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Howto: Fix Problomatic Wipers
- Thread starter sk93
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This procedure complete fixed my quirky wipers problem!!!
The symptoms were exactly as described, though there did not seem to be too much grease built up in my motor. Nevertheless, after cleaning out all the excess grease, all problems completed disappeard and my wipers now rest at their normal position.
Thanks for the great writeup!!
This procedure complete fixed my quirky wipers problem!!!
The symptoms were exactly as described, though there did not seem to be too much grease built up in my motor. Nevertheless, after cleaning out all the excess grease, all problems completed disappeard and my wipers now rest at their normal position.Thanks for the great writeup!!
A
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Thank you! an excellent account as it includes the all important photographs. I fixed mine by simply re-siting the washer blades a few notches down on the spindles.
Have to agree, a great how to.
Tackled mine today with no big issues other than I found Epping forest under the wiper cover, no surprise as previous owner lived in tree infested area.
Removed the grease from the offending area AND NO BROKEN FIXINGS I'v had a few Bm's so previous experience reigns
A few piccies
A couple of Epping forest
Here's a picture of drain hole under wiper motor, and 2nd pic of exit below, removed and unblocked.
Another offender on the passenger side, pic 2 shows quite a long flat/oval drain away just under fuse box
Oh, and the worst offender...........................................
And cleaned
Tackled mine today with no big issues other than I found Epping forest under the wiper cover, no surprise as previous owner lived in tree infested area.
Removed the grease from the offending area AND NO BROKEN FIXINGS
I'v had a few Bm's so previous experience reignsA few piccies
A couple of Epping forest
Here's a picture of drain hole under wiper motor, and 2nd pic of exit below, removed and unblocked.
Another offender on the passenger side, pic 2 shows quite a long flat/oval drain away just under fuse box
Oh, and the worst offender...........................................
And cleaned
Hey guys, particularly sk93 - Im a tourist from zroadster.com but I just used your guide to do my wipers at the weekend - I had the "ball-and-socket-joint-worn-and-popped-out" problem rather than intermittent motor operation, but while I had everything out I cleaned my motor too and by the looks of things I would have had problems there soon. If I can remember Ill post the pic of my motor.
As far as comments and experiences on the guide - My ZZZZ is an 05/2004 pre-FL 3,0 LHD and I found these variations:
Step 3: I coudlnt move my wiper arms at all so I bought & used a two-arm puller. They came off with such a snap that I doubt any amount of gentle tapping with a hammer would have helped. the puller needed slightly modifying (you can get one especially for this job but I used a generic one) but worked easily.
Step 5: I had 5x torx and they came all the way out of the box lid
Step 7: I munged all my plastic screw rivets - Two lost the drive (but i got them out), one pinged off with its grommet into the engine somewhere and on one the head came off before I could get a good purchase (drilled it out). They clearly are intended to be removed, hence the cross-head drive, but not to be used again. Ive bought some new ones off ebay.
Step 9/19: I had different clips to those shown in your pic 10. On my car, the tray had spigots clipped into rails that engaged in white sockets in holes in the chassis below the windscreen. I pulled the tray up vertically and all came away without damage, although some came apart, some pulled off the tray and some pulled off the chassis. Once I pulled them all apart and assembled the pieces correctly, the tray just popped back on when I re-built.
I didnt bother marking the alignment of the wiper arms (driver side was flapping loose anyway) but I mounted the driver side along the black masking and the passenger side just touching the "corner" in the masking and it seems fine.
Just as a reference - To cure my original problem I drilled out the ball, added an M4 thread and screwed the joint together with two washers and some loctite. Works fine.
Thanks for the guide - without it I wouldnt have attempted the repair.
Edit:
Motor before:
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RuGBec9sSTzShvp1ksObhpAkMJ1AyMqkqHJtWGMYuxY?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5Z0W4rN4Xfc/TosN0P6J7iI/AAAAAAAAKtQ/AGT4YrRsols/s144/CIMG5054.JPG" height="108" width="144" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">Aus <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117576539883784636121/Pumpe?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIOm7PjWwbHWdg&feat=embedwebsite">Pumpe</a></td></tr></table>
Motor After:
Clip sockets Body:
Clip spigots pan:
As far as comments and experiences on the guide - My ZZZZ is an 05/2004 pre-FL 3,0 LHD and I found these variations:
Step 3: I coudlnt move my wiper arms at all so I bought & used a two-arm puller. They came off with such a snap that I doubt any amount of gentle tapping with a hammer would have helped. the puller needed slightly modifying (you can get one especially for this job but I used a generic one) but worked easily.
Step 5: I had 5x torx and they came all the way out of the box lid
Step 7: I munged all my plastic screw rivets - Two lost the drive (but i got them out), one pinged off with its grommet into the engine somewhere and on one the head came off before I could get a good purchase (drilled it out). They clearly are intended to be removed, hence the cross-head drive, but not to be used again. Ive bought some new ones off ebay.
Step 9/19: I had different clips to those shown in your pic 10. On my car, the tray had spigots clipped into rails that engaged in white sockets in holes in the chassis below the windscreen. I pulled the tray up vertically and all came away without damage, although some came apart, some pulled off the tray and some pulled off the chassis. Once I pulled them all apart and assembled the pieces correctly, the tray just popped back on when I re-built.
I didnt bother marking the alignment of the wiper arms (driver side was flapping loose anyway) but I mounted the driver side along the black masking and the passenger side just touching the "corner" in the masking and it seems fine.
Just as a reference - To cure my original problem I drilled out the ball, added an M4 thread and screwed the joint together with two washers and some loctite. Works fine.
Thanks for the guide - without it I wouldnt have attempted the repair.
Edit:
Motor before:
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RuGBec9sSTzShvp1ksObhpAkMJ1AyMqkqHJtWGMYuxY?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5Z0W4rN4Xfc/TosN0P6J7iI/AAAAAAAAKtQ/AGT4YrRsols/s144/CIMG5054.JPG" height="108" width="144" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">Aus <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117576539883784636121/Pumpe?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIOm7PjWwbHWdg&feat=embedwebsite">Pumpe</a></td></tr></table>
Motor After:
Clip sockets Body:
Clip spigots pan:
Thanks to "sk93" for posting this guide. I followed it all last weekend and greased up the joints on the wiper mech and opened and cleaned off all the gunk in the motor.
Put it all back together and wipers still park a few inches up the screen after doing their full sweep of the screen down into the baclk area at the base of the screen. Any ideas? Is it new wiper motor time?
Cheers for any help, as you can imagine the wipers are used quite a lot here in Ireland!
Put it all back together and wipers still park a few inches up the screen after doing their full sweep of the screen down into the baclk area at the base of the screen. Any ideas? Is it new wiper motor time?
Cheers for any help, as you can imagine the wipers are used quite a lot here in Ireland!
Well disconnecting the battery didn't make a difference so I took the plunge and bought a new wiper motor and mechanism.
Happy enough as that has sorted the problem and the wipers now stop at the base of the screen after a full sweep of the screen rather than hopping up a few inches onto the glass.
We do get the odd rain shower here in Ireland so I suppose working wipers are sort of essential. Right, off out now to drive the bloody thing :driving:
Happy enough as that has sorted the problem and the wipers now stop at the base of the screen after a full sweep of the screen rather than hopping up a few inches onto the glass.
We do get the odd rain shower here in Ireland so I suppose working wipers are sort of essential. Right, off out now to drive the bloody thing :driving:
Hi Andy,
Sorry I didn't explain properly what problem I had with my wipers. When I got my car when you used the wipers they did the full sweep from deep within the black base of the screen to the edge of the windscreen pillar (driver side). So the wipers themselves were wiping the full correct area of the screen. However when you switched off the wipers they would either park at the base of the screen where they should but usually they would park a few inches up the screen which was bloody annoying. If I simply took the wiper arms off and reposituoned them at the base of the screen that would just mean during use they would end up on the plastic trim at the base of the screen.
I installed the new motor and mechanism on Friday, only took an hour. Fixed both wipers at the base of the screen and now when I switch off or they are on auto they return to their original base of the screen position, which is nice
I did try taking apart the motr and cleaning the grease off the old one but unfortunately that didn't fix my problem
Jaysus lovely sunny day here in Ireland, what am I doing talking about wipers, Z4 roof down motoring here I come!
Sorry I didn't explain properly what problem I had with my wipers. When I got my car when you used the wipers they did the full sweep from deep within the black base of the screen to the edge of the windscreen pillar (driver side). So the wipers themselves were wiping the full correct area of the screen. However when you switched off the wipers they would either park at the base of the screen where they should but usually they would park a few inches up the screen which was bloody annoying. If I simply took the wiper arms off and reposituoned them at the base of the screen that would just mean during use they would end up on the plastic trim at the base of the screen.
I installed the new motor and mechanism on Friday, only took an hour. Fixed both wipers at the base of the screen and now when I switch off or they are on auto they return to their original base of the screen position, which is nice
I did try taking apart the motr and cleaning the grease off the old one but unfortunately that didn't fix my problem
Jaysus lovely sunny day here in Ireland, what am I doing talking about wipers, Z4 roof down motoring here I come!
Just done mine here.
Similar to Holeshots pics, leaves/soil (decomposed leaves?) in the wiper motor area and as good as a blocked drain.
Grease on the copper plate was a bit less, but cleaned it all right up.
Now working.
Forgot to plug the damn wiper motor in afterwards though haha, so had to re-remove a few bits to get a few fingers in and slide the plug on! 5 mins second time round!
I think I have two scuttle clips left now. I had a windscreen fitted in July, and six had black silicone repairs on them, all of which broke upon removal again. The scuttle clips slide into a clasp on the actual scuttle, and it is those clasps which break away it seems, leaving the damage on the scuttle panel with no other way to repair
I reckon doing this in winter is a bad thing too, the plastic is very brittle even at 10degC. I'd go as far as saying lifting the scuttle 5mm and blowing a hair dryer in on hot would be a good idea as the plastic will soften up lots, probably making it a great deal easier to remove without damage...
Looks like a new scuttle is about £85, tempted to get one, along with all new clips/screws. Much like anything I bet ALL these bits were fine until they were touched by a person who had little care for it (Autoglass person), and they damaged it all.
http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E85/Roadster/Europe/Z4_3.0i-M54/RHD/N/2004/june/browse/vehicle_trim/various_body_parts/#01
One thing I don't get though, is the scuttle clips. Are they meant to leave the white part in the bodywork, and leave the small black shaft with the blob on the end on the scuttle, or is the white clip meant to come out too?
In any case, I'd massively recommend using lots of white grease inside the white bit, so they stay put and the black shaft with the bobble are the bits that slide out in future... it feels like it's meant to do that!
Just a few more jobs to get the car in perfect order for spring time
Dave
Similar to Holeshots pics, leaves/soil (decomposed leaves?) in the wiper motor area and as good as a blocked drain.
Grease on the copper plate was a bit less, but cleaned it all right up.
Now working.
Forgot to plug the damn wiper motor in afterwards though haha, so had to re-remove a few bits to get a few fingers in and slide the plug on! 5 mins second time round!
I think I have two scuttle clips left now. I had a windscreen fitted in July, and six had black silicone repairs on them, all of which broke upon removal again. The scuttle clips slide into a clasp on the actual scuttle, and it is those clasps which break away it seems, leaving the damage on the scuttle panel with no other way to repair
I reckon doing this in winter is a bad thing too, the plastic is very brittle even at 10degC. I'd go as far as saying lifting the scuttle 5mm and blowing a hair dryer in on hot would be a good idea as the plastic will soften up lots, probably making it a great deal easier to remove without damage...
Looks like a new scuttle is about £85, tempted to get one, along with all new clips/screws. Much like anything I bet ALL these bits were fine until they were touched by a person who had little care for it (Autoglass person), and they damaged it all.
http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E85/Roadster/Europe/Z4_3.0i-M54/RHD/N/2004/june/browse/vehicle_trim/various_body_parts/#01
One thing I don't get though, is the scuttle clips. Are they meant to leave the white part in the bodywork, and leave the small black shaft with the blob on the end on the scuttle, or is the white clip meant to come out too?
In any case, I'd massively recommend using lots of white grease inside the white bit, so they stay put and the black shaft with the bobble are the bits that slide out in future... it feels like it's meant to do that!
Just a few more jobs to get the car in perfect order for spring time
Dave
*update
Eventually, after some harsh words and pleading the wiper arms came off
Had to leave the penetrating fluid overnight, but also leave the wipers on full speed for 5 mins this morning which then (finally) released them
Have tested this morning and no odd stopping of the blades - many thanks for this how-to!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Eventually, after some harsh words and pleading the wiper arms came off
Had to leave the penetrating fluid overnight, but also leave the wipers on full speed for 5 mins this morning which then (finally) released them
Have tested this morning and no odd stopping of the blades - many thanks for this how-to!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yep, mine are super solid and stable now... amazing how quickly they went bad once it started doing it this winter!
Still pondering fitting a new scuttle. Semi tempted to improvise a new system by bonding on new studs from BMW without the weird plastic welded holders... another job for summer though I think
Dave
Still pondering fitting a new scuttle. Semi tempted to improvise a new system by bonding on new studs from BMW without the weird plastic welded holders... another job for summer though I think
Dave
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