Rain Light Sensor (RLS) - Intermittent wipers not working

[rule1110]

Hi All
I've been trying to troubleshoot my auto wipers for sometime now and haven't been able to get it sorted. The auto wipers stopped working a couple of months ago. They still work in position 1 and 2 and on demand single wipes. Its the intermittent/auto setting that has an issue, it will swipe once to say its on but won't swipe again. I suspected the purple lens was the issue so started there and when i took it off noticed a crack down the middle of the rain sensor area. I've had a new windscreen fitted which came the with new purple lens/prism attached. I've initialized the sensor in both INPA but the wipers still don't function. I get no fault codes on the sensor. I've used INPA as it can read the values which I've posted below. The values don't change at all when i spray the sensor area of the windscreen. The light sensor functions as it should and you can see the values go up and down in INPA if you cover it up. I even tried purchasing a used RLS off eBay but it hasn't helped as its for an e46/r50/e85 (when i looked in INPA it has this and my original has e39/e53) I even tried unplugging the sensor as I thought it would revert to normal timed intermitted wipers but it would only do random long wipers approx every 45 secs and the knurl wheel made no difference.
Car is 2005 e53 3.0d.
Any ideas?

[Clavurion]

Those rain sensors have the same part number and are suitable for all these vehicles. The difference is only on coding which can be done with for example NCS.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...&q=61356923954

[rule1110]

Originally Posted by Clavurion

Those rain sensors have the same part number and are suitable for all these vehicles. The difference is only on coding which can be done with for example NCS.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...&q=61356923954

I've got NCS expert as it came with the inpa bundle I installed but haven't used it yet. I'll have to do a bit more reading up on how to use it. I did notice the used rls I got off eBay has a rattle to it, either something small has fallen into it or something inside as broken off. I ended up getting a refund as it arrived late off eBay. Interesting when I plugged it into the car the values for the rain sensor were different, they were all around the 240 mark, compared to my original which was in the around 64-72.
Anyone know what the working values should look like and what they change to when water is on the glass?

[rule1110]

I got a used rain sensor off ebay which has the e39/e53 coding on it. Unfortunately my intermittent wipers still don't function. I plugged in the new sensor initialized it with INPA but doesn't work.
I did notice a difference in the values displayed in INPA with this sensor and the original sensor, this sensor reads Reset Contact 0 and Amplification 0. The original rain sensor has the values as Reset Contact 0 Amplification 1.
My next thing it try replace is the brown green relay for the wipers, my logic here is that the part that controls the intermittment wipers is broken. Wipers still functions fine on speeds one and two. The issue is wipers don't work on intermittment setting at all with the rain sensor connected. If i unplug the rain sensor the intermittment wipers will swipe randomly approx every 45 seconds or so.
The other thing I noticed it when i plugged the used rain sensor in it had values stores in the point of wiping 1 and point of wiping 2. After I initialized it these values are gone?
Anyone got any ideas on how to solve this one?

[80stech]

It would be good if you could get some readings from a working system. I wouldn't rule out a problem with the windshield/prism that was replaced.

[rule1110]

Originally Posted by 80stech

It would be good if you could get some readings from a working system. I wouldn't rule out a problem with the windshield/prism that was replaced.

That would be really appreciated if someone with INPA and a working rain sensor can post a picture of their values and advise if they change when sprayed with water. My rain sensor values never change when sprayed with water. The light sensor values do change when you shine a light on them or cover it up.

[rule1110]

I did some troubleshooting in ISTA D and came up with this fault. Anyone able to assist with how i would check this wire?

[Clavurion]

On wiper motor there is an opening grounding contact (signal RSK) when the motor is in the resting end position. If the wipers work normally (not stopping randomly) that switch must work OK. The same opening ground signal goes to rain sensor pin 4.

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e53/925b25ba#

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e53/8267aea4#

[rule1110]

Originally Posted by Clavurion

On wiper motor there is an opening grounding contact (signal RSK) when the motor is in the resting end position. If the wipers work normally (not stopping randomly) that switch must work OK. The same opening ground signal goes to rain sensor pin 4.

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e53/925b25ba#

https://bmwteka.com/wds/en/e53/8267aea4#

Thanks for your help Clavurion.
I went back to using INPA as it shows all the values for the rain sensor, I could only find the light values for the sensor in ISTA, no rain sensor values.
My original sensor seems to be working okay, I was able to scroll down in the INPA read status screen of the rain sensor and I found some values that look like the rain sensor. When dry the filtered signal measurement are around 155, when i spray the sensor with a spray bottle they reduce to around 80. When i wiped the sensor they return back to 155 so I think my original sensor if working okay.
I couple of other tests I ran were I unplugged the sensor and ran the interval wipers. With the car stationary in the garage the wipers will wipe once every 20 seconds. I adjusted the knurled wheel but the interval always remained at 20 seconds.
The other thing I have noticed when reading the values in INPA is there is no value in the point of wiping over the sensor 1 or 2 section. When I've received the used sensors off ebay I noticed those sections have values in them (sensor 1 was 87 and sensor 2 was 156). Once i initialized the sensor these values are cleared and I have nothing in them. As the used sensors came from working cars I'm assuming this section should have a value in it to work.
I'm at a loss as what to do with this, if i leave the sensor plugged in I get auto headlights but no intermittment wipers. If i unplug the sensor I get no auto headlights and an interval wipe every 20 seconds (which isn't very helpful).
Any ideas on how to fix this one?

[Clavurion]

You are so focused on those sensor readings even though the ISTA screen shot clearly tells you that wiper motor grounding rest position signal is missing on the rain sensor and those linked diagrams were to guide you what to measure with multimeter.