Windshield wiper not working

My drivers side windshield wiper stopped working today. Being in a hurry
I didn't bother removing all the snow and ice from the windshield before
driving away, and then when I tried using the wipers only the one on the
passenger side worked. After stopping I realized the one on the drivers
side was frozen to the windshield. After pulling it loose it still
didn't work, in fact it was like it wasn't connected at all and I could
move it around without any effort. The car is a '86 BMW 3-series. I'd
really want it to work especially now that it's so much snow and road
grime on the roads, but it's 20F outside and I don't have much time
before Christmas. I'm thinking of repositioning the passenger wiper to
cover the driver side too, but only as a last resort. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Ulf

The good news is the motor and gearbox are still good since the passenger side still works. Most likely a pin broke off the arm connected to the driver side. It should be relatively easy to fix.

Ulf wrote:
>
> My drivers side windshield wiper stopped working today. Being in a hurry
> I didn't bother removing all the snow and ice from the windshield before
> driving away, and then when I tried using the wipers only the one on the
> passenger side worked. After stopping I realized the one on the drivers
> side was frozen to the windshield. After pulling it loose it still
> didn't work, in fact it was like it wasn't connected at all and I could
> move it around without any effort. The car is a '86 BMW 3-series. I'd
> really want it to work especially now that it's so much snow and road
> grime on the roads, but it's 20F outside and I don't have much time
> before Christmas. I'm thinking of repositioning the passenger wiper to
> cover the driver side too, but only as a last resort. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ulf

--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

It is most likely that you have just broken the friction that holds the
wiper blade to the motor. If you undo the nut to free the wiper you can
check the motor still works. If it does you need only clean up the wiper
and "bolt" from motor and retighten. Never start your wipers whilst they
are stuck to the windscreen ! You will shorten the life of the blades and
can burn out the motor which will stop both.
Regards Richard
"Ulf" > wrote in message
...
> My drivers side windshield wiper stopped working today. Being in a hurry I
> didn't bother removing all the snow and ice from the windshield before
> driving away, and then when I tried using the wipers only the one on the
> passenger side worked. After stopping I realized the one on the drivers
> side was frozen to the windshield. After pulling it loose it still didn't
> work, in fact it was like it wasn't connected at all and I could move it
> around without any effort. The car is a '86 BMW 3-series. I'd really want
> it to work especially now that it's so much snow and road grime on the
> roads, but it's 20F outside and I don't have much time before Christmas.
> I'm thinking of repositioning the passenger wiper to cover the driver side
> too, but only as a last resort. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ulf

Richard Wall wrote:

> It is most likely that you have just broken the friction that holds the
> wiper blade to the motor. If you undo the nut to free the wiper you can
> check the motor still works. If it does you need only clean up the wiper
> and "bolt" from motor and retighten. Never start your wipers whilst they
> are stuck to the windscreen ! You will shorten the life of the blades and
> can burn out the motor which will stop both.
> Regards Richard
> "Ulf" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>My drivers side windshield wiper stopped working today. Being in a hurry I
>>didn't bother removing all the snow and ice from the windshield before
>>driving away, and then when I tried using the wipers only the one on the
>>passenger side worked. After stopping I realized the one on the drivers
>>side was frozen to the windshield. After pulling it loose it still didn't
>>work, in fact it was like it wasn't connected at all and I could move it
>>around without any effort. The car is a '86 BMW 3-series. I'd really want
>>it to work especially now that it's so much snow and road grime on the
>>roads, but it's 20F outside and I don't have much time before Christmas.
>>I'm thinking of repositioning the passenger wiper to cover the driver side
>>too, but only as a last resort. Any ideas?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Ulf
>
>

yeah, what he said. I can't remember if BMWs are the same but on a VW
there is a tapered spline to match the little pivot thing to the wiper
arm, and it's held on by a 6mm (I think?) nut. When you start the
wipers when they're frozen to the windshield you strip the crap out of
the little potmetal end of the wiper arm, tightening the nut won't work,
you need to disassemble it, take your pocketknife and clean all the pot
metal out of the splines in the pivot shaft, and reassemble. Also might
not be a bad idea to drip a little oil down the pivot assembly while the
wiper arm is off as PM.

nate


--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

It sounds like you broke the linkage. This can be anywhere from really easy
to a complete pain in the ass to fix.




"Ulf" > wrote in message
...
> My drivers side windshield wiper stopped working today. Being in a hurry
> I didn't bother removing all the snow and ice from the windshield before
> driving away, and then when I tried using the wipers only the one on the
> passenger side worked. After stopping I realized the one on the drivers
> side was frozen to the windshield. After pulling it loose it still
> didn't work, in fact it was like it wasn't connected at all and I could
> move it around without any effort. The car is a '86 BMW 3-series. I'd
> really want it to work especially now that it's so much snow and road
> grime on the roads, but it's 20F outside and I don't have much time
> before Christmas. I'm thinking of repositioning the passenger wiper to
> cover the driver side too, but only as a last resort. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ulf

Nate Nagel wrote:
> Richard Wall wrote:
>
>> It is most likely that you have just broken the friction that holds
>> the wiper blade to the motor. If you undo the nut to free the wiper
>> you can check the motor still works. If it does you need only clean
>> up the wiper and "bolt" from motor and retighten. Never start your
>> wipers whilst they are stuck to the windscreen ! You will shorten the
>> life of the blades and can burn out the motor which will stop both.
>> Regards Richard

> yeah, what he said. I can't remember if BMWs are the same but on a VW
> there is a tapered spline to match the little pivot thing to the wiper
> arm, and it's held on by a 6mm (I think?) nut. When you start the
> wipers when they're frozen to the windshield you strip the crap out of
> the little potmetal end of the wiper arm, tightening the nut won't work,
> you need to disassemble it, take your pocketknife and clean all the pot
> metal out of the splines in the pivot shaft, and reassemble. Also might
> not be a bad idea to drip a little oil down the pivot assembly while the
> wiper arm is off as PM.

Yay, I can see again! Thanks, that was exactly the problem. I took less
than 5 minutes to fix, and now it's working flawlessly. Just to make
sure I tried the wipers with 1/2 inch of wet snow on the windshield, no
problems. :-)

http://members.roadfly.com/ulf/IMG_1051.JPG

>
> nate
>
>
Ulf