Drivers side wiper not working

[SeanR]

Got in the car this morn. flicked the wiper switch and heard a clicking noise whilst the drivers wiper seized to move.

 

Will investigate later today

 

If anyone has had this issue or knows what it is, be glad to know in advance

 

Cheers

[johnatg]

It's a cold morning. It's quite possible the wiper blade was frozen to the screen.

[SeanR]

Hello, maybe thats whats broke it, not sure.

 

Was 6 degrees when i got in it.

 

Anyways, just checked again and motors running but that wiper not moving.

 

Thinks somethings snapped lol

 

Will look when have more time

[J Henderson]

My guess is that the wiper linkage will be busted.

Had the same thing happen to me during winter last year, except it was the passenger wiper.

As @johnatg suggests, the wipers were frozen to the screen at the time and they tried to operate automatically when I powered up the car.

The linkage has a ball and socket type setup for the moving parts, (kinda like a human limb joint) and in my case, the passenger side socket had popped out.

I don't think its supposed to separate and reattach voluntarily as I couldn't get it to pop back together again properly. So, my guess is once this happens, a replacement is needed.

As a temporary fix, I used a bunch of zip-ties on the mechanism to keep the ball and socket pressed together. This did the trick, albeit the wipers now made a creaking sound.

That "temporary" fix was over 6 months ago now and is still working fine. But, I reckon I'll be pushing my luck to expect it to last throughout this winter coming up, so thanks to this topic appearing, I’ve just ordered a new one from amayama for approx £92 delivered.

The part number is 85150-53071.

[SeanR]

Thanks John, 

That's what an engineer was saying in work today, so i guess he was right.

Will pull off the trim tomorrow and try the temporary fix. The trim don't look difficult to take off.

He suggested using rainx on the wind screen just in case the temp fix gave way.

Says rainx is great anyways.

[SeanR]

John

 

How did you get the wipers off?

 

Took bolts off but the rubber holding then on seems really tight, pulling hard and nothing moving

[SeanR]

Actually, one came off easy

 

Driver side really stuck on there, tried wd40

[SeanR]

Its ok,done it, had to push down and pull at the same time so it levels up on the thread, otherwise it just grips

 

Not big on doing this stuff haha

[J Henderson]

The wiper arms came off easier for me when I had them lifted up off the screen, like you do when washing the car.

I found removing the scuttle panel way more tricky tbh. As I recall, I never fully removed it from the car as there were a couple of plastic screws/fasteners I was unsure how to remove without breaking them. I just loosened it enough to get my hands underneath to remove the linkage from the motor.

[SeanR]

Took the scuttle off and broke one of the end faster's in the process.

 

I don't think those plastic fasteners are supposed to be re-used, they break too easily. Did have a box of Toyota fasteners but cant find them, could have done with them.

Many more missing that have nothing do with me but just enough to hold the plastic engine cover down, will get some more.

Hardest thing for me was stopping the wiper in the right place to best work on it, took several goes to time it right.

Its an awkward joint, but it did hold and work just by pushing it back on.

Hence just wrapped some elasticated string around it and it seems to hold it ok.

Quietly confident, wel see

Stayed rust free under the engine covers around the suspension mounts. that's good.

Now time for a beer.

Cheers John

[J Henderson]

These guys are good for clips, fasteners etc - VehicleClips.co.uk

The ones for the engine covers are high quality, way better than the eBay crap I got the last time.

[SeanR]

Was thinking this could be fixed on the cheap.

Drill an hole, couple of washers and a split pin or nut and bolts.

Just a thought.

[J Henderson]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:48 AM, J Henderson said:

I’ve just ordered a new one from amayama for approx £92 delivered.

The part number is 85150-53071.

Amayama refunded my payment as they can't get hold of the part. Looks like I'll have to ride the zip-tie solution a bit longer.

4 hours ago, SeanR said:

Was thinking this could be fixed on the cheap.

Drill an hole, couple of washers and a split pin or nut and bolts.

Just a thought.

You mean drill out the ball & socket joint and replace with a nut & bolt?

[SeanR]

Doing this from memory, but looking at the top arm it had a solid top at the joint, the bottom arm that had fallen down just sat in that joint.

I mean just drill an hole down through the top of the joint, big enough for a pin or bolt.

Im no engineer but i think someone with a bit of know how could botch something together.

[BC99]

Obviously no good as permanent fix, but should anyone experience this, when needing to get home in rain, and able to do so it may be possible to remove the passenger wiper and replace it on the spindle so that it wipes the drivers side of the windscreen.

It's what i did in an older car in order to get home, obviously if it doesn't wipe enough of the screen to be safe don't do it!  I think one of the blades is bigger than the other so using the larger one might be helpful.