VW passat windscreenwiper not working

A 16 year old car is bound to start having issues. If it's not a matter of locating and replacing a blown fuse - it could be a failed motor, switch or wiring problem.

look in owners manual in glove compartment.it has all fuses locations.

First time you must diagnose why windscreen wipers going slow and/or stopping.
If the windscreen wipers fuse is good:
In order to find out the cause of wipers stopping you can try follows:
1. Carefully extract the wiper arms from their axles (two pieces). In some cases you need to use an extracting tool. Heed of the windscreen !!!
2. Disassemble the plastic covers from the bottom of the windscreen.
3. With the bonnet up you can start the engine, (transmission in "N" or "P" position and parking brake on). Now you must switch on the control lever of the wipers, and go to the engine compartment. If the wiper motor runs let the wiper motor running for a few minutes and switch off. Go to the step 4. If the wiper motor do not runs you must check first the electrical feeding of the motor. It is necessary to unscrew three bolts of the mechanism and disconnect the electrical coupling (difficult assurance). If the electrical feeding is OK you must replace the motor - steps 5, 6, 7. If not you must check electrical connections, the control switch of wipers and electric cables.
4. Now you must check the two bearings of wiper mechanism with your hand. In the most cases the left bearing is out of order (is very hot). This is the most encounter fault of the wipers.
5. For have enough space to manipulation the wiper motor together with their mechanism you must extract the plastic cover of the engine computer box, and extract also the box screws. Then you can move slowly the engine computer box, just for a few milimeters.
6. You must disconnect the electrical coupling of the motor (difficult assurance), unscrew three bolts of the mechanism and extract together with the motor. You must move them slowly between windscreen and engine computer box until the wiper motor go out together with the mechanism. This is the most difficult operation!
7. Now you can repair the bearings, replace entire wiper mechanism or replace the wiper motor. It is not very simply, but it works.
Heed of the windscreen !!!
Refit all in reverse order.

Rock Auto

first check all fuses, then if thats not the problem. see if there is power to wiper motor. if power then motor is bad. if no power then the switch is bad.

Thank you for using FixYa.com, Lee Davidian

Look into changing the ignition switch...sounds odd I know, but we had similar issue and that was the problem.
Good luck!

If you attempted to use them when frozen it's possible the motor burned out or you blew a fuse. Check the fuse first to see if power is getting the wiper motor. If it is and motor doesn't work you'll need to replace the motor.

yes, it's called the load reduction relay and it is in the 13 fold relay panel under driver side dash.

Does the wiper motor work ? Check for any horseshoe clips that it might have. If you removed the nut that holds the wiper arm in place at the motor, then you may have to pry it up not using too much force . And being careful to place something underneath the pry tool so no damage will occur.