W169: Rear wiper is loose and hanging down.

anyweb

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hi
the rear wiper on my wife's W169 is hanging down and seems loose, i had a quick look at it and can't see where I can tighten it, i assume it's just a loose nut is that right ? does any one have any instructions to fix this problem ?

cheers
niall
 

ZZZZ

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It might be a loose retaining nut (and I hope it is), but unfortunately, more likely it is a seized positioning nut underneath - they tend to fracture and seize.

I had a similar problem, when I bought my car - the rear wiper wouldn't stop in horizontal position ... :shock:

Turns out this was the cause:

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The seized nut is part of the wiper arm, and is embedded into the plastic, so the arm is useless, once it's out:

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After removing it, and a little clean-up,

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I fitted a brand new wiper arm (£18 from Mercedes) and that was it.

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Three years on - perfect operation :)
 
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anyweb

anyweb

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thanks GLK for the excellent information and photos, more than likely i have the same issue, it's freezing outside so way too cold for me to even investigate, but once it warms up a smidgen i'll investigate further to see if i have the same issue
 
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anyweb

anyweb

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on another note, the door handle on the back door is attached to a very flimsy plastic thing containing lights for the back numberplate and it's all loose, and the screws holding it in place have come free from their inside 'holders',

from the looks of things i need to replace the whole plastic handle assembly, do you have any idea of the part number of that by any chance ?
 

ZZZZ

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Glad you're making progress :)

Yes, I replaced my old tailgate handle, so have some info on this too.
I had to repair one of the recesses with JBWeld, about two years ago - it was broken so the screw was holding nothing, just as you found on yours (the one on the right here - you can just about see the repair):

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The old handle:

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I also bought four new dowels, which is what you're after, right? - these are the bits that go into the metal of the tailgate body.
The part number is A000 998 4685. Cost is only £1.44 for all four, direct from Mercedes.

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If you decide to replace your tailgate handle with a chrome facelift one (which is what I did), you'd need the wiring loom adapter, as connectors are different on the facelift. Part number for it is A169 540 3135, £16.44 from Mercedes.

The handle itself (Avantgarde chrome trim) is A169 740 1993. The new one from MB comes with the screws, but the part number for these, if purchased separately: A001 984 6429, replaced by A005 990 2012.

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The advantages of the facelift tailgate handle is that, firstly, it looks better ;) and the re-designed release button is not susceptible to splitting, and thus letting the water in (unlike the pre-facelif rubber one, as pictured here on my old handle):

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The new release button is universal across a few models, and can be replaced with an integrated camera type, which is much better solution, than a number plate light camera:

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Apologies for too many pics ;)


PS These are better priced and/or facelift:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272845613586

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273099350627

The one from Lithuania should cost less to post to Sweden, I should imagine?
 
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anyweb

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wow please don't apologise, i love the fact that you post so many high quality photos showing exactly what i'm interested in, thanks a million GLK i appreciate it greatly :)
 
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anyweb

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i think the problem with the one we have is in winter when it's wet and cold it freezes the handle, so you press hard to release but nothing happens, and over time those actions make the grommets break and then the whole assembly comes loose, so i'll look into replacing the one we have now with the updated one and using new loom connector you refrenced, thanks for all the info, you are a star :)
 

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It turns out that the water leak into the tailgate of my R Class was via the similar chrome trim. Unlike your car, two of the retaining screws, screwed into 2 ally threaded inserts on the tailgate that'd rotted & become loose.
 

ZZZZ

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Ah, that's one more design flaw in the long list ...
Any chance you can replace these, with the self-expanding dowels like above?
 

EmilysDad

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Ah, that's one more design flaw in the long list ...
Any chance you can replace these, with the self-expanding dowels like above?

I just used a button head stainless screw & nylock nut ..... and liberal coating of sealant on the original seals. So far , it seams leak free. :D

Have you a close up picture of those that you used? The hole in the tailgate where the original captive threads were is a 7mm hexagon hole.
 

ZZZZ

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I wish I took more pics, before I fitted them.
Pretty sure the holes were rectangular, about 5x7mm.
 

EmilysDad

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I wish I took more pics, before I fitted them.
Pretty sure the holes were rectangular, about 5x7mm.

As it's leak free (so far :rolleyes:) and the screw head is out of sight (unless you kneel down) I'll probably leave it as it is :)
 


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