Posted by Today I had to go and sort out a problem with a family members car. The windscreen wipers and washers weren’t working. The owner hasn’t been driving long, and as such doesn’t know much about the workings of her car.
Fortunately, she’s a sensible girl and rang me to ask what the problem might be. After a couple of questions, it was fairly obvious that it was, in fact, a blown fuse.
The reason the fuse had blown was down to the recent snow. The driver had unwittingly caused the issue by not clearing all the snow from the screen, and also not checking that the wiper blades were not stuck to the screen by the freezing temperatures.
In freezing conditions, it is essential to clear any snow from the screen, and that includes right down to the wipers. It’s also important to make sure that the wipers are not frozen to the screen. You can check this by gently trying to lift the wipers away from it. If they show any signs of not lifting, then they need to be defrosted before you lift them. If you don’t do this, there is a good chance that you’ll rip the wiper blades and need to replace them.
The fuse blows because you overload the wiper motor by trying to either clear the snow with them or because they are trying to move while frozen to the screen. If you are unlucky and the fuse doesn’t blow, you may well snap part of the drive mechanism, either the gears or the connecting rod can be easily broken.
So, now onto the fuse replacement. Most cars have two fuse boxes, one inside the car and one under the bonnet. Inside the car are usually the smaller fuses and under the bonnet, the larger ones and some relays.
The fuses inside the car are usually under the dashboard and hidden behind a small pop-out panel. This can either be on the driver or passenger side of the car. If on the passenger side, they can be behind the glove box, and this can often pop out, but always refer to the user manual, or of course you can look it up on the internet.
If you’re unsure where the fuses are, it’s a good idea to look for a bunch of cables heading to one place, the fuse box. The fuses themselves can be of various types but are most often Euro style ones. There are almost always spares in one of the fuse boxes, and you can just replace the blown one with one of the same amp rating, usually the same colour but again, just check.
You’ll also usually find a small tool to remove the fuses like the yellow one in the photo. This will again be in one of the fuse boxes.
I can’t stress enough that you need to replace like for like amp rated fuses. If you replace a blown one with a lower rated one, it will almost certainly blow again straight away, and if you replace a blown one with a higher rated one, you risk a serious electrical fire.
