Wiper troubles continued.........

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GrahamC230K

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
9,755
Car
Audi A3 & S4 quattro
I used MBenz's Documentation to get me started.

The first pair of grills come out easy.

vent.jpg


The second is more tricky, and some of the centre clips are a killer to get off. It would be far easier if MB made this section in 2 parts!

GrillsOff.jpg


I only went as far as this:

wipermotor.jpg



From here with the wiper running, I could see the linkages moving about. I used WD-40 (it fixes everything right?) to lubriacte all the moving joints.

However, this proved of no use. The noise made is very aparent from outside, but not loud enough to be heard from inside the car.
The noise is a sort of mechanical whirring noise, like an old Washing machine.

I guess it is the wiper motor itself.

Does anyone know (V12?):-

  • Is the motor and mechanism one part or are they available separately? - pic at bottom
  • Is replacement a unbolt old an bolt on new job, or is alignment required?

Any idea of new or used prices?

motorclose.jpg
 
Motors can be had individually (4 bolts to take off, must take whole mech at to get at them...), Many second hand places are too clever to sell you just the motor, but if they would, they may ask between £40-80, im guessing they are about £150 new...?

There is no specialist alignment , it can all be done quite simply, by bolting it on and trying, then adjust either way...It is self explanatry once you have it out...

Before you ask...I have none, they are gold dust and the first thing to go from a W202 along with the headlamps!

HTH:bannana:
 
Thanks V12.

Have you ever heard one that sounds like this?

Click to hear a noisy wiper

Do you think I need to investigate the gearing/mechanism more or is this the motor?
 
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sounds like an african vocal band
 
That sound file - :D :crazy: :D

The mechanism, believe it or not, is a lot more money than the motor, and we have a lot more problems with mechanisms to be honest. I think the wiper mech is about £350 new...cheeky MB for ya!:confused:

I dont recall how that bottom piece comes out, but on my old 190, it was just clipped round the edges, i'm pretty sure that bottom piece actually has a 124 part number on a 202, and if so, you should be able to prise it off with a small screw-driver (will have to take a close look to be sure).
 
For those interested, a new Wiper Motor alone will cost £350 +vat from your friendly thieving MB Dealer.

Car is a few thousand short of the service light popping on, but I am booked in next week with my independant dealer for a service and investigation into the wiper.

I didn't think it was, but my Warrenty is still valid and has the wiper motor listed. Probably have to go through the "it's not covered because it actually still works" but I expect we will reach an agreement, we usually do.
 
I'm actually gettin good at estimatin MB prices...Spot on ;)

Good luck Graham!:bannana:
 
Is the formula not.

Think of a number between one and 10 and multiply it by 100 ?:p
 
Originally posted by fuzzer
Think of a number between one and 10 and multiply it by 100 ?:p

Yes, then add 17.5% VAT, and if you're lucky like me sometimes you can knock anything between 10% and 30% back off it again. I find it amusing that some things seem to be totally extortionate from the parts dept, and other things seem to be ridiculously cheap, without any real way of predicting which direction it will be! Wiper motor is £150...painted door handle is £12...Winter tyre is approx. half the price that a tyre shop quoted me!
 
Well I feel good about that. It was a 15 minute job which can only make the life of the wiper motor easier. Just follow the instructions then if it does go wrong, at least you’ve done all you reasonably can to prevent it. There’s loads of mechanism in there just crying out for grease.

I'll post a piccy of all the gubbins under that big black plastic cover at the end ot the wiper, just as soon as my FTP Server wakes up!
 
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Nice one.

I am off outside now to try mine.
 
Excellent tip that Simon.

I tried for quite a while the other day to get the cover off, with those instructions it was a matter of seconds.

I too am glad I have lubricated this part, and am certainly aware of it for the futute. I has NOT cured my fault, but I am glad I have tried all I can before it goes to the Garage on Thursday.


Here are some larger picures.

Do I win a prize for the artistic reflection of the MB emblem?


Wiperbase2.jpg



Wiperbase1.jpg
 
Originally posted by Black180
Have just found this How to save £££££'s by not buying a new wiper motor. And am going to do it now. I'll let you know how I get on.

let me quote that article from the link you gave just incase it goes down!

Repairing Your Windshield Wiper Assembly




One would think that every single maintenance and repair subject would have been mentioned, some of them hundreds of times, on the various Mercedes-Benz mailing lists over the last five years or so. I signed onto the Realtime list in 1995, and all the others since that time, and have seen no mention of the subject of my post today.
About two years ago, a friend mit frau were headed off on a weekend trip to the Washington coast for a day on the ocean beach. The weather was poor with heavy rain and as they headed down the Interstate passing through Tacoma (WA) the windshield wiper on their high-mileage '85 190E came to a stop partway in it's travel arc. They stopped on the shoulder and after an unsuccessful attempt to get the thing moving, they drove slowly to the next exit and made their way several miles to the local MB dealer. The diagnosis was a failed wiper motor or wiper transmission. This comes as an assembly and costs about $1000 installed, so they said. So, they rented a car and headed for home, the trip forgotten. Upon retrieving the car later that week, the bill was paid and soon after arriving home the cracked windshield was discovered, just where the technician had struck it with a tool while installing the new part. This was of course denied strongly but eventually the dealer replaced the windshield. All in all, not a good week.

So, while driving my 95 C280 in a similar rainstorm several months ago, and watching the wiper arm slowly groan to a stop, I saw myself going through the same experience. Since I was close to my MB dealer I presented my self and car at the service department for a diagnosis. My service writer (I always deal with the same one, the "Team" concept) felt that the transmission assembly would have to be replaced. Since my extended warranty would cover this I wasn't too concerned until he said that he couldn't work the car in until the following week. So, here I was with a potentially undriveable car and no way to fix it for ten days. I headed for home, between rainstorms, and decided to see what I could do, if anything,

Finally, here is the important part. Looking at the visible part of the wiper assembly, there is a large semi-oval cover about the size of the palm of your hand which the wiper arm emerges from. I wanted to take this cover off but the method was far from obvious. Here is how I did it:


1. Raise the hood for improved access.
2. With the ignition off, rotate the wiper switch to the first position.
3. Turn the ignition on and off rapidly, so as to move the wiper arm out of the park position.
4. Move the arm manually to the straight up position.
5. Remove the three-sided rectangular cover (lower end of arm) that extends over the cap by pulling it straight up from the bottom end.
6. Using a sensitive fingertip or a dental mirror, locate the two small recessed rectangular openings on the underside of the cap at roughly the 5 and 7 o'clock positions.
7. Using a tool with a 90 deg end such as a dental pick or a small allen wrench, release the catches in the access holes while pulling the cap upward with the left hand.
8. Now that the entire articulated wiper actuator is in plain view, you will see as I did that the shaft that extends the arm up into the windshield corners (twice per sweep) is very likely no longer lubricated.
9. Remove all the old grease from the shaft and bushing using for example a cloth soaked with lacquer thinner or similar, moving the arm back and forth to expose the arm surfaces inside the bushing.
10. Apply new lubricant and I don't mean WD-40. I used Sil-Glyde, a silicone grease which has a working temp range of -20 to +400 deg F.
12. Reassemble in reverse order.
13. Congratulate yourself for saving about $1000.

As to the position of the release catches, the two cars I have checked are my own C280 plus a '99 CLK430 (the replacement for the aforementioned '85 190E) which were identical

My car's wiper problem is entirely gone and after two months is still operating normally.

I subsequently asked two service writers plus the service manager at my dealer if this little operation is ever done as part of a scheduled service, especially at high mileages. The answer was no, never. I expressed some surprise. I do see that selling an expensive repair is a whole lot more profitable than applying a little bit of grease.

I also spoke last week to the two local MBUSA reps about this little adventure. When I told them how I had resolved the problem there were honestly interested and promised to follow up with perhaps a service recommendation.

Since nearly every MB passenger car built in the last 15 years uses the single arm wiper, I now expect all of you with cars so equipped to head on down to the car and perform this little maintenance job, thus derailing the sale of countless wiper motor assemblies.

Roger Elingson http://electric.articles.mbz.org/wipers/
 
Very good article...

Since nearly every MB passenger car built in the last 15 years uses the single arm wiper
I can think of a few, M-Class, V-Class, 140 S-Class, 126 S-Class, G Wagon...

:p
 

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