My car is starting to get old!

[RockJGC]

You know how when you have an "older" car there are little things that start to go wrong? Well, now when I start or stop the engine (seems to happen randomly during both), I noticed that the wipers bump a tiny bit up or down from their normal park position. I know this is a little thing, but it's the very first sign that my car is starting to get old and I'm not too happy about it. Otherwise, my car still looks brand new and still drives like a brand new car, despite now being more than 6 years old.

I have absolutely no idea how the ignition could possible be tied electrically to the wiper motor other than to energize it when the car is started or de-energize it at engine shutdown, so I wouldn't even know where to start diagnosing this. But at the same time, my OCD will kick in a bit every single time I hear the wipers bump up/down when I start/shut down my car.

Anyway, just a quick rant for a random Thursday morning. I guess I should just be happy that this is my only issue so far...

[findalex]

Do you think it could be related to the wiper at service position setting? why not try to set it to on and then off. sometimes you need to rewrite that particular bit in memory to refresh the electrical charge of that memory cell.

also, weird things happen when battery/alternator is too low or inconsistent. have you checked the performance of them lately?

[old guy]

Do you typically leave the wipers in the manual or auto mode? Maybe try switching the setting from one to the other.

[Smac770]

Aren't the wipers suppose to shift on vehicle off? Sometimes up, sometimes down.
The wiper motor is LIN comms managed, by the J519. There's no simple power wire management concept in these modern vehicles.

Service position would be sticking up the windshield.

I always have my wipers on intermittent position (RLS, so rain sensing). I don't really make note of their movement on vehicle off. The variable parking position is just an expected for me.

[RockJGC]

Do you think it could be related to the wiper at service position setting? why not try to set it to on and then off. sometimes you need to rewrite that particular bit in memory to refresh the electrical charge of that memory cell.

also, weird things happen when battery/alternator is too low or inconsistent. have you checked the performance of them lately?

Good point. I'll have to try that. I've actually never put my wipers into service position. Believe it or not, I'm on my original wiper blades. My car hasn't seen rain more than maybe twice.

[RockJGC]

Do you typically leave the wipers in the manual or auto mode? Maybe try switching the setting from one to the other.

Yeah, they are normally off in manual mode. I can try cycling through both positions.

One things that I may not have made clear----when I said "when I start or stop", I mean to finish the sentence with "the engine". I didn't mean to stay that when I start moving the car or stop the car this happens. I'm not sure if that was understood or not, but this only happens when I start or stop the engine. And even then, it's random, not every time.

[RockJGC]

Aren't the wipers suppose to shift on vehicle off? Sometimes up, sometimes down.
The wiper motor is LIN comms managed, by the J519. There's no simple power wire management concept in these modern vehicles.

Service position would be sticking up the windshield.

I always have my wipers on intermittent position (RLS, so rain sensing). I don't really make note of their movement on vehicle off. The variable parking position is just an expected for me.

When you say shift, are you saying that the wipers should move a tiny bit when the vehicle is shut off? I mean, that's exactly what I'm experiencing, but I never noticed it until recently. And I can't really see much of my wipers from the driver's seat....maybe just the very top of the passenger side wiper blade. So what got my attention was more the sound of the wiper arm moving than actually seeing it move. I had to really pay attention before I realized that the sound was the wipers moving. It's just a very short clunking noise that turns out to be the wipers moving ever so slightly.

[ciderian]

I forgot where I've heard this, but I'm under the impression that the car moves the wipers slightly to keep the wiper blades from bending too much in one direction. This prolongs the life of the wiper blades. My car does this too. I don't even notice it too often. I wouldn't worry about this.

[JRYtheS4]

This is normal. You probably just never noticed it. If your wipers are active, they pop up about 2 inches. When they deactivate, they stow away back below your sightline. You're thinking about it too much.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Audizine Forum mobile app

[RockJGC]

I forgot where I've heard this, but I'm under the impression that the car moves the wipers slightly to keep the wiper blades from bending too much in one direction. This prolongs the life of the wiper blades. My car does this too. I don't even notice it too often. I wouldn't worry about this.

I think you may be right. I've had other people tell me that their Audi does the same thing. I don't know how I haven't noticed it until recently.

It's funny, but I used to have a B8 before I got my B8.5. When I got the B8.5, the first time I opened the driver's door with the window down all the way and it came back up a bit, I thought something was broken. My B8 didn't have that feature, but the B8.5 did. I think it's just to stop the glass from rattling inside the door when you slam the door shut with the window all the way down.

[ciderian]

I think you may be right. I've had other people tell me that their Audi does the same thing. I don't know how I haven't noticed it until recently.

It's funny, but I used to have a B8 before I got my B8.5. When I got the B8.5, the first time I opened the driver's door with the window down all the way and it came back up a bit, I thought something was broken. My B8 didn't have that feature, but the B8.5 did. I think it's just to stop the glass from rattling inside the door when you slam the door shut with the window all the way down.

Yep, the little things that makes me appreciate German engineering (in some ways, but not in all ways lol....)