Windshield replace - auto-sense wipers quit!?!?!

[Ryan Suther <rsuther@littlearch.com>]

I've posted this on VWVortex - sorry if some of you have read this twice...
I just *really* want an answer.


First off - I have a 2000 Jetta GLX VR6.
Last week my car and I get into a fight with a rock on the interstate and
needless to say, we lost. The rock hit about 1/8" from the seal about mid
way up the windsheild on the passenger side. This produced a 3" crack that
ran perpendicular to the seal - it then forked. Each fork curved up and back
towards the seal. Each fork was probably about 8" long.

The windsheild had to be replaced.

So, I contact a couple members of the VW Club here in Charlotte, and two
people recommended a local repair shop (Binswanger).

They showed up yesterday to repair the windshield... and run into a snag.
The guy has a VW Jetta windshield and tells me that I have a dealership
windshield (I'm thinking, I've only had the car for a month, what else would
I have?). The major difference was the mount for the rear view mirror. They
guy was able to remove the mount from my old windshield and put it on the
new one. Great! I thought. The GLX rear view mirror has electronics in it -
an auto tilt function and an infra-red eye for the rain sensitive wipers.

It is raining this morning so I had a chance to try out the rain sensitive
wipers with the new windsheild (they speed up and slow down - depending on
how my rain is on the windshield). They have worked flawlessly before... and
guess what - nothing.

My question is - is there a special coating on the dealership windshield
that allows this to work? Or, is it more likely that the repair guy munged
up the wiring? I didn't drive last night, so I'm not sure if the auto-tilt
is working. I'll check it out tonight.

When I turn the wipers on, they wipe once (like they always have) and then
they seem to quit. I could barely see out of the windshield - got no
response out of the wipers. The low speed setting and the high speed setting
both work fine. The mist wipe works fine. I adjusted the intermittent speed
- no luck there (I usually left it on the highest setting).

Hopefully, there's not a special coating. The eye on the mirror uses
infra-red light to detect the amount of water on the windshield. I wouldn't
think you would need anything special on the windshield for this to work.
Does anyone know if this is the case? Our VW club is meeting at my
dealership on the 15th (Carolina VW) - if it's just wiring, I'll have
someone look at it then. If there's a coating... ugh. I'll have to get on
the phone and start rattling cages today.

Any ideas?

Thanks!


ryanS