Front wipers stopped working?

PorkyWill

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Bit of an odd one....last night I got in the car and there was some sap on the windscreen so I put the wipers on and they were very slow and then stopped halfway? Almost as if there was glue on the windscreen, if that makes sense?!!!

The whole way home I continued to play with the wipers and I could eventually get them to go back and then try it again, same thing??

Got up this morning and it's raining....sod's law, who'd have thought!!

Same thing again, they get half way up, but slowly, and then stop....

Anyone got any idea what this could be? Electrical, mechanical?

Any help would be appreciated, in a normal summer I wouldn't have noticed this until about September grrr!

Will
 
My bet is the wiper motor. Exactly the same thing happened to my A3 1.8T. I just got a wiper motor and assembly from a scrappers for £15 and fitted it myself.
 
sounds like the wiper motor is dying and needs replacing.

this happened on my mk 4 golf in which it would stop halfway but if you got out of the car and gave it a push it started working.

motor got swapped which sorted out. not sure on price as was a warranty claim
 
******!!

Thanks, I think!!

Best make a couple of calls then and hope it stops raining!!

Will
 
It maybe the wiper arm has just seized, and the motor is actually fine. If the plastic scuttle under the windsreen has been damaged by some Autoglass guy then water weeps down onto the armature and the whole thing can seize up.
Mine was seized solid but the motor was fine. Remove the mechanism (easier said than done) releas the balljoint to free the mechanism from the motor and see if the arms are free to move. If one is seized then remove the circlip that holds it to the mechanism, there's also a tiny O ring underneath, and if you still can't free it then heat it up with a blowtorch and it will just drop out. then clean it up and regrease and job done. Remember to use a new scuttle when refitting, they're only £10 from your dealer.
This is what mine looked like when I finally got it free:
Wiperspindleremoved.jpg


Full story:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=38402&highlight=slow+motion+wipers
 
****** hell, that seems like a ballache....I think I'll take it to the Phirm and sit and drink tea instead!

Cheers for that Andy!

Will
 
They seem to work again today....? Praying for no rain until I can get this sorted!
 
Yes mine were on/off for a while, then finally seized completely and wouldn't move even when I had the arm in a vice and was using brute force to free it up.
 
Cheers Andy...I'll take a look when I can!

Is there any way to see if it's rusty without having to remove everything?

Cheers,

Will
 
You can spray WD40 down it's neck but the O ring prevents it from penetrating. The photo above was after a 4 hour soak in the stuff and it didn't get anywhere near it.
 
I've just started to have this problem...wipers working on/off.

Does it take any special tools to take the linkage apart
and how hard a job is it?

Thanks in advance
 
Ok thanks for the reply AndyMac....Just wondered if you think a bearing puller (have them at work ) would do the same job as the machine mart windscreen wiper puller?

I've give the wiper mech a good spray with WD 40 and seems to be working
at the moment (i know this didn't work for you so am not holding me breath.)...but if it starts to act up again i'll strip it down at the weekend.

Just one other question, do you disconnect the linkage from the motor or disconnect the motor with the linkage attached?

Thanks again
 

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