87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Sun 15 Jul 2007 16:29
87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse - norrin
Hi all,
I have a 20 year old VW polo 1300 coupe S, it's a good runner but recently every time I turn the headlights on it blows the fuse for the windscreen wipers. Could it be any number of things or is it likely to be something fairly straight forward?
ANY replies will be greatly appreciated,
thanks,
Chris.



Tweaked the subject line to reflect problem and model specifics - PU
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Sun 15 Jul 2007 16:51
87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse - kithmo
It's probably a bad earth on the headlamp circuit re-routing itself through the wiper circuit to earth
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Sun 15 Jul 2007 17:09
87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse - norrin
Hi Kith,
thanks for your speedy reply. I'm not exactly mechanically/electrically minded so I don't really understand your answer! but, it does at least sound fairly straight forward so I shouldn't expect a huge garage bill. If I was able to I'd happily do it myself, I do have the manual, but am unsure of how simple/difficult it would be.
thanks again for your reply,
regards,
Chris.
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Sun 15 Jul 2007 17:24
87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse - kithmo
Just check for corrosion or breakage on all the wires that connect to the body that are anywhere near the headlamps or fuse/Relay box. Remove, clean and replace any corroded/broken connections, it could be as simple as that.
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Sun 15 Jul 2007 17:33
87 Polo 1.3 - Headlights blow wiper fuse - bell boy
Try putting the wipers in a non park position with the ignition off and trying the headlight switch,this would help to determine a fault in the wiper mechanism that is as said intertwined with earths in the system.
I cant remember, but assume the coupe is the one with a tailgate and rear wash wipe? if so make sure you havent got a broken wire that is shorting to the body between tailgate and body,ive had this before and also a 5 pence piece in the fag lighter causing all kinds of fuse related problems
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