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Windscreen Wiper motor....
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:51 am
by la21t
It keeps sticking - and this time of year that aint good
Is there an easy fix for it??
Is it true that, Ive gotta take the dash out just to change the motor?? I had a quick look under the vent and it looks buried but, I mean dash out?
Its a 325 Touring btw
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:56 am
by smithy318i
try cleaning the contacts on the relay.
the motor itself comes out of the front of the firewall/engine compartment.
4 10mm nuts hold the cover on. You DONT need to remove the dash.
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:08 am
by la21t
Thank you sooo much - I sat there looking at last night, thinking it cant possibly be a dash out job - cheers for the tip on the relay cleaning, I'll try that
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:28 am
by Brianmoooore
Not quite sure what you mean by sticking, but most wiper faults are caused by grease in the wiper gearbox becoming hardened with age, and affecting the electrical contacts in it. This causes problems on intermittant wiper settings and with parking.
Other faults affecting the wipers can be dry soldered joints in the "relay", as Smithy says (largest black relay in the fusebox), and a wear problem in the spindle of the motor itself on RH drive cars, because of the wiper motors position exposed to the elements under one of the grills in front of the windscreen. This causes general slopiness and reduced travel of the wiper arms, but doesn't usually stop them working.
To get at the wiper motor you need to remove the rubber strip against the bonnet at the back of the engine bay and unscrew four seven mm self tapping screws holding the big removable part of the bulkhead in.
Also need to remove the LH plastic grill in front of the windscreen by carefully levering it up at the front (three spring clips).
If you ever need to remove the dash for anything, it's not half as difficult a job as you would think! Especially the second time you do it.
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:07 pm
by la21t
By sticking I mean, 1 minute they work fine then the next they just wont work at all - seems to happen when its really cold - the quick fix is tap th motor with a screwdriver - but its hardly a cure is it
Thanks for your help gents
Until it warms up out there, i'll keep the screwdriver handy
