So the Windscreen Wipers on my Focus Focus Mark 1 would not always return to the parked position when either blipping the wiper stalk for one swipe of the screen – or when turning the wipers off.
This.
Was.
Very.
Annoying.
So a quick Google – and a replacement and brand new wiper relay was purchased from eBay for the princely sum of £22.
So there are a couple of different relays depending whether this is front wiper or rear wiper – and I’m not going to quote the model numbers as your car may be different to mine.
First step is to locate the fusebox – on European cars the glovebox door needs to be unclipped to gain access.
The point of this post is to explain how to replace the wiper relay. Because the genius that designed the fusebox clearly didn’t collaborate with the genius that designed the bulkhead. And removal is a bit more convoluted that pulling the old relay and pushing the new one in. As there is a very big metal plate in the way stopping removal of the relay. Grrrrr.
Anyway it’s fairly straightforward – just follow these steps.
First loosen the two screws holding the fuse box in place. You’ll need a hex screwdriver to loosen them. They don’t need to be totally removed – just to give about 3mm of gap.
Then push the two clips either side of the frame holding the fusebox in place – this will allow the fusebox to be rotated back by a few degrees – allowing the wiper relay to be removed and replaced.
Now test the wipers – if everything works then clip the fusebox back into place and tighten the two screws.
If you have a saloon car like mine, you’ll have just the one relay. If you have an estate or a hatchback you’ll have two relays. I have heard from some owners that swapping the relays one for the other can also fix the issue.
Well done – you’ve just saved yourself calling out an auto-electrician!
On the Mark 2 Focus, this relay is in the boot behind left hand side carpet. Not under the glove compartment or in the engine compartment.
Thank you Martin. I should have probably said this is a Mk 1 Saloon. I’ve just updated the post.
Nice info, sadly searched after buying a new wiper stick from ebay, but as this did not work I looked deeper and your switching trick did the trick. Ta very much.
Thank you Howard for taking the time to let me know this worked for you :) Cheers
Mate thanks so much for this tip. I have an estate, so there are 2 relays. I swapped their positions and now front wipers return to the correct position. I expected the rear to have the same issues, but that also works fine. The hardest bit was getting the relays out! Anyway, zero money spent and will pass its re test now. Cheers
Cheers Gary – thank you for letting me know that the article came in useful!
My front wipers were doing the same thing. Had another focus i was scrapping so took the relay out of that. Followed your advice. Now they park in the correct place. Thank you
Cheers Steve – glad it helped :)
Front wipers wouldn’t self-park on my Mk1 Ghia estate. Just done the trick of swapping the front and rear relays as described above, and now the front and rear self-park. Winning at life!
It’s the little victories isn’t it! Cheers Rick!
I spent over an hour ’till I found this. All I wanted to know after all that is,WHERE IS IT AND WHICH ONE IS IT???!!! Thanks to your easy to understand photo, I was able to do something! So I must thank you.
Cheers Russell! My wife thought I was mad when I took these photos. Glad all sorted!