 3 golfer]

Hi

Live in Oregon so lots of rain. I set the wipers to the most sensitive setting and unless the rain hits hard on the windshield they don't come on. I cleaned the outside of the windshield and it didn't help. Anyone know if I take it to the dealer if they can fix it so they come on in light rain or am I out of luck.

Thanks!

My crystal ball says YES. :)

 

The rain sensor is likely an optical sensor that measures the light reflected from an infrared light source.  Data from the sensor and wiper switch positions are sent to the BCM which controls the wipers.  There are rain sensor DTC for detected malfunctions.  Out of curiosity can you check the Engineering Test Mode to see if it shows any DTCs?

[rjam]

Wow. I wouldn't know where to find the code or what ai was looking at.

[plus 3 golfer]

Follow the appropriate procedure below and report what you find.

 

Entering ETM with Keyed Ignition

From Kotsby: Engineering Test Mode (ETM) is activated on the SE by holding down the left-steering-wheel OK button when turning the car from off to ignition-on and holding OK until the ETM display begins (a yellow ET is displayed in the upper left corner) of the left-hand screen).

 

It is not necessary to actually turn the key another notch to "start" the vehicle. The only way to turn off ET is to turn the key off. Once activated, ET will continue on the left-hand display once the vehicle is started, covering the usual left-hand trip odometers, MyView, and Power screens.

 

Entering ETM with Push Button Start

1) Push and hold the "OK" button on the left input pad on the steering wheel

2) DO NOT STEP ON THE BRAKE.  Push the start button while still holding the "OK" button.  

3) Engineering test mode will come up on the left hand screen.  It might be blocked by another message  but you can see the letters ET in the upper left.  Release the "OK" button and push it again to clear the other message.

4)  The Engineering Test Mode screen should be displayed.

5) Push the up or down arrows to scroll through the ETM screens.

 

 Here's what Ford says about the ETM DTC screen:

• DTC HIST CURR
• xxxxxx x x
• xxxxxx x

Displays all of the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) set (history and current Diagnostic Trouble Codes [DTCs]). An X in the HIST or CURR column means the DTC is active. Three Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) display on each screen. If more Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) are present, there will be additional screens listing them. If there are no Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) in history or current, the display will only be the title row. 

[rjam]

Hi

Thanks. Learned something new but it didn't have any trouble codes. Thank you!

[homestead]

Hi

Live in Oregon so lots of rain. I set the wipers to the most sensitive setting and unless the rain hits hard on the windshield they don't come on. I cleaned the outside of the windshield and it didn't help. Anyone know if I take it to the dealer if they can fix it so they come on in light rain or am I out of luck.

Thanks!

This Ruby Red also lives in Oregon, spent the entire day today driving in the rain.  Wipers worked great.  They also

work well in intermittent mode on days of light rain.  Yours must be broke or not adjusted correctly.

[rjam]

Thanks I'll take it in next week. I have sensitivity turned all the way up. They don't do a thing in light rain.

[fotomoto]

Could you have the sensitivity setting on the lowest instead of the highest setting?  On the most sensitive setting, mine can occasionally be tripped to activate one swipe by the a/c drip of the car just in front of me during the humid summer!  

[rjam]

Hi. Turn the setting on the arm clockwise as far as it goes

[drdiesel1]

Do you have the switch in the second step/detent position  ?

Edited January 18, 2015 by drdiesel1

[rjam]

Hi

Yes. Definitely turned on. They will wipe automaticaly when it's rains really hard but otherwise not so much

[drdiesel1]

Sounds like you have the sensitivity turned down.

[rjam]

Hi

I think all the way clockwise is the high sensitivity setting but it acts kike it's turned down when it's not.

[fotomoto]

The sensitivity selector has five positions rotating from the top to the bottom.  You want the white maker on this rotator pointed up at the top to have the most sensitivity (clockwise when viewed from the side).  If yours are so, then there's something wrong.  I was at a car wash today, over two cars back from the opening, with the wipers in the most sensitive position and the mist in the air activated them.  

 

Before purchase, this was a feature I quickly glossed over in the brochure with barely a notice but after nearly two years of ownership of an SEL, I have found them to be awesome.  We are in the mist of a very wet winter more typical of the pacific northwest and they have "paid" for themselves over and over again.   This is a feature typically only found on luxury level automobiles priced thousands and thousands more.  

Edited January 19, 2015 by fotomoto

[rjam]

Hi

Yep. Set to most sensitive. Off to the shop it goes!

[fotomoto]

Ok, let us know how it goes.

[rjam]

Hi

Took it to HHR dealer. They looked at it, brought it back wet after testing then told me that the auto sensing wipers didn't work because I didn't have them on my car. I told him that was odd because the do come on all by themselves under pelting rain. I took the service writer out to the car and showed him that I did. He said no you don't have them. My service tec checked it out. I told him to go get a glass of water and throw it hard at the top center of the windshield where the sensor is located. He did and the wipers made a swip. He then said that I had the wipers on intermittent. I could not belive it. He said there would be a seperate control arm off the steering wheel if I indeed had sensor wipers. I then showed him in the owners manual that he was wrong. About that time a tec came by and asked what are you doing. The service writer explained he could b

Not get me to understand that they were intermittent wipers. He walked up and put his finger over the sensor and they swiped. After doing this several times he told the sevice writer that he was wrong and there was no doubt they were sensor wipers. The service writer finally had it dawn on him that indeed they were. The tec told him to order a new sensor. Should have it done next week.

[drdiesel1]

Hi

Took it to HHR dealer. They looked at it, brought it back wet after testing then told me that the auto sensing wipers didn't work because I didn't have them on my car. I told him that was odd because the do come on all by themselves under pelting rain. I took the service writer out to the car and showed him that I did. He said no you don't have them. My service tec checked it out. I told him to go get a glass of water and throw it hard at the top center of the windshield where the sensor is located. He did and the wipers made a swip. He then said that I had the wipers on intermittent. I could not belive it. He said there would be a seperate control arm off the steering wheel if I indeed had sensor wipers. I then showed him in the owners manual that he was wrong. About that time a tec came by and asked what are you doing. The service writer explained he could b

Not get me to understand that they were intermittent wipers. He walked up and put his finger over the sensor and they swiped. After doing this several times he told the sevice writer that he was wrong and there was no doubt they were sensor wipers. The service writer finally had it dawn on him that indeed they were. The tec told him to order a new sensor. Should have it done next week.

Why would the SA be involved in this. They're clueless and should stay in their cubical.

Sounds like the 2nd tech is familiar with these and knows why it's not functioning properly.

I would request that he be the only tech to work on it too.

Edited January 20, 2015 by drdiesel1

[Marc Smith]

one word.... rainex.... 

[Jerry Svoboda]

Dear friends,

      I just acquired a 2016 C-max SEL with Autowipers (has the capital A showing on the windshield picture on the right hand stalk).  This feature seems to be working OK.  However, the last sentence on page 71 of the 2016 owner's manual says: You can change the autowipers feature to intermittent wipers through the information display.  Then at the top of page 72, it says: Check your wiper function in the information display.  See General Information (page 93).  The autowipers feature functions only when you select the menu choice  in the information display and you move the wiper lever up to the first position.  The autowipers feature then remains on in the information display menu until you change it to intermittent wipe. 

 

For the life of me, I cannot find this selection in the car's information display.  Neither can I find (in the General Information section on pages 93-100) in the exploded menus of the manual any reference to the autowiper/intermittent wiper toggle...can anyone help?    Thanks:)  Jerry Svoboda, Rochester, NY

[16redsel]

  I have a '16 SEL also and the autowipers work fine. frequency/sensitivity is adjustable

using the intermittent control. I've never found anything in the menu tree about the

wipers.

[JonC]

I've got a 2013 Energi.  The sensor has the same issue, it's got to be REALLY wet to trigger, even on the most sensitive setting.  Since the car was already out of the 36k mile warranty when I got it, I ignored it for a while, it finally annoyed me enough that something had to be done.

 

If you unplug the sensor (it's behind the cover below the rearview mirror), the system turns into an old-style intermittent wiper controller.  I actually like that better than the rain sensing feature anyway, so that was my fix.  The error code shows up in Forscan but doesn't bother you otherwise.  If you want to replace it, this is the part for the 2013:  https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/module-windshield-rain-sensor-6391961-1#sectionId:4227111

 

 

[stolenmoment]

Good to know!

[Sharon]

I have a 2014 Ford C max.  I have the same problem.  The intermittant autowipers don't come on.  I took it to the dealer (under warrenty) and they tested it and said, yes they do.  But they don't.  I have waited 15 minutes for one wipe, where I couldn't see out the windshield.  Thanks for the suggestion to unplug the sensor.

[jestevens]

They also come on at inconvenient times, like it's a cold day and the blades are frozen to the bottom of the windshield - I forget the auto setting is on and start to clear the windshield of ice .. ruined about $60 worth of very good wiper blades that way.  I will have to go out and look in the menus again -- I could've sworn there was a setting in there.