Well, started up my Rangie this morning and the rear wiper did half a sweep and stopped. Pushing the wiper stalk did nothing, didn't even get the skoosher going. Stopped for fuel a few miles later, thought that maybe with the ignition being turned off then on again it'd do something. Nope, still there. A mile down the road I dropped my son off at nursery and when I came back out the rear wiper was back in its parked position. Didn't dare try working it in case it stuck again. Any ideas? Shall I pull the fuse for twenty minutes or something? 2003 Vogue TD6/1992 Classic 300TDi/2x 1991 Golf GTI/1966 Volkswagen Kombi/2x 1968 Volkswagen Kombi/Probably something I've forgotten...

Probably one of the cogs come off its spindle due to the build up of gunk inside - lots of info on how to check and fix. Only takes c. 45mins tops

But why would it retract to its normal position later on? That was my reasoning behind it likely being a fuse - or a relay. 2003 Vogue TD6/1992 Classic 300TDi/2x 1991 Golf GTI/1966 Volkswagen Kombi/2x 1968 Volkswagen Kombi/Probably something I've forgotten...

Happened to me mate, after a while it just stopped all together.
Replaced with a second hand one from the srappy, job done gone fishin'

Sometimes the cog could be stopped by the gunk and not come completely off. It could then release itself after a while, hence the return to the normal position. best and cheapest way to fix is strip it down and clean. Nt a biggie and quite satisfying actually! See the very good instructions from RRUK.

Makes sense. Just pulled it into the workshop downstairs and pulled the trim off. Naturally, the trim was full of brown staining with a corresponding stain around the wiper motor's mechanical seal. Was all set to whip it off and asked one of the techs where the Torx bits were kept:

"Those funny star things? No, we don't have any of them."

I'll bring my own tools in tomorrow and use one of their benches to strip it down, clean it and rebuild it. Will give me something to do with my day... 2003 Vogue TD6/1992 Classic 300TDi/2x 1991 Golf GTI/1966 Volkswagen Kombi/2x 1968 Volkswagen Kombi/Probably something I've forgotten...

Managed a temporary fix by loosening the bolts on the wiper motor body and on the bracket that holds it to the tailgate. That was enough to get a WD-40 tin's straw in there and start skooshing. Loads of brown crud came out - into the cloth I had placed underneath, I hasten to add! Tightened it all back up, pushed the wiper stalk forward and it moved about 1/5th of its sweep, so loosened it all off again, skooshed in more WD-40, repeated a couple of times and now it's all working again. I know that WD-40 isn't a lubricant and as such I need to fill it with grease again, but I had neither the time or facilities to do so the other night. Took about twenty minutes to get it all working properly and boxed back up again which I'm happy with for now.  2003 Vogue TD6/1992 Classic 300TDi/2x 1991 Golf GTI/1966 Volkswagen Kombi/2x 1968 Volkswagen Kombi/Probably something I've forgotten...