rain sensing wipers not turning on?

[mazdas3sporte]

today in deep rain my rain sensing wipers were in the auto postion so when it rains its supposed to turn on.... 20 mins passes and nothing, i tried moving it in every direction , up down middle, toward the minus sign towards the plus sign.... finally after 20 mins or so when the rain died down and there was no use for it , it turned on.... iam not sure what was wrong with it... this is totally stupid question, but do they need to warm up....

[5_Alive]

Something may be wrong with either the wiper switch handle, or the rain sensor in the top of your windshield. Is there dirt blocking it from the inside? Try taking the black cover off where the rear-view mirror is, its splits at the middle, pull left and right. Be careful, that's all. And check it.. perhaps its the plug that came loose?

[aris]

take it to your dealer...your car is still under warrenty

[chorizo]

take it to your dealer...your car is still under warrenty

+1

[5_Alive]

Oh wow, I did not even realize that. Sorry.. yea, what these guys said ^^^..

BTW, don't let them pull the "its not raining" bullshit. Tell them to spray the windshield down with the hose..:chuckle

[mazdas3sporte]

iam gonna do that my self today and if doesent work then iam going to take it in, i might as well take a video of it just in case they try to say that

[aris]

it doesn't have to be just water to make them turn on...lighting plays a roll, even a dirt on windheid ......if you put your hand over then sensor it should turn it on..

[whiteomega]

it doesn't have to be just water to make them turn on...lighting plays a roll, even a dirt on windheid ......if you put your hand over then sensor it should turn it on..

...and promptly remove your hand before the wiper hits it :P

Get the dealer to check it; have them use a hose. Like others said the "it's not raining right now" line shouldn't get them anywhere.

[Olestra]

Did you happen to wipe your windows with RainX?
Just taking a guess.

[aris]

...and promptly remove your hand before the wiper hits it :P

Get the dealer to check it; have them use a hose. Like others said the "it's not raining right now" line shouldn't get them anywhere.

:chuckle:chuckle

[mazdas3sporte]

loool, iam going outside right now to check it , i'll post my results, thanks for everyones help, and nope i did not use anything on the windsheild at all

[mazdas3sporte]

i went out with a kettle and pored it on where the center is, it worked right away, changed the settings towards the "+" sign it was good, in the middle same thing and on the "- "sign same thing.. i dont kno what went wrong with it the other day... iam gonna have to wait and see if it happens again and if it does then its off to the dealer again

[rwatt]

changed the settings towards the "+" sign it was good, in the middle same thing and on the "- "sign same thing..

Does the + and - dial actually do anything? I've found that it makes no difference at all where the dial is at. My auto wipers are finicky at times too, when it's a light mist they are going full speed, but when rain is sitting on the windscreen they do nothing at all. Auto wipers are fine, but Mazda really should have put in an intermittent setting as well. :loco

[Noisy Crow]

Does the + and - dial actually do anything? I've found that it makes no difference at all where the dial is at. My auto wipers are finicky at times too, when it's a light mist they are going full speed, but when rain is sitting on the windscreen they do nothing at all. Auto wipers are fine, but Mazda really should have put in an intermittent setting as well. :loco

Well.... my +/- works........

[mazdas3sporte]

it does work untill the rain is very heavy, then i guess for safety reasons it goes on full blast, the auto timer for the + and - only work for light , medium rain, for heavy rain its full blast on mine with the auto rain sensor on .

[aris]

it does work untill the rain is very heavy, then i guess for safety reasons it goes on full blast, the auto timer for the + and - only work for light , medium rain, for heavy rain its full blast on mine with the auto rain sensor on .

Thats odd that your goes full blast when it heavy rains..cause mine and my bro gf does not...when it rains heavy we have to switch are's to go fast manualy??

[mazdas3sporte]

yep, ive noticed that it does that, iam guessing its a safety feature, u have the same year car so it cant be any diffrent.. maybe a glitch?

[JaYson]

i got lazy and didnt read all the replies BUT!

im not sure if this applies but the sensors dont work if the windshield is wet prior to the car being turned on or being turned on to auto.

basically if the windshield is wet already your wipers wont go automatically because it registers the wet windshield as its baseline.

if you move it up to mist (manually move the wiper arm to make the blades wipe) then move it back to the auto sensor position it should be fine?

im not sure if that applies to what you were asking BUT! its true nontheless

[mazdas3sporte]

havent heard that before but it does make sence, thanks for the info

[ShortBus]

don't know if it's changed for 2008 but on my 2007 if i was to start my car with mist or ice/snow covering my windshield with the setting on auto it would start up (that's why in winter i don't leave the switch on auto).

[mazdas3sporte]

thats most likely due to the snow or ice build up being very heavy, so the motor of the wiper cant lift it over the snow/ice, even if it could it would probebly damage the blade or even the motor

[mazdathree]

best is to take it to the dealer as ur car is still under warranty...if its really busted then you'll get a new unit :)

In my case my rainsensor was not that sensitive to the +/- setting. But now when I got the autodimming mirror installed, I got a new sensor unit that came with the mirror assembly and I can really tell the difference now. It works just fine.

[bunchi]

since it's been raining out today, I was playing around with the wiper controls... what does the +/- do anyway? I know that it's for the "auto" mode but what is it specfically for?

[kevcol74]

The +/- is strictly for your Intermittent setting. If you are in the "Auto" position, it varies the speed on its own. Only in the "int" position will the +/- actualy do something.

[bunchi]

so the +/- setting is useless for those with "auto"? auto's dont have int. it's off / auto / lo / high

[kevcol74]

so the +/- setting is useless for those with "auto"? auto's dont have int. it's off / auto / lo / high

K, I may be mistaken... I have off/auto/1/2.... Auto for me automatically speeds up and slows down... Maybe the +/- is for the rear wiper? Or is this on sedans too? Now I'm probably just as confused as you on this!
:bang

[Fuman]

K, I may be mistaken... I have off/auto/1/2.... Auto for me automatically speeds up and slows down... Maybe the +/- is for the rear wiper? Or is this on sedans too? Now I'm probably just as confused as you on this!
:bang

its on the sedan as well
my guess is that the +/- is for the sensor's sensitivity.

[Noisy Crow]

so the +/- setting is useless for those with "auto"? auto's dont have int. it's off / auto / lo / high

+/- with the auto setting controls sensitivity. It other words, it sets how much rain is allowed to accumulate before the wipersw are activated.

[bunchi]

+/- with the auto setting controls sensitivity. It other words, it sets how much rain is allowed to accumulate before the wipersw are activated.

so + is more sensitive or more rain before it moves? i'm thinking... + is more sensitive, am i correct? maybe it was raining hard so the +/- doesn't even make a difference anymore :chuckle

[mazdas3sporte]

when u put it in auto it goes by a timer, I think its ever 8 seconds and then theres low setting and high, on the rain sensing, it doesent really go by time, it goes by how much rain is falling down or water, the more rain the faster it goes, u can also choose how fast it goes by going towards+ (faster) or -(slower). I notice that when we have rainstorms it automatically doesent turn off untill the rain dies down no matter even if its towards the (-) sign

so to summarize as Noisy Crow mentioned

+ means less rain accumulated on ur windsheild
- means less more rain accumulated on ur windsheild
if there is a heavy rain storm for safety reasons it keeps being on constantly no matter if its towards + or -

[zedtech]

I have the opposite problem... my wipers tend to go to the fastest setting regardless of what I have the sensitvity set to. The don't even "delay" anymore when it's hardly raining, something's not right with them at all.

[Noisy Crow]

I have the opposite problem... my wipers tend to go to the fastest setting regardless of what I have the sensitvity set to. The don't even "delay" anymore when it's hardly raining, something's not right with them at all.

Something blocking the sensor?

[bunchi]

when u put it in auto it goes by a timer, I think its ever 8 seconds and then theres low setting and high, on the rain sensing, it doesent really go by time, it goes by how much rain is falling down or water, the more rain the faster it goes, u can also choose how fast it goes by going towards+ (faster) or -(slower). I notice that when we have rainstorms it automatically doesent turn off untill the rain dies down no matter even if its towards the (-) sign

so to summarize as Noisy Crow mentioned

+ means less rain accumulated on ur windsheild
- means less more rain accumulated on ur windsheild
if there is a heavy rain storm for safety reasons it keeps being on constantly no matter if its towards + or -

isn't it the auto is the rain sensing? iput the control on auto on a sunny day and the wiper doesn't move. but now I know + is more sensitive.

[starwind]

From the 2008 Mazda3 manual (p 5-56):

"The sensitivity of the rain sensor can be adjusted by turning the switch on the
wiper lever. From the center position (normal), turn the switch towards (+) for higher
sensitivity (faster response) or turn the switch towards (_) for less sensitivity
(slower response)."

Also:

<quote>

NOTE
- Switching the auto-wiper lever from the OFF to the AUTO position while driving at
a vehicle speed of 4 km/h (2 mph) or higher (or after driving the vehicle) activates the
windshield wipers once, after which they operate according to the rainfall amount.
- The auto-wiper control may not operate when the rain sensor temperature is about
_10 °C(14 °F) or lower, or about 85 °C (185 °F) or higher.
- If the windshield is coated with water repellent, the rain sensor may not be able to
sense the amount of rainfall correctly and auto-wiper control may not operate
properly.
- If dirt or foreign matter (e.g. ice or matter containing salt water) adheres to the
windshield above the rain sensor or if the windshield is iced, it could cause the wipers
to move automatically. However, if the wipers cannot remove this ice, dirt or
foreign matter, the auto-wiper control will stop operation. In this case, pull the wiper
lever to the 1 or 2 position for manual operation, or remove the ice, dirt or foreign
matter by hand to restore the auto-wiper operation.

<end quote>

[bunchi]

thanks starwind. that's why my users manual still looks brand new:chuckle

[Fuman]

thanks starwind. that's why my users manual still looks brand new:chuckle
+1
thanks starwind for the confirmation

[zedtech]

Something blocking the sensor?
Hmmmm, might be my 407 transponder... I stuck it right beside the sensor.

[starwind]

Most welcome.

BTW, I downloaded the manual as a PDF from Mazda's site... makes it easy to find things instead of thumbing through eight-zillion pages of paper... And one can quote from it in here :-)

[Noisy Crow]

Hmmmm, might be my 407 transponder... I stuck it right beside the sensor.

The sensor looks out through the windshield... so I doubt the transponder is affecting it.

[gta_driver]

The sensitivity adjustment is a rather useless piece of junk. Sometimes the rain accumulates A LOT before it clears it, then it's clearing it way too frequently. Adjusting the sensitivity doesn't change the behaviour.

I would prefer the old-fashioned intermittent setting - it's reliable and works as you would expect it to.

I just get the feeling that Mazda put together a cheap feature and slapped it onto the car, just so that it looks good on paper. There's only so much technology/features that can go on a budget car, and I would prefer less but have them done well.

Anyway, other than that, I like my M3. :)

[Mazda3Greek]

I love my 3 but I hate the auto wipers. They never seem to work when I need them to. There could be lots of water on the windshield and it wont work but sometimes there will be a little drop of water on the windshield and it will set it off, very annoying. I don't bother using it anymore, although I wish it were better cause I think it is a really cool feature.

[mazdas3sporte]

it dosent work as well during a small drizzle but if u have no rain and a drop falls on the sensor it will set it off, so lets say ur screen is filled with mist type rain, it might take a while for it to go off , my dads got the rain sensing on his car too its no better, no rain sensing system is 100 % efficent and problem free