Hi my Focus has recently been taking over control of the wash wipe, by that I mean when pulling away from a stand still the windscreen an rear window wipers do a sweep of their respective windows the windscreen wiper does a full wash wipe without the wash the rear wiper just one wipe again no wash.

The switch itself works fine. I have looked at the wiring diagram ( no I could not understand it never found one I could), but I guess as both motors are being initiated at the same time then it is likely to be the Generic Electronic Module.

Has anyone out there experienced such a problem or a similar one that was fixed by replacing the GEM?

Philpow.

I wouldn't think it'll be a GEM hardware problem. Loads of things are run from it so for just one item to be faulty I would say it's more likely to be a wire or plug shorting out. Not sure how easy it is to get at the washer bottle/motor on the Focus but that's where I'd start looking personally.

I'd wonder if it is maybe a GEM issue with it affecting both front and rear wiper operation as the 2 features are pretty much on different circuits. And if it's only happening the once when you drive away it could be some sort of hardware or software niggle.

Have you tried a battery reset to see if it helps?

Sorry, I read it wrong. I read it as the washers working on their own...but in fact the washers aren't coming on at all? Just a single sweep of both the front and rear wipers? Not sure if that's my reading fail or poor wording in the OP haha. ;)

Is it happening all the time, like every pull away? And both exactly the same time?

Hi Tom & Troy thanks for your replies I am sorry if my message wasn't clear so to confirm the windscreen wipers do several wipes and then pause and do one final wipe just as if you had pressed the wash wipe button and the rear wiper does one full sweep and back to park so yes both at exactly the same time.

No it doesn't happen all the time but it will do it every time you pull away for quite a while and then stop altogether for days even weeks (just long enough to lull you into a false sense of security) then it will have another go at winding me up.

I have been wondering if the level of humidity effects some of the contacts where the the loom plugs into the GEM given that it is V wet today and it start doing it again today,so maybe some contact cleaner will sort it out it did when my instruments stopped working.

Question is will it work at all if I remove it clean it up and put it back!!

Well that's odd, I can't say I've had or even heard of that problem before tbh!

You're probably right about the water ingress somewhere though. I thought it might be the GEM resetting itself randomly, but that's just a single wipe of each so not that.

Would say it would be useful to check the large multi-pin connectors to the GEM are secure and for any potential damp or moisture in there.

Was going to suggest that you checked the wash/wipe stalk and it's wiring but if it's not doing a wash cycle at the same time that's probably ruled out. Not impossible though if the stalks send a can-bus type signal back to the GEM rather than separate signals through different cables. Not got the wiring schematic to hand for me to check that right now. Top trim pulls off the steering column for you to have a look at the stalks better if you've not already been under there.