Windscreen Wiper Blues...
Discussion
What should have been a simple job took me 6 hours today 
Installed a new wiper motor, arm and blade but was catalogue of silly errors:
Put in new motor.
Set arm in place (to the right of driver's view), turned on...and watched it keep moving right, hitting the bodywork and finally snapping the fitting between the arm and blade...
Off to the auto shop to get a new plastic blade fitting.
Now set up on the correct passenger side, turn on...and now it sweeps too far right and falls off the driver side, I watched it do this twice (only twice before I could get to the switch) and then it snapped the fitting again..
Off to the auto shop to get a new plastic blade fitting (this time picking up three more).
Moved arm a little more to the left, turned on, sweeps okay drivers side, moves back to passenger side and.....falls off the screen (scratching windscreen in the process).
Okay, re-think..seems 80 degree's sweep is too much as wiper falls off at least one side.
Disassemble the whole lot, pull the new motor and change little rotation wheel inside to 60 degrees (motor has 50, 60, 80 & 90 options), re-install again.
Turn on wiper and.... sweep is now to shallow, it only cleans a small area in the centre of the screen, getting about 50% of the driver's view...arghhhh
So, don't know about the rest of you but 80 degree sweep is too muc and 60 degree's is too little. 70 would be spot on for my car but it's not an option.
I also know (the hard way) that if you remove your wiper arm too many times the (soft) thread inside starts to strip, I think I've one more decent shot again before it's off to pay more money on either a new motor (£220) or arm (£40odd).
Think I'm going too leave the wiper more centred e.g. in front of the passenger and use the 60 degree sweep to clean only my view...Crap but there again, so are these cars sometimes.
Installed a new wiper motor, arm and blade but was catalogue of silly errors:
Put in new motor.
Set arm in place (to the right of driver's view), turned on...and watched it keep moving right, hitting the bodywork and finally snapping the fitting between the arm and blade...
Off to the auto shop to get a new plastic blade fitting.
Now set up on the correct passenger side, turn on...and now it sweeps too far right and falls off the driver side, I watched it do this twice (only twice before I could get to the switch) and then it snapped the fitting again..
Off to the auto shop to get a new plastic blade fitting (this time picking up three more).
Moved arm a little more to the left, turned on, sweeps okay drivers side, moves back to passenger side and.....falls off the screen (scratching windscreen in the process).
Okay, re-think..seems 80 degree's sweep is too much as wiper falls off at least one side.
Disassemble the whole lot, pull the new motor and change little rotation wheel inside to 60 degrees (motor has 50, 60, 80 & 90 options), re-install again.
Turn on wiper and.... sweep is now to shallow, it only cleans a small area in the centre of the screen, getting about 50% of the driver's view...arghhhh
So, don't know about the rest of you but 80 degree sweep is too muc and 60 degree's is too little. 70 would be spot on for my car but it's not an option.
I also know (the hard way) that if you remove your wiper arm too many times the (soft) thread inside starts to strip, I think I've one more decent shot again before it's off to pay more money on either a new motor (£220) or arm (£40odd).
Think I'm going too leave the wiper more centred e.g. in front of the passenger and use the 60 degree sweep to clean only my view...Crap but there again, so are these cars sometimes.
robm3 said:
What should have been a simple job took me 6 hours today
Installed a new wiper motor, arm and blade but was catalogue of silly errors:
LOL. I feel your pain, Rob. I am glad you can find the humor in this. That's exactly the mindset needed to work on, or assemble, a car from a box.Installed a new wiper motor, arm and blade but was catalogue of silly errors:
SOP - Estimate time. Multiply by 2. If a complicated task, multiply by 3. Then, just disregard complexity and multiply everything by 3. Plan on one, or two, additional trips to the parts/hardware store to get the right parts.
Gassing Station | Ultima | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff