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:
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: