Greetings fellow Focus enthusiasts..

Am based in the United Kingdom (Berkshire). Have recently bought a 2003 (53 reg) Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi LX. On the day of test driving and making the purchase all seemed well..
Shortly thereafter it started acting weird.. The front and rear wipers come on automatically when driving.. Seems to be a bit more when conducting a manoeuvre.. (steering, indicating, accelerating)... It does the intermittent wiper swipe the same as when you use the washer jets (1-2-3-stop).. then (1-stop) ... (the front and rear wipers come on)..

The other evening , driving at night, noticed that the headlights ALSO flicker at the same time as the wipers go crazy! .. so they certainly seem to be connected..
The wipers do not seem to come on, when cruising on a straight road..

Have scanned the web for similar symptoms -- seemingly either the wiper stalk switch, fuse box (under the passenger footwell), the Wiper relays, Battery, earthing, ... one or all of those are the culprit ..

Called the local garage and asked.. they said that if there is no Electrics code, they cant say where to start diagnosis

Thoughts anyone! ..

a) Find a garage that can actually recognise an engine without using a computer to tell them what it is

b) Its going to be a wiring short, movement is triggering it so likely places to look are steering wheel (as wiper and light control through this), fuse box and where wiring loom comes through bulkhead

S

Thanks Madmole.. I have ordered for a new wiper stalk/switch.. planning on trying to replace it myself.. Am hoping that will be it, and isnt something worse..

Was looking to see if anyone else experienced similar and what it might be due to...

Annoying thing is that when doing the test drive, it seemed ok.. the problem showed up shortly thereafter

:) :) :) :) :) ISSUE SOLVED :) :) :) :) :)

Got my particular problem fixed WITHOUT spending a dime..

Had a look with an engineer friend, and we decided to do a "wiggle test" since all the symptoms pointed to an electrical / wiring fault -- and not necessarily a component fault (i.e wiper relays, wiper stalk, fuse box) ... Leaving the key in "On" mode where by the electrics (radio, wipers come on) we tinkered around under the steering column, rear hatch... finally hapenned to nudge the wires coming out of the negative terminal on the battery.... and instantly the front wipers came on with their 3-swipe motion (and rear wipers)............ The nut was loose on the terminal.. so the metal ring was free to move around under it... just tightening this one and checking all the others........ completed with a quick test drive, it was found to have been fixed..

Just a note for anyone else who is NOT an expert on cars .. sometimes, it pays to just check the obvious things first... the symptoms you see manifested may not be the obvious cause of the issue.