Rear wiper sometimes not parking correctly

[Luke717]

Recently, the rear wiper on my '20 Excel HB hasn't parked in the correct position. This happens only sometimes when I manually turn it on to the intermittent position so it does one wipe across the screen and back to park. Except sometimes it stops a couple of inches before the park position. If I manually turn it off and on again it parks correctly. If I leave it in the intermittent position, it works fine. And this behaviour doesn't happen at all when I turn the wiper on fully.

A bit baffled by this and not knowing what to check. I've done the obvious: visual inspection, wiggled the wiper a bit, all seems fine. No obstructions apparent, wiper blade in very good condition. The wiper stalk on the steering column behaves normally as far as I can tell. The car has covered 5500 miles. Any tips? Thanks.

[TonyHSD]

I don’t think is a fault, just do it manually, I always switch off all auto functions when park the car and before turn off the stop button. 

[yossarian247]

Strangely the rear wipers on both our 2012 Avensis and 2018 C-HR do this occasionally. I assumed it was just a 'Toyota thing', but having said that my 2009 Auris never used to do it.

It's turning it off manually that causes the problem. It seems that the park switch in the wiper motor is perhaps not very well designed, and if you turn the rear wiper off at exactly the wrong point it will just stop part way up the window instead of returning to the park position.

[Rambler56]

2 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

I don’t think is a fault, just do it manually, I always switch off all auto functions when park the car and before turn off the stop button. 

I pressed the start button one morning without checking if the stalk position was in auto and 'watched & listened' in horror to my wipers scraping across the rough ice on the screen, ouch!

[yossarian247]

Certainly on ours it's nothing to do with the wipers being on auto. Switch the rear wiper off when it's in the bottom 3rd of the window and it will sometimes just stop dead where it happened to be the second the switch was turned off instead of parking in the correct position. They don't always do it by any means, perhaps just one time in 20 or so. 

[Luke717]

21 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

I don’t think is a fault, just do it manually, I always switch off all auto functions when park the car and before turn off the stop button. 

It's when I do it manually that it happens sometimes...

[Luke717]

20 hours ago, yossarian247 said:

...It's turning it off manually that causes the problem. It seems that the park switch in the wiper motor is perhaps not very well designed, and if you turn the rear wiper off at exactly the wrong point it will just stop part way up the window instead of returning to the park position.

That sounds plausible, thanks!

[TonyHSD]

39 minutes ago, Luke717 said:

That sounds plausible, thanks!

That’s actually how electronics work and happens to all cars from all makes and models, it’s nothing to worry about and it’s not a bad design., when left in auto you may switch off the car in exact moment when wiper still operate and cause the same effect, that’s what I mean not keeping in auto top prevent one possible cause and manually if stuck just turn on and off again. 

[Parts-King]

20 hours ago, Rambler56 said:

I pressed the start button one morning without checking if the stalk position was in auto and 'watched & listened' in horror to my wipers scraping across the rough ice on the screen, ouch!

That can be a very expensive fail, I have seen several cars recently where the wipers froze solid to the screen and resulted in the wiper linkage bushes snapping off, if that happens you are into an expensive repair as it would not be covered under warranty. Always check the wipers are not stuck to the screen before getting in the car and starting up 

 

[Luke717]

2 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s actually how electronics work and happens to all cars from all makes and models, it’s nothing to worry about and it’s not a bad design., when left in auto you may switch off the car in exact moment when wiper still operate and cause the same effect, that’s what I mean not keeping in auto top prevent one possible cause and manually if stuck just turn on and off again. 

Got it, thanks! I was out this morning on wet and salty roads so used the rear wiper a bit. Not enough spray to switch it on completely, nor leave it on intermittent, so manual now and again. I realised that what I'd been doing - turning it on manually then immediately turning it off as the wiper was sweeping across the screen - may not be the best way to use this manual mode. So turn it on, let it complete one sweep out and back to park, then turn it off. That seems best.

[yossarian247]

On 2/9/2021 at 10:02 AM, TonyHSD said:

That’s actually how electronics work and happens to all cars from all makes and models, it’s nothing to worry about and it’s not a bad design., when left in auto you may switch off the car in exact moment when wiper still operate and cause the same effect, that’s what I mean not keeping in auto top prevent one possible cause and manually if stuck just turn on and off again. 

I'm not sure if what I'm describing is different to what the OP is experiencing, but in my case it's nothing to do with using auto or switching the car off when the wipers are operating. What I've found is that when using the wipers manually, when I switch them off manually with the wiper switch (NB not switching the ignition off, just the wiper switch) the rear wiper stops dead where it happens to be on the screen instead of returning to the correct park position. This happens now and again on our Avensis and very occasionally on our C-HR. That is surely either a fault or a design fault. The wiper should always return to park when switched off normally with the ignition on. Generally park switches are wired in such a way that they override any automatic function or electronics. I've owned a lot of cars of various makes and models, including other Toyotas, and it is only the Avensis and C-HR that I have experienced this with. I'm sure the Avensis didn't always do it, but started when the car was around 5 years or so old. It also only ever happens with the rear wiper, never the front.