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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Discuss problems you have had or are having with your Z4
repo
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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by repo » Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:55 am

Coming through a busy little town centre this morning, rain chucking it down, windscreen wipers stopped, mid-sweep and refused to budge.

Had to make a hasty stop and turn the engine off and back on before they started again...Strange.

I put it down to seasonal affected disorder. Is that a known BMW fault? :D
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by mmm-five » Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:31 am

Mine did it about a year after I got it and it was a wiper relay module, which is part of a 'general module' which controls other things too - all of which had to be re-coded.

The other cause I've seen for this is the gear on the wiper arm linkage slipping/jumping. I think there's a DIY on fixing this on here somewhere.
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repo
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by repo » Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:49 am

I'll check it out - appreciate the input, thank you.
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by OwenT » Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:39 pm

My indy cleared out the muck from the arm linkage & regreased etc I believe as mine started to stop a couple of inches higher than they should have done & they are perfect again now... I think it's relatively common...
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by mrlozzer » Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:13 pm

OwenT wrote:My indy cleared out the muck from the arm linkage & regreased etc I believe as mine started to stop a couple of inches higher than they should have done & they are perfect again now... I think it's relatively common...
Yeah, had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago to mine. Not great considering the weather :(
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by dario » Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:57 pm

Yep, it happens to E53 X5 as well. motor heats up, grease in the gearbox goes a little thinner and then it spreads over the contacts in the mechanism. if the wiper relay does not receive a signal to say the wipers are turning in a determined period, it will final that they re frozen and kill the power to the wipers irrespective of how much you may need those wipers to work at that actual time!

take mechanism out, dismount wiper motor, remove cover from wiper gear box, clean contacts and apply a tiny amount of grease.

All done.

Oh and the wiper squeak that the E85 suffers from is not the spindles, but the wiper arm pivot (the oner that allows you to lift the arm off the screen)

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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by Bewildered » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:05 pm

My wipers failed just like the first guy said, mid windscreen - then worked again when I turned engine on and off. The garage checked the wiper motor which they say is ok, then sent the car away and it's come back with the message the it's a £300 part that needs replacing and the total cost of the job will be £760! Then I read so,e of the posts here and thought hang on....now don't know what to do! Any advice helpful. Female car driver who doesn't know who to trust!

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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by srhutch » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:19 pm

Bewildered wrote:My wipers failed just like the first guy said, mid windscreen - then worked again when I turned engine on and off. The garage checked the wiper motor which they say is ok, then sent the car away and it's come back with the message the it's a £300 part that needs replacing and the total cost of the job will be £760! Then I read so,e of the posts here and thought hang on....now don't know what to do! Any advice helpful. Female car driver who doesn't know who to trust!
So what is the £300 part that need replacing?

I'm guessing the motor need a clean up and that's all.
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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by Bewildered » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:34 pm

PS Can anyone tell me how much a wiper relay module for a BMW Z4 should cost? I've been told £300. Should I trust this price?

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Re: Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by Bewildered » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:36 pm

Dear sr hutch
Thanks for replying!
It's a wiper relay module they're talking about for £300

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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by Z4Fanatic » Mon Jan 14, 2019 3:22 am

My E85 is having the same issue. The gear has worn out causing the wiper to slip. Does anyone know if I can simply replace the gear? If so where would I be able to find one? Don't want to purchase an entire motor or assembly just for the gear! Any help would be super appreciated!

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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by Z4Fanatic » Thu Dec 24, 2020 7:33 am

Z4Fanatic wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 3:22 am My E85 is having the same issue. The gear has worn out causing the wiper to slip. Does anyone know if I can simply replace the gear? If so where would I be able to find one? Don't want to purchase an entire motor or assembly just for the gear! Any help would be super appreciated!
replaced with a used motor and works fine!

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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by colb » Thu Dec 24, 2020 12:54 pm

Wow old thread revival, not surprising given how much rain we have been having of late.
Usual causes of wipers playing up are due to grease migration from the worm drive that spreads over the metal electrical contact plate inside the motor housing, often causing bad wiper parking when switched off. The grease interferes with the electrical contact causing the motor to be delayed in switching off and stopping the wipers in the wrong place. Simple remedy is to remove the wiper unit as a whole after taking the wiper arms off and removing the scuttle cover to reveal the whole unit which is secured by two bolts/nuts and one plastic clip in the centre. Lift the unit out and turn it over, remove the six bolts off the cover plate to reveal the inner workings. Clean all the grease off the metal contact plate thats revealed to restore the good electrical contact. The worm drive only needs a minimum amount of grease on it so dont put too much on it or it will migrate again causing the same issue with parking in the wrong place.
The other issue that arises is the linkage popping off their ball joints, you can restore them using a repair clip that can be obtained on ebay here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-E85-E ... SwTqtd94mW
Well worth taking the scuttle cover off annually to clean the end and centre scuttle drains and dosn't take long to pull the wipers out to clean the grease off whilst your in there.
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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by firewire75 » Mon Nov 21, 2022 6:47 pm

I have same problem with mine now wiper relay replaced but still happening I’ve been told it could be an electrical fault, they work once I stop then restart engine but only work for about 2 to 3 mins then stop again happened to me on m6 yesterday in torrential rain , was pretty scary tbh my car is an e85 2.5i 2006 facelift model
Does anyone have any ideas I’m taking her to the garage next Monday I want to sound like I have lots of information so they can get it right as cheap as possible
Many thanks in advance

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Windscreen Wiper Fail..

Post by firewire75 » Mon Nov 21, 2022 6:47 pm

I have same problem with mine now wiper relay replaced but still happening I’ve been told it could be an electrical fault, they work once I stop then restart engine but only work for about 2 to 3 mins then stop again happened to me on m6 yesterday in torrential rain , was pretty scary tbh my car is an e85 2.5i 2006 facelift model
Does anyone have any ideas I’m taking her to the garage next Monday I want to sound like I have lots of information so they can get it right as cheap as possible
Many thanks in advance

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