c180 Wiper Failure

[angus1745]

my wiper has sometimes been jerky for a few months, today due to excess snow making it stick its finishing position changed by a wee bit, and finally today on my way home it stopped completely after a few wipes. I can stiil hear the motor going and sounds ok, but wiper is just dead, and loose enough to move the full arc by hand. but at no point does the mechanism engage and start moving again. any ideas what the problem might be? and possible remedys? thanks in advance.

Gavin

Aberdeen, Scotland.

 

[television]

my wiper has sometimes been jerky for a few months, today due to excess snow making it stick its finishing position changed by a wee bit, and finally today on my way home it stopped completely after a few wipes. I can stiil hear the motor going and sounds ok, but wiper is just dead, and loose enough to move the full arc by hand. but at no point does the mechanism engage and start moving again. any ideas what the problem might be? and possible remedys? thanks in advance.

Gavin

Aberdeen, Scotland.

If you look ar a recent posting by Philharve, you will see that the chances are the nylon gear has gone, means a new wiper motor.

Malcolm

 

[angus1745]

wiper problem sorted

It turned out to be not that serious, although the whole wiper and motor assembly had to be removed. large bolt that runs to the wiper arm had worked loose. after tightening it and resetting the wiper blade position all was fine. vented covers running full width of engine bay had to be removed to gain access though. bit of a fiddly job. my c180 has done over 230,000 miles, kind of expected to have to replace some part of the wiper mechanism to sort it. These monsters really do run forever.

G

 

[C220GJS]

Gavin,
To avoid future problems with your wiper , grease the sliding mechanism under the "turtle shell" cover ,also the pushrod that attaches to the wiper arm.
Geo.

 

[mercburk]

How d'you get the turtle shell off to grease the mech please?
TIA

 

[television]

There are litle cathes on the under side, by putting presure in the center, it is possible to lift the catches over the base plate around the outside, I think the are four in all.

Malcolm

 

[C220GJS]

Taking the wiper arm as 12 o'clock ,the catches(2) are at 4 and 8 o'clock under the base of the turtle shell .You will find it comes free easier if you only pull out and up at one side then the other side will just unhook and the cover is able to move enough to gain access to grease the internal sliding mechanism. Also grease the pushrod that moves in and out with the wiper arm.
Geo.

 

[mercburk]

Thanks a lot guys, will give it a go when the rain stops long enough, (Garage full) it's working fine at the moment, and i'd like to keep it that way.
Pete

W202 C180 Elegance Auto - Smooth, relaxed and loads of feelgood.

 

[type49]

Remove the arm first! 5mm allen key bolt under 6" plastic trim.

 

[redmilly7]

A Little Late BUT

My E300td wiper arm just stopped. No warnings at all. I read all the info on the site and deduced (Watson) that it was the motor. I ordered a new one £98.00 inc. vat from a parts company.
I took the wiper motor and fittings off the car and I found that, this is where it gets technically wrong! The motor turns a flat bar with a 'ball' on it, this fits into a socket which transfers the rotation to horizontal movement, the ball and socket are a 'push fit' however the push fit wasnt working anymore, the joint had come apart. So the motor was turning but not transfering the motion to horizontal.

What did i do, I drilled and tapped a 1/4'' BSF hole in the plastic socket straight through to the ball, and put a bolt in it (clearence as well). Simple Fantastic, why did mercs not do this in the first place? works great and will never fail again.

Dont be put off by taking the motor off, its not bad, 7 screws, three bolts a bit of fiddly plastic but ok. Cost er £nill. have to return the motor £8.00 postage.