Turn signal activating windshield wipers on 94 Passat GLX

I've had my share of interesting issues on my Passat over the last
decade, but this one takes the cake.

I was turning onto the highway yesterday, and used my turn signal to
indicate the manuever. Next thing I know, the windshield wipers are
on, and activating randomly. Doesn't seem to make any difference where
I place the wiper activation stalk, save for the high position, which
still seems to act in an appropriate manner. Also, the wiper
activation seems to interrupt the speedo and tach signals every few
cycles. Strange.

My guess was a flaky relay. I took the wiper relay out, opened her up,
and carefully cleaned accumulated oxidation between the contacts by
pulling a piece of paper between them while applying pressure. That
seems to have helped, although not entirely cured the situation.

Would also like to try the same procedure with the turn signal relay,
but where is the beast? Does anyone have a proper listing of the relay
board for a B3 Passat? Inquiring minds would love to know where. Yes,
I did spend about an hour with Google the other night and found some
info on the Bentley forums, but there was some conflicting data.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
David Glos

In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, DLGlos wrote:

>
>Any other thoughts?

When things interact oddly, I tend to think of a bad common (e.g.,
ground) wire.

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 15:23:55 -0500, se(Tom's VR6) wrote:

>In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, DLGlos wrote:
>
>>
>>Any other thoughts?
>
>When things interact oddly, I tend to think of a bad common (e.g.,
>ground) wire.

Yeah, that is a good thought., especially considering the car is 11
yrs young...question is, which ground. There is a 'grounding ring' (a
ring with a half dozen 1/4" male spade connectors) adjacent to the
fuse/relay block. Of course, there is the engine ground block, and a
myriad of other local bonds to the steel body. Do you perhaps know if
there is a seperate 'master' ground for the fuse/relay block?

I'm still wondering about an odd relay interaction though. You can
take the wiper relay out, and the wipers will still work, on high
only, and they stop wherever you turn them off. Pulling the relay also
kills the interaction issue. It is almost like the electrical pulse
from the turn signal operation is bleeding over and setting the delay
on the wiper. Of course, now that I think of it, there could also be
something going on up in the steering column. ARRGGHH.

So manny things to check, so little time.

I was hoping that someone had seen something similar before.

I really love this car, and have owned her and taken good care of her
since new, but things are quickly turning south. Wish I could afford
something newer.

Thanks,
DLGlos

Don't generally reply to myself. However, the problem only seems to
happen when the left-hand turn signal is activated; never with the
right. Makes me think that there may be something going on in the
column, near the turn and wiper stalks.

Any hypotheses/leads welcome at this point.

Thanks,
DLGlos

I don't know about your Passat, but it is very easy to remove the steering
wheel on my 1988 Cabbie in order to check for shorts between the turn signal
stalk and the windshield wiper stalk. Maybe it is just as easy to do with
your Passat, but first (if you don't have one) get a Bentley service manual.

"DLGlos" > wrote in message
...
> Don't generally reply to myself. However, the problem only seems to
> happen when the left-hand turn signal is activated; never with the
> right. Makes me think that there may be something going on in the
> column, near the turn and wiper stalks.
>
> Any hypotheses/leads welcome at this point.
>
> Thanks,
> DLGlos