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Electrical problem | Ford Galaxy News & FAQs

Q&A

Added: 29 Apr 2008
Last update: 12 May 2008

Question

Fog light on dash flashing in time with the lights on the radio and also the climate control light. I can here a noise (clicky) coming from the rear of the vehicle-also in time with the flashing lights.

Rear wiper has moved from its normal idle position to a 45 degree angle and doesn't work anymore.

The car hasn't been touched elecrically so I can't understand why this has happened.

Hope you can help...Barbara.

Answer

This is a mini detective story and all we have to do is follow the trail of clues you’ve left us. First, the rear wiper. When you turn the wiper switch off, the electrical circuitry keeps the motor turned on until the wipers reach the park position. They haven’t returned to the park position, so even though the switch is off, the motor is still powered up. However, trying to power a motor that refuses to move will overload the circuit, so an electronic trip is built in – a sort of circuit breaker that resets itself every few seconds to have another go. That’s probably the clicking noise you can hear.

The next puzzle is why won’t the wiper move? It could be a seized spindle, which is quite common for any rear wiper, but the fact that a fog light on the dash is flashing as well suggests that the earth from the wiper may have failed – broken wire or poor contact to the wiper motor or earth point on the body. The electricity is trying to find its way back to the battery through another route – radio, fog light circuit etc, but there’s too much resistance for enough current to flow to power the motor. So, check the earth wiring and the spindle. If it’s the spindle, go for a secondhand unit rather than a new one.

Keywords: ford-galaxy-problems


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