drivers wiper

[wellskint]

just acquired an s40 and noticed the bonnet catches on the drivers wiper which you have to press down to get the edge of the bonnet over it. has something gone wrong with the wiper arm? thanks

[magnuz]

It's usually caused by a worn spindle unit. You can probably feel play at the point where the arm attaches to the spindle. I'm not sure if this part is still available, you may need to replace the whole linkage, be careful if you buy the complete linkage, as most of the ones i've seen listed are for left hand drive, which is different to right hand drive linkages ! Mine has always had the problem of catching the bonnet, but i got around it by re-adjusting the arm & then bending it slightly to clear the edge of the bonnet. I also lubricate the spindle with oil or spray grease to try to limit further wear .

[cogs]

I had the same problem with a worn spindle. To start with I bushed it out with a plastic ring I fitted around the worn part of the spindle then I came across one in a breakers yard. If you look at the wiper mech as a whole you can see it will come apart and you can remove the spindles from the mounting plates. I actually used the spindle from the passenger side as it had little wear.

[wellskint]

thanks for the replies. cogs - did bushing it out work? if so, and forgive my ignorance, but could you expand on what you did in more detail please>

[cogs]

My first solution was to simply slip pieces of plastic between the spindle and the outer case which was a quick short term solution. Then I went for a more permanent method by stripping the mechanism from the car. Once the spindle was exposed I smiply found some suitable plastic cut it to a rough size to fit around the spindle. You need to cut the plastic in half so you're fitting around the spindle as exposed to slipping something over the top. I then glued the two halfs around the spinlde with Epoxy glue and rubbed it down to size with Emery/sand paper and refitted the lot. It worked fine and I only changed it as came across a car in the breakers yard.

I did consider building the spindle out using chem weld, I can't remember the correct name. Its a yellow tube or tube from halfords. I think this would work well, I've use this stuff on various jobs and it seems pretty robust stuff.

To be honest it is faster just to change the spindle if you can get another one, the passenger side spindles seem to wear less and are the same, just held to the mounting plate with a nut.

[wellskint]

cogs - thank you