Driver side windscreen wiper not working

[NoahR]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, today, my driver's side windscreen wiper stopped working suddenly while driving along the motorway. - It was particularly unfortunate as it was raining all day very heavily, as such, I needed to call the RAC out to recover me because I couldn't see anything, and the rain wasn't stopping for a good while.

The passenger side one still works and has resistance if you pull on it. The driver's side, though, is totally free, without resistance. The RAC bloke reckoned that the ball and socket had come apart from rust, however, as access was tricky, he wasn't able to put a clamp on it (their normal temporary fix to get people home).

I will have a play with it later in the week when I get some time. In the meantime, though, has anyone experienced this before/does anyone have any thoughts on a solution?

Thanks all.

[peteoddcar]

Noah
I’ve not heard of this issue.That doesn’t mean it’s not happened to others, Can really only be something up with the linkage / bushes.
We’d be interested to know what’s wrong

[NoahR]

Noah
I’ve not heard of this issue.That doesn’t mean it’s not happened to others, Can really only be something up with the linkage / bushes.
We’d be interested to know what’s wrong

Ah, thanks for letting me know . I shall do some digging - hopefully this week - and I'll let everyone know what I come back with.

[Tuga2112]

i have had this issue in "my" saab just a week after my brother had the same issue with hes alfa

usually the ball jumps out of the socket. you can pop it back in but its pretty much guaranteed to pop back out as soon as its workign under load (wind speed or snow)
i dont know in the M100 specifically how its designed but access looks rather frustrating, dont be surprised if you end up cracking some vacum lines and end up replacing them. just general purpose tubing of the right size is suitable. so not an expensive task. but some of the tubes are in awkward places to reach

[NoahR]

Thanks for the info Tuga. I'll bear that in mind. Access does indeed look like it will be a pain.

[NoahR]

Hi all, very minor update:

You can see where it's come apart here
.
The grey strut with a blue mark should be attached to the ball joint circled in red. You can see it attached to the passenger side

Need to work out what parts I need. - SJ sports sells some bits, but hoping I don't need the full assembly as thats quite pricey. The RAC man strongly recommended replacing both the ball and socket side, as otherwise, one side would wear the other one away over a few months.

Access also looks like a massive pain. - Although, perhaps if the ball and socket go together easily, I won't need to get my hands in there. Otherwise, I might be able to get it from the wheel arch with the liner removed. The final option would be to remove some of the body panels, haha.

[dapinky]

Have you seen this thread? - viewtopic.php?f=30&t=23314&p=293907

It appears to be a repeated problem (but not one that I've had to deal with) - and suggestions that the Vauxhall parts are what you need may well help!

[NoahR]

Have you seen this thread? - viewtopic.php?f=30&t=23314&p=293907

It appears to be a repeated problem (but not one that I've had to deal with) - and suggestions that the Vauxhall parts are what you need may well help!

Ah, that's brilliant! - I hadn't seen that, no, thank you for sharing. I'm also going to investigate the possibility of replacing the plastic bushings as well - I know this is option on other cars.

[NoahR]

Really can't work out how both of them managed to remove the assembly! - There's four mounting bolts, which are very tricky to access because of the black arm (although a socket on a ratcheting spanner does help).

Anyone else able to offer any insight? I couldn't find anything in the workshop manual.

[peteoddcar]

There’s one on EBay good price I think
But there’s decent photos to show how it should look
I think you need to remove both arms and the spigot nuts on the appron and remove the whole assembly

https://ebay.us/m/T6gJhm

[NoahR]

There’s one on EBay good price I think
But there’s decent photos to show how it should look
I think you need to remove both arms and the spigot nuts on the appron and remove the whole assembly

https://ebay.us/m/T6gJhm

Have seen this and spoken with the seller, thank you for passing on though!

Was hoping to see if I could repair just the ball joint with new plastic inserts first - although hard to say without looking at it.

My main issue is getting access to the four rear mounting bolts right now. I wonder if I need to press (with a great deal of force) to remove the wiper spindles from the cars body, which would in turn, allow me access to the mounting bolts. - I did try, but it took a lot of force to get any level of flex (the black bar doesn't move much).

Are you instead suggesting you think its worth trying to remove the four bolts which hold the motor on and then go from there? - That could be a good option

[peteoddcar]

Hi Noah
If you can get access to the manuals on LEC go to page 35 of the electrical manual. Full removal instructions hide there.
But yes you are correct you need to remove the motor first.
Good luck!

[NoahR]

Hi Noah
If you can get access to the manuals on LEC go to page 35 of the electrical manual. Full removal instructions hide there.
But yes you are correct you need to remove the motor first.
Good luck!

Pete, that's golden information, thank you so much! - I had been through the workshop manual and frustratingly hadn't found anything, but hadn't thought to check the electrical manual.

I'm sure I will however need your good luck haha...

Thanks a lot!

[peteoddcar]

I’ve just been looking at my car - to check and lubricate the linkage if I can and I think you should be able to access the driver side bushing through the RH wheel arch.
I have obviously done it in recent years because it’s all nicely lubricated.

Pop the wheel off and remove the wheel arch liner ( can bit of a pain if it’s not been off recently) but it is a part that needs to be removed for many jobs on the M100, mines got decent fixings an stainless steel hardware.

If you don’t have a decent WH liner that could be why your linkage has failed - road muck ingress.

[NoahR]

I’ve just been looking at my car - to check and lubricate the linkage if I can and I think you should be able to access the driver side bushing through the RH wheel arch.
I have obviously done it in recent years because it’s all nicely lubricated.

Pop the wheel off and remove the wheel arch liner ( can bit of a pain if it’s not been off recently) but it is a part that needs to be removed for many jobs on the M100, mines got decent fixings an stainless steel hardware.

If you don’t have a decent WH liner that could be why your linkage has failed - road muck ingress.

That is a good shout, Pete, thank you for your continued thoughts. - I had to remove the WAL when I did the cambelt, so that won't be a problem .