faulty wipers and interior fan?????

[uncleben]

hi all, i have an '89 mk2 gti 8v small bumper and basically when i turn my wipers on 7 times out of 10 they will not work straight away(fast, normal, intermittent or the washers), after 1-3 minutes they'll start working (although lately it can be up to 10 minutes!)then will be fine for the rest of the journey. i replaced the wiper stalk as it had the wrong one fitted when i bought the car this made no difference, i've checked for power at the motor and there is none, until they decide to work, obviously! and it can't be dodgy wiring because they work perfectly once they start working and will be fine untill i switch off the ignition, when they will either work straight away again or won't! one thing i have noticed is while the wipers aren't working neither is the heater fan blower, as soon as the wipers start working the heater works! how are these related and what could be causing this? having to sit and wait most mornings is starting to get annoying and with frosty mornings upon us it will only be worse! i'm hoping someone can help!!! cheers

[The Mighty Elvi]

Had the same problem after starting my golf after 8 months idle.  Could be damp in the fuse box and giving the relays a jiggle may help.

The problem went after a few hours driving.

[cняis]

Relays or fuses 

[uncleben]

thanks for the reply. its been doing it since i've owned it, almost 10 months, although to start with it would happen a few times a month now its almost every time i've checked and cleaned all the plugs on the wiper motor and the wiper stalk to no avail. the only relay i can see related to the wipers is the one that controls the intermittent wipe, i knew it weren't this but i changed it anyway. are there any other relays that would affect the wipers AND the interior fan? my mot is soon and i just know the wipers won't work when tested

[rubjonny]

yep, #17/18 is the x-over live and powers both the wipers and the blower. give it a wiggle

[uncleben]

rubjonny, those were the words i wanted to hear (or read)  tried my wipers earlier - didn't work so gave relay#18 a lil wiggle and hey presto! we have heater and wipers ordered a new relay from vw today for about £11, its being delivered tomorrow so we shall see! thanks for all the replies

[uncleben]

relay came yesterday, for anyone with the same problem the current replacement relay from vw is no. 644  the part number is; 4HO 951 253 and it is light green. fitted it and so far so good! thanks to everyone for your help