wipers stuck in the middle of my windeshield...help!

[skizsam]

With all the ice and snow here, as I was coming home the other nite, my wiper all of a sudden would stop in the middle of my windshield.

I searched the forums and found a few DIY, including this one:

http://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/1110379.phtml

I waited for the temp and sun to come out and tried to fix it with no luck!

I took everything apart down to the the motor assembly. I also tried to readjust the wipers and that didn't solve anything.

It's like the motor doesn't know where to stop on the windshield. The only other option, i can think of is to get a new motor Assembly.

Is there a way to adjust where the motor stops? How does it know where to stop? humm....

I guess i will have to order a new motor

[EBG 18T]

sounds like it is time for a new wiper motor.

[aaaudiprotein]

Did u check your fuse?

[skizsam]

The motor/wipers work, they just don't stop/shutoff in the right position. I don't think it's the fuse b/c the motor is turning.

[martini]

dont waste your money on a new motor... the motor is fine.. you just need to adjust the wipers

let me go find some pictures... brb

EDIT

http://www.a4mods.com/webcontent/for...hp?topic=483.0

heres the deal:

i dont know if you have ever worked on wipers before, but you will know what im talking about once you take a look.

There is a single motor that just spins aroudn in one direction. Then there is a 4 bar linkage that attaches to it. As the motor spins, it rotates this linkage which allows the wipers to back and forth.

If the wipers are frozen to the window, the motor will rotate and the wipers wont. Basically what is happening is that the little gear set skips a few teeth.



All you have to do to fix this is remove the cover (if you have one) up by where the battery is, and
look to see where the linkage attaches to the motor.

It will look just like this (click on the attachement for a larger version of the picture):


The bottom nut holds the linkage and motor together, you loosen that nut and turn the linkage back to the 'home' position, then bolt it back together. It will take a couple trys to get it right, but it's really not that hard. I can look around and see if i have any pictures of this

the picture there is how it should sit if it were in the home position... try to get it there, then tweak it as necessary

[martini]

trust me, this has happened to me more than once and it can be fixed by simply adjusting that connection... and next time when you park the car, just pull the wipers up off of the window before the snow accumulates...

[skizsam]

Awesome... waiting for the pics on where to adjust!

thanks!

[EBG 18T]

nice links martini.

[skizsam]

The bottom nut holds the linkage and motor together, you loosen that nut and turn the linkage back to the 'home' position, then bolt it back together. It will take a couple trys to get it right, but it's really not that hard. I can look around and see if i have any pictures of this

the picture there is how it should sit if it were in the home position... try to get it there, then tweak it as necessary

OK I think I get it..... Adjust this bolt and reposition the linkage (mine currently stops in the 7oclock position)

[martini]

OK I think I get it..... Adjust this bolt and reposition the linkage (mine currently stops in the 7oclock position)

yes.. that nut will back out a bit... then you can turn the wiper section so the little gold arm is position like that shown in that picture... you'll be good to go after that

its an iterative process.. .but after 3 shots i bet you get it lined up perfectly

[skizsam]

Martini....You were correct (not that I doubted you)! Took me more than 3 tries but it fixed the positioning!

Your the man!
thanks for your help!

[martini]

Martini....You were correct (not that I doubted you)! Took me more than 3 tries but it fixed the positioning!

Your the man!
thanks for your help!

good news...i would have hated to see you buy a new motor or assembly! like i said, next time lift your wipers off the window or this will certainly happen again... i should take my own advice...its happened to me more than once

[a4wh0re]

good shit. it was raining like crazy here so i had the wipers on the highest speed only to have them stop suddenly on the freeway. not good. i turned the speed down and they started working again, but when i went to turn the car off they went to the up position and stopped. i'd already had the motor and linkage replaced under warranty, and i thought it might have broken again, but last time they started moving verrrry slowly then stopped completely. using this trick i got them re-oriented to the down or "home" position and good as new. thank you martini!

[martini]

:-)

[trueno429]

mine shit on me this morning and the funny thing is it wasnt even raining or anything..but my wipers went up like 3 inches slowly and just stayed there..now it wont move at all..frozen linkages or motor?

[mlchael4]

If they won't move at all...it's the motor.

[Audi-ence]

Hey, I too am having problems with my wipers. The issues I'm having seemed to start after I applied "Rain-X" to my windshield. The "Rain-X" works great as some of you may know, but after it wore out it seems like my wipers have been struggling to glide across the glass......like really slowly.

Sometimes the wipers just give up half way through, and I have to pull the lever again for them to finish their pass. Other times, when it's raining fairly hard they work fine.

I've since re-applied "Rain-X" because I don't know if my wipers are going to work when I need them, but I'd really like to get this fixed properly.......any ideas? I'm stumped, and I don't think they need to be adjusted because they seem to line up fine......am I wrong to assume this? Any help would be great because it tends to rain a fair bit here in Vancouver......like today! :(

[Audi-ence]

^ANYBODY?

[mlchael4]

^ANYBODY?

Yeah, this also sounds like a wiper motor on the fritz.
This is pretty much the same problem I had before mine took a shit.

They would work great some days..and other days it was like they were made of solid lead and wouldn't move for shit. ...Until that one day they just stopped working all together.

I could be wrong though...but if I'm not, that friggin thing is pricey if you have the dealer do it.

[woofster]

Before you go buy another wiper motor, pull out the wiper assembly and 'refurbish' it first. It could be some corroded connections, misaligned linkages, etc. If that doesn't fix the problem, then consider a new wiper motor.

[trueno429]

fixed the problem..my friend works at audi and helped me pull the linkage out..
we pulled the linkage out and noticed one of the moving arms was rusted and not moving at all..so what we did was took it apart and sanded it down and greased it up..both the arms move freely and the wipers work fine..

[Audi-ence]

Haha, I didn't think anyone would respond. So none of you think it has anything to do with the "Rain-X" that I applied to the windshield? I'm covered under warranty (Audi CPO) so it's not a big deal I guess if it indeed is the wiper motor that's on it's way out.

I guess I'll have a look under there myself first and see if I find anything that doesn't look right that I can fix easily.........it's always such a ball-buster to go to the dealer. I really wish I too had a friend that was a tech at Audi.

Thanks!

[MoRbiD]

When mine sized up I thought is was because of treating the windshield. But once I took the assembly out one side was locked up just like everyone's been saying.

When I talked to the Service Manager at the local Audi Dealership he told be they have replace literally 100's of these wiper assemblies because of this problem.

You might as well take it out and either repair it or order another one. Won't be much you can do with it in the car.

[Francois]

Yesterday my wiper begin to go very very slow, I look the forum and found this tread:

http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?p=20595727

so today I did exactly what this tread said, take out all the wiper system and found it completly seized on the right side, I try to take out the spindle out of the bushing, just like the tread, but I broke it.
So I have to buy an another one from Audi, and re-assemble it.
Cost me 250$.
This was my day.

[quangvan]

OMG this is my day i stumbled on the thread just before i was gonna call for a quote on the motor and now ill try this, pretty sure it will work my motor tries to move them but its out of stroke me linkage is at the 11 o clock position lol and i tried adjusting the ares to see if it would work but notta ! so ill try this ... man i love this site!
thanks guys

[bdub111]

dont waste your money on a new motor... the motor is fine.. you just need to adjust the wipers

let me go find some pictures... brb

EDIT

http://www.a4mods.com/webcontent/for...hp?topic=483.0

heres the deal:

i dont know if you have ever worked on wipers before, but you will know what im talking about once you take a look.

There is a single motor that just spins aroudn in one direction. Then there is a 4 bar linkage that attaches to it. As the motor spins, it rotates this linkage which allows the wipers to back and forth.

If the wipers are frozen to the window, the motor will rotate and the wipers wont. Basically what is happening is that the little gear set skips a few teeth.



All you have to do to fix this is remove the cover (if you have one) up by where the battery is, and
look to see where the linkage attaches to the motor.

It will look just like this (click on the attachement for a larger version of the picture):


The bottom nut holds the linkage and motor together, you loosen that nut and turn the linkage back to the 'home' position, then bolt it back together. It will take a couple trys to get it right, but it's really not that hard. I can look around and see if i have any pictures of this

the picture there is how it should sit if it were in the home position... try to get it there, then tweak it as necessary

I had the issue as you pre-described, I loosened the bolt, moved wipers back to place and tightened the bolt. All works fine not, but one thing, they no longer go as fast as before. The motor is fine, my question is, could I have tightened the bolt too tight?? Thanks for your help!

[old guy]

I had the issue as you pre-described, I loosened the bolt, moved wipers back to place and tightened the bolt. All works fine not, but one thing, they no longer go as fast as before. The motor is fine, my question is, could I have tightened the bolt too tight?? Thanks for your help!

I would recommend pulling the whole transmission out and greasing the mechanism. My guess is that it is beginning to drag and it's only a matter of time before it locks up. If you fix it now while it still moves you should be good to go. If you wait until it locks up you will probably be replacing parts.

[ecbo0m]

I spent 2 hours on a rainy day, hammering out the seized wiper bolt. Turns out the rubber gasket had broken, allowing water to penetrate the linkage and rust, causing it to seize up. A little bit of sanding and grease, and a new gasket, did the trick.

[cpcoop71]

so holding your wipers to take the easy way out will burn out the motor or shear the teeth.. right. If so I will wait until the snow clears. thanks for the info and the pics!!!!!!

[audijonez]

Thanks so much for this thread! I was able to fix my wipers easily with your help. Only took me 2 tries ;-)

Cheers.

[AdeNihil]

Thanks a bunch GUYS...

I had the exact same problem ; Did the troubleshooting as explained and...
WUNDERBAR!!!!

I just did not want to have to spend 230.00$ ( CAD ) for a stupid wiper motor + the hassle of changing it!!!!
— I love my car and I don't mind paying for what I want but I do find it absurdly ridiculous how they ( Audi & the other high-end crests ) mark up on the most trivial items or odd jobs — recently paid 25$ for a rear wiper spray nozzle!!! It's just highway robbery and Freaking indecent!

Now this : Just a few tweeks of a nut a VOILÀ!

Beautiful stuff!

I just had to put a account up just so I could thank you(s)...
YEP!

—— Just to gives some info here :
I live in Montreal Canada and - as you may know - we get some pretty nasty weather sometimes in the winter.
My wiper jumped a few gears - I heard them jump - as it was about -20c one day.
They would resume their normal course but would always stop midway through the windshield.
I could force their way down to the bottom of the windshield but that would only trigger the motion back to midway up!

[enrisaro]

dont waste your money on a new motor... the motor is fine.. you just need to adjust the wipers

let me go find some pictures... brb

EDIT

http://www.a4mods.com/webcontent/for...hp?topic=483.0

heres the deal:

i dont know if you have ever worked on wipers before, but you will know what im talking about once you take a look.

There is a single motor that just spins aroudn in one direction. Then there is a 4 bar linkage that attaches to it. As the motor spins, it rotates this linkage which allows the wipers to back and forth.

If the wipers are frozen to the window, the motor will rotate and the wipers wont. Basically what is happening is that the little gear set skips a few teeth.



All you have to do to fix this is remove the cover (if you have one) up by where the battery is, and
look to see where the linkage attaches to the motor.

It will look just like this (click on the attachement for a larger version of the picture):


The bottom nut holds the linkage and motor together, you loosen that nut and turn the linkage back to the 'home' position, then bolt it back together. It will take a couple trys to get it right, but it's really not that hard. I can look around and see if i have any pictures of this

the picture there is how it should sit if it were in the home position... try to get it there, then tweak it as necessary

this is great...i was just able to fix my wipers with this tutorial

[adamsj72]

Thanks so much Martini for the inspiration, information and advice and thanks x1rider for the excellent photos of the process!

I just fixed my 2003 Audi allroad wiper problem myself! The wipers would stop in the middle of the windshield but otherwise worked fine. My mechanic thought I might need a new motor. But with the help of this forum I was able to do it myself and it feels so good!

Thanks guys (and gals if there are any gals out there?)!!!

Julia

[daught]

Thx audizine. In the middle of a snowstorm with wet and freezing slush the wipers were a 5 min fix.