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Windshield Wiper crash & "repair"

49K views 41 replies 12 participants last post by  invisik 
#1 · (Edited)
Today the driver-side windshield wiper arm "crashed", it got stuk at the side of the window.
I was able to push the wiper arm in, and then it came back down to the rest position. I didn't use the wipers the rest of the day.

When I dissassembled the complete wiper arm assembly, I discovered that a small plastic wheel was broken inside the housing of the driver-side arm (the arm that wipes a funny pattern over the windshield, by going in and out)

A used replacement wiper assembly would cost be about $300, a new one about $1000, so I decided to try to "Repair" it.

I am sorry, but I did not make any pictures, I hope the next description about how I fixed it, will be clear enough, it is pretty straight forward.

- be carefull not to damage the windshield!
- remove the large plastic cover of the interiour filter (6 nuts) to make some space
- Remove the plastic cover that is on the driver-side wiper arm, closest to the wiper.
- unscrew the inbus and gently pull off the arm with the wiper
- now lift up the large plastic cover of the arm and slide it of towards where the wiper was.
- remove the nut from the passenger side wiper arm and remove the arm
- remove all the plastic covers at the bottom of the windshield, remove the plastic center pins and then pull out the outer plastic things, then the covers can be removed.
- unplug the connector of the windshield wiper motor
- now remove all the nuts (7) that keep the wiper assembly in place
- gently remove the complete assembly (slide it a bit towards the driverside)

- now put the assembly on the floor or a table for easy access
- now remove the big center nut at the driver-side arm, it is at the back-side of the assembly
- remove the small metal clip that is around the axis, to fix it in place
- pull/push out the remaining part of the driver-side wiper arm, use a hammer to push it out to the front of the assembly
inside it, you will see a plastic gear.
- In my case, this gear was broken, causing the wiper arm not to go in at the moment it should
- remove the broken plastic gear

- now re-assemble in reverse order
- fix the arm in the most inner position, so it will not touch anything when wiping, I used some towingstraps.

result is that the area being wiped is a little bit smaller, but still good enough, an you saved a few hundred dollars.

here is a picture of the broken gear:
 

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#9 ·
Today I replaced the bloken wiper gear.

Here follows the photo shoot and some hints & tips:

First remove the big plastic cover on top of the interior filter,
remove the 6 red marked screws.
carefully remove the green marked vacuum hose.
and lift the plastic cover up.
 

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#15 · (Edited)
remove the various plastic screws that hold the lower windscreen plastic covers.
first the inner part of the screw, then the outer part.
use some tool to pull the inner part out, the philips screwdriver did not work on mine.
first remove the middle part, then the left and right part.
the covers are also held by plastic clips, just bend them a little and lift the covers out.
 

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#21 · (Edited)
use a small screwdriver to remove the clip that holds the axis in place
(I forgot to make a picture of that, sorry)
now you can take the whole thing out on the front.

now you can repair/replace the gear with a new one

Push the new gear on its axis, using a vice, so push it, don't use a hammer to tap it on.
this is a picture of the inner side where the gear rides...
 

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#25 · (Edited)
now put everything in reverse order back into your car and the job is done.

before putting the wiper arms back on, verify correct behaviour on the car,
otherwise you might damage the wiper arm, or the new gear.

then put the wiper arms on and test again, to see if the driver arm does not touch the roof. If it does, you might have to adjust it a little (sliding the gear in with the arm in a different position)
Testing it at this point, might save you from mounting/unmounting all the plastic covers too often...

if all ok, then remove the arms again and put it all back together in reverse order.

(when putting it all back together in the car, you need to put the wiper in upright position in some cases to be able to put all the covers back on.
do whatever is convenient for you.

Good luck!
 
#26 ·
Thank you.

Yes you are right, taking the pictures and writing it down here, probably doubled the total time for the job.

The job itself is straight forward, step by step, will take you 1 - 2 hours.

In my case I lost the small clip on the axis, and I had to go to a bicycle store to get a new one, which also took me half an hour.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Really nice work klwinkel there. :goojob:

Thanks alot for the Detailed Procedure, sure it took time to edit the pictures and to take the snapshots, We do Appreciate it.
 
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