Queston:
hi just wondering can u help me what it is that my mini cooper front window wipers have just stop working.but the back ones are stil working and i have no idea wot it can be. Please can you help.
Response:
It’s difficult to tell without inspecting the car, but I might suspect a problem with the washer relays (there are two in the fuse box in the engine compartment, one for speed, one for on/off).
If not the relays, perhaps the wiper motor…
The only fuse for this system is common with the General Module, so that probably isn’t it since your rears work.
MINI Coopers 
Before spending your wife’s allowance, check the splined coupling spingle where the wiper blade connects on the outside. 2 bits and a donut say this is your only problem.
Once 5 mintuteslllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
I have exactly the same problem . Did you find a solution ?
I already checked both the interior and exterior fuses and swapped over the relays but no joy !
Also the wiper nuts are ok .
Took me a while to find my problem with the wipers……..
The stopped working but came on once in a while.
The reason was poor ground connection to the motor. Easy to try once you know it, just connect minus on the battery to the motor whith wiper turned on and see if they move. Easy to fix by adding a ground strap from minus on batt to wiper motor housing. There is a screw to use on both batt and motor 😉
I had the same problem with my front wipers inop (every few weeks, they would work for a few minutes). I took your advice and verified that it was a bad ground. With about $3 in parts, I added a grounding wire between the frame and motor housing.
This is after the repair shop gave the car back with the wipers unfixed (“The wiper electrical system is very complex!”), along with a troubleshooting charge of $60. Oh well…at least they didn’t opt to replace the motor!
Thanks for your post!
Oz
Deay Joy,
I’ve got the same problem with the wipers, sometimes work, sometimes not work. At official mini repair center (in italy) say that “we’ve to replace motor, and so the control unit if the motor still not work).
With a friend that is a car-electrician, we’v controlled the relays and replaced them. After that the wipers works better, but less likely they stop.
After your trick, i measured the resistence between the motor housing/chassis and the car ground. The resistence is 10 OHM( so high for a ground)
In the next days i try to connect the motor housing directly to the minus of the battery.
Thanks
Davide
Hello from France .
Last week end , my front wiper stopped in middle-screen , and can’t keep working ( i was driving under rain , it was fun !!!!! ) . Fuses ( 2 ) were all good and back wiper was nicely working . I read this forum and i do the ground connection between the mass of the wiper-motor and the – on the battery , and now , all is OK !!! Thank you very much for this good information on this thread .( i think that in my MINI-BMW dealer store , the bill would have be higher than the single electrical cord i use to repair !!!!! ) .Thank you again .
Best regards
Jacques ( Mini One 2001 benzine 76000 Kms France )
Have you checked fuse 09 in the engine compartment fuse box?
my wifes mini cooper s wipers stopped working while she was out in heavy rain,it was in between christmas and new year so we had nowhere to have them fixed so we turned to the internet.We thought we needed a new motor and would have just had this done any other time but i was astounded to read it was a common problem and could be fixed quite easily and im certainly no mechanic..step 1..remove the black grill under the front window on the drivers side,there you will see the motor with 3 bolts holding it to chassis..step 2..loosen one of these bolts and wrap round a earth wire then tighten back up. step 3..thread the wire through and attach it to any bolt that will earth it to the car,your wipers should then be ok..nb,when threading through make sure you keep wire clear of rotating mechanism of wipers..good luck,hope this is helpful..jeff
thank you it works spotlessly
Great Fix ……. wipers working again in 15 mins !!! Thanks Mark
Great info here… I’m having intermittent wiper problems and the ground is the first place I will check.