Central dash blowing cold & wiper sticking?

[Sooz]

I took my 1996 C180 into the garage last week because the windscreen wiper was sticking and then stopped although it worked when I pushed the scoosher. The electrician told me it needed a new switch, which he replaced and charged me for. As I was driving it home the wiper stopped again. It works intermittantly but sticks now. The electrician says it just needs a bit of oil, have I been ripped off?

The blowers on the central dash section are also blowing cold now. The electrician insists it's piped for the side heater to blow hot and the centre to blow cold, oddly the center was blowing hot until he got his hands on it. I've left it with him tonight as I paid for all the work when I left on Hogmany and want it fixed. I've told him categorically that the center heater should blow hot and to get it fixed.

Can anyone tell me if I'm mistaken or if I've paid for a new switch I didn't need and he doesn't know what he's doing?

He was reading my Haines manual when I left. It's a Hi-Q garage so hoping they won't charge for more time. Help?

 

[Dec]

Do you have air conditioning?
Could you explain a bit more about the wiper sticking, does it stick at the side of the windscreen
Or
Does it stick/stop in mid-sweep?

Dec

 

[Sooz]

Has aircon, thanks for replying

Thanks for answering Dec,

I've got an aircon button on the dash so presume it's got aircon but haven't used it.

The wipers started sticking just before Christmas so I bought a new wiper blade which fixed the problem until the wiper started sticking again on a long journey in cold weather on Christmas Eve. The wiper was sweeping up, shuddering in the middle then sweeping down until it iced up. I cleared the ice, sprayed everything I could get at with WD40 but it kept juddering then sticking at the sides and the middle until it stopped completely. It still worked when I scooshed the washer but was sticking in the middle. I took it to the garage last Wednesday.

The electrician said the motor is working fine and changed the whole indicator/wiper switch on Hogmanay. On the drive home the wiper started sweeping up and juddering in the middle again and then stopped in the middle about 10 minutes after I left the garage. They worked again a couple of days later for about 6 miles, still juddering in the middle until the stopped in the middle of the windscreen again. I used the scooshers to get to get the wiper back to the bottom. I took the car back to the garage this morning as they've been shut over new year.

I went into the garage tonight, the electrician said they are fixed, however they are still shuddering in the middle. I showed the Manager and he said it just needs a bit of lubrication. I asked if that was the problem to begin with and had I needed the new switch. They flanneled around it and said they'll phone Mercedes in the morning.

I'm wondering if I should go get the car tomorrow and ask for my money back (chances of that being unlikely) and try to fix it myself. I've had old mercs before and not had any problem with the wipers so this is new to me. I went to the garage because I haven't got any experience with electrics.

I really appreciate your help. Combined with the electrician trying to tell me the vents on the dash are supposed to blow cold I'm not sure he's going to fix it and it'll just stop again when I'm miles from home. Hope this isn't too much detail.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks again.

 

[Dec]

The sliding mechanism under the wiper arm's large black plastic cover should have been lubricated first, see… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVhpeDLUHY&NR=1 …if that doesn’t solve the fault then the problem must be either striped gears in the wiper motor or a loose nut to the rear of the mechanism, see… http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=62438

As the fault came back after replacing the wiper switch, then the wiper switch wasn’t the culprit … get the old “broken” wiper switch back from the garage… you could resell it…it’s still your property isn’t it???

If you have air con then you should have hot air at the centre vent, depending on temperature settings, I don’t have air con in my car, therefore no hot air at the centre vent regardless of temperature.

Dec