Long shot...but does anyone have any experience of renaults at all?

My daily runner is a renault sport tourer 1.9 tdci on a 2002 plate. I have 2 issues which have just occured>

1. front wipers stopped working. However if the car is turned off and then restarted with front wipers on, they work for about 5 minutes then stop.If started and not on they dont work.

2. I am losing water ie after a 75 mile journey all water in header tank is gone. I have had a new red, new intercooler, new water pipes etc. There is a load of orangey coloured water stains around water header tank and when dry is like very powedery.I today put a sock over the cap and it was wet. Could this be that the seal on the cap is not good anymore and that steam is coming out? Oil is okay with no creamy colour texture showing.

Any thoughts appreciated.