[Dox1966]

Disconnect your battery negative cable before removing the motor / rack!

The skuds wipers were incredibly slow, fast speed remained the same.

I removed the wipers motor and rack

Removed the circlips at the wiper arm ends of the wiper cranks

remove the washer and the O ring below and keep spraying penetrating fluid from both sides of the shaft (there's no O ring at the base end of the crank shaft, just a washer). Pop the ball joint off the base of the crank

Clamp the base of the crank in a vice (I had to smack the tommy bar of the vice with a hammer!) and continuously rotate the rack to help free the shaft whilst pushing the housing off the shaft. The passenger side took 10 mins of winding backwards and forward to get it out, the drivers side took 30 mins , lube continuously!

Once the cranks are out emery cloth the shafts to remove the corrosion, the cranks shaft housings have a pressed bush at each end, between is powder like corrosion and old dry grease that causes the shafts to seize, scrape out the crud and wash out with wd40.

Clean, dry, silicon grease (silicon to protect the seal from perishing - thanks wild Bill) and reassemble.

Don't be tempted to hit the shafts out, you'll damage the thread!

Mind those fingers, these are basically a guilotine and will cut your fingers off!

Clean out the scuttle drains to prevent water ingress into the foot wells.

Refit the wiper motor / rack, plug the wiring back in, reconnect the battery, ignition on and the wipers should self park (its highly likely the motor will move whilst removing the cranks), turn on the wipers and check both speeds and intermittent wipe functions, turn off the wipers and allow to self park (remove the ignition key) before refitting the wiper arms (a dirty screen helps to position the wipers in the same position as previous)

This would also be a good time to replace the pollen filter beneath the windscreen scuttle panel.

Regards

 

[Dox1966]

Disconnect your battery negative cable before removing the motor / rack!

The skuds wipers were incredibly slow, fast speed remained the same.

I removed the wipers motor and rack

Removed the circlips at the wiper arm ends of the wiper cranks

remove the washer and the O ring below and keep spraying penetrating fluid from both sides of the shaft (there's no O ring at the base end of the crank shaft, just a washer). Pop the ball joint off the base of the crank

Clamp the base of the crank in a vice (I had to smack the tommy bar of the vice with a hammer!) and continuously rotate the rack to help free the shaft whilst pushing the housing off the shaft. The passenger side took 10 mins of winding backwards and forward to get it out, the drivers side took 30 mins , lube continuously!

Once the cranks are out emery cloth the shafts to remove the corrosion, the cranks shaft housings have a pressed bush at each end, between is powder like corrosion and old dry grease that causes the shafts to seize, scrape out the crud and wash out with wd40.

Clean, dry, silicon grease (silicon to protect the seal from perishing - thanks wild Bill) and reassemble.

Don't be tempted to hit the shafts out, you'll damage the thread!

Mind those fingers, these are basically a guilotine and will cut your fingers off!

Clean out the scuttle drains to prevent water ingress into the foot wells.

Refit the wiper motor / rack, plug the wiring back in, reconnect the battery, ignition on and the wipers should self park (its highly likely the motor will move whilst removing the cranks), turn on the wipers and check both speeds and intermittent wipe functions, turn off the wipers and allow to self park (remove the ignition key) before refitting the wiper arms (a dirty screen helps to position the wipers in the same position as previous)

This would also be a good time to replace the pollen filter beneath the windscreen scuttle panel.

Regards

 

[NooNoo]

Re-greasing does work but a ultimately you have to change the mech.

I re-greased 3 times each time rubbing down which eventually made the posts a lesser fit .

This led to more frequent servicing which eventually led to me buying a new mech.

The first time lasted 2 years for me [Y]

 

[NooNoo]

Double post.

 

[Xanthic]

Cheers guys!

Much appreciated.

Ste

 

[Xanthic]

Cheers guys!

Much appreciated.

Ste

 

[Xanthic]

OK... so there I was stood in the light drizzle we're currently experiencing; hood up, wielding a 13mm wrench and small screwdriver...

I checked the wipers, they didn't work, then made sure the wiper stalk was at 'neutral'. Unscrewed the wiper nuts then thought I'd give the wipers another try - hey presto - they worked!

I'm thinking though now... the wipers at the highest speed don't seem to be going that fast, is it time for a new mechanism anyway?

 

[Xanthic]

OK... so there I was stood in the light drizzle we're currently experiencing; hood up, wielding a 13mm wrench and small screwdriver...

I checked the wipers, they didn't work, then made sure the wiper stalk was at 'neutral'. Unscrewed the wiper nuts then thought I'd give the wipers another try - hey presto - they worked!

I'm thinking though now... the wipers at the highest speed don't seem to be going that fast, is it time for a new mechanism anyway?

 

[NooNoo]

If speed 1 = speed 2 then it's a definite yes.

It has to be one of the most common mk4 platform 'features'.

You probably slightly unseized the post when undoing the 13mm nuts.

[]

 

[NooNoo]

If speed 1 = speed 2 then it's a definite yes.

It has to be one of the most common mk4 platform 'features'.

You probably slightly unseized the post when undoing the 13mm nuts.

[]

 

[Xanthic]

There's a difference in 1 and 2 but not much to be honest...

Best to replace the mech then?

 

[Xanthic]

There's a difference in 1 and 2 but not much to be honest...

Best to replace the mech then?

 

[NooNoo]

I would take the mech out and try and move it by hand before committing to £40

 

[NooNoo]

I would take the mech out and try and move it by hand before committing to £40

 

[stevieb73]

recently did this as my mech went a when it was lashing it down on the way back from southend!. anyway i just wanted to say a massive thanks to NOONOO for this 'how to' very easy to follow. even for a noob like me!

cheers mate!

steve

 

[Mattchew21]

Just a quick one, my rear is seized and also my fronts stop midway the screen. I'm looking into replacing the wiper linkage mech rather than repair. I find when my wipers are in the OFF position its on speed 3? Could it possibly be electrical fault? Relay?

I'm forever having to take the fuse out when its not raining.

 

[Anghelides]

I know this is an old thread but thanks for the guide this helped massively as I also had tchamge the wiper mechanism as they had seized up! I bought a new mech from vw think it was around £50-£60 and took me a couple of hours to change could have done it quicker but I am an amateur! Thanks again

 

[efunc]

Quick question about this. I'm about to do the procedure in the morning and want to know if it's necessary to disconnect the battery. I've looked at several guides and youtube vids, and no one seems to do so. If not, should I remove the fuse, and does anyone know the number of the fuse that's in circuit with the front wiper motor? Thanks!

 

[NooNoo]

You could remove a fuse or disconnect the battery. It's safer to as the mech could remove fingers.

However, with the ignition off wipers stop anyway. Seems a bit OTT.

I would never criticise anyone who trys to be as safe as possible when doing car DIYs.

 

[efunc]

Thanks for the advice, and thanks for a really useful guide. I didn't bother diconnecting the battery in the end since you will actually need to periodically test the motor and then check alignment and direction of travel etc, as outlined below.

I recommend anyone to try this, requires very little experience and few tools other that 10mm, 13mm sockets, ratchet, phillips, etc. If you're very careful and take your time you won't break the scuttle panel, windscreen or anything (although I came close). The hardest part for me was dismantling my linkage arms and swapping out the motor. You need to pry it all apart with a fair bit of force. Be careful and use a big, heavy screwdriver. Sustained force was the most effective way of doing it rather than vicious jabs(!). I had to do it all twice because the first time I installed it the wipers were going clockwise instead of anti-clockwise! Some head-scratching and a second removal, dis-assembly and re-assembly sorted it out. Basically, before reassembling the mechanism again first take just the motor and reconnect it to the loom. Put your key in the ignition and turn the wipers on. Allow them to do a full cycle and come to a rest. This resets the position of the motor to park the wipers at rest. Now disconnect the motor and reassemble the linkage and bracket. What you do here is very important: line up the two linkage arms as well as the motor spindle arm so that they are all in one line, parallel to the bracket. Crucially the motor spindle arm needs to be pointing in the direction AWAY from the motor, not doubled back over the motor in the opposite direction. I found that this allowed my wipers to sweep in the right direction once fitted. Hope that helps, and thanks again for a very helpful guide