My ‘03 E85 started showing issues with the wipers recently. they would move to the bottom of the windshield but then not stop. they would hop up a bit before stopping. Over time this progressed to the wipers suddenly stopping on the windshield and not starting again until the car was turned off and back on.
My first action was to replace the wiper relay because it was cheap to do. Unfortunately, it didn’t solve the problem. At this point, I thought it was likely grease contamination on the wiper motor contacts, so i watched this video and dove in:
https://youtu.be/a_usk3ySlwg
Removing the wiper arms was pretty easy. removing those stupid plastic rivets holding on the windshield cowl was the hardest part. The plastic heads strip so easily…i ended up using pliers to rotate them out. Two large star bolts and a white plastic clip (which broke) hold the wiper motor in. There is an electrical connector to disconnect and then the unit just lifts out.
Flipping it over, there are 6 bolts to remove and then you can lift off the motor cover. As soon as I did, I saw the two contacts on the bottom side of the cover were liberally smeared with grease from the worm gear that drives the wipers. I used rubbing alcohol and a rag to clean the contacts and the brass contact plate. 2 minutes later, The cover was back on and I was reversing the process.
And, everything is now working fine. While I had it out, I lubricated all the joints of the moving wiper linkage and reassembled.
If you’re having problems with this, it’s definitely something you can fix at home without fancy tools or lots of repair experience.
My first action was to replace the wiper relay because it was cheap to do. Unfortunately, it didn’t solve the problem. At this point, I thought it was likely grease contamination on the wiper motor contacts, so i watched this video and dove in:
https://youtu.be/a_usk3ySlwg
Removing the wiper arms was pretty easy. removing those stupid plastic rivets holding on the windshield cowl was the hardest part. The plastic heads strip so easily…i ended up using pliers to rotate them out. Two large star bolts and a white plastic clip (which broke) hold the wiper motor in. There is an electrical connector to disconnect and then the unit just lifts out.
Flipping it over, there are 6 bolts to remove and then you can lift off the motor cover. As soon as I did, I saw the two contacts on the bottom side of the cover were liberally smeared with grease from the worm gear that drives the wipers. I used rubbing alcohol and a rag to clean the contacts and the brass contact plate. 2 minutes later, The cover was back on and I was reversing the process.
And, everything is now working fine. While I had it out, I lubricated all the joints of the moving wiper linkage and reassembled.
If you’re having problems with this, it’s definitely something you can fix at home without fancy tools or lots of repair experience.
